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Take a glimpse at the work being produced by America’s newest batch of filmmakers.  Honest and innovative with an underlying sense of humor, these short works were produced apart from the mainstream, dwelling in a realm of their own.

Program:

“Metal Mom,” a documentary by Claire Houghtalen, illustrates the relationship between a mother still attached to her local music scene and her seven-year-old daughter.  Will Hilary Duff plunge a wedge between them? 20 min.

“Tina and Frank,” a narrative by Erin Gleeson, tells the story of two friends who vent their frustrations by punching strangers in the face. 13 min.

“Illustrations,” video art by Benjamin O’Brien, creates vivid portraits of loved ones.  8 min.

“And They Drifted,” a documentary by Lauren Cynamon, follows two homeless youth as they hop trains across the country. 20 min.

“Les Serpents Se Baissent,” video art by Benjamin O’Brien and Keith Lea, is both beautiful and hilarious.  Two scientists search for the meaning of life.  Somehow, “Hoop Dreams” and a mysterious man in sunglasses will aid them on their journey.  5 min.

“Running with the Big Dogs,” a narrative by Erin Gleeson.  Brian Harrison, a telemarketer, tries to become part of one of the families on his calling list.  Unfortunately, he’s not very welcome.  10 min.

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IbÈria is an hour-long, hybrid-genre film whose main ingredients are esoterica, poetry, ethnic pastiche, and camp humor. An atmosphere of paranoid desire builds on the cusp of some demise; a fictional totalitarian empire goes under. The film opens with a non-sequitur, presenting itself as the visual fragments of a spiritual journey made by an inept prophet through foreign lands he perceives as making up the Iberian peninsula. The logic of the sequences that follow is, however, created out of their own over-the-top yet sometimes documentary content. Occasionally ominous and at other moments slapstick, IbÈria forms an exotic landscape out of familiar Bay Area locations and peppers it with deluded aristocrats, unusual ritual celebrants, and improvisationally joyous dancers as if introducing the ethnographically inclined viewer to an alternative world of exotic customs.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT :

This is my second film exploring queer magic and esoterica in general, a lot sillier than Tarot of Berlin (1998) and also something of an adventure in manic art. It owes a lot to poorly dubbed international co-productions, to costume films, ‘world’ cinema, and the travelogues of surrealist exiles, as well as to all the brave avant-garde eccentrics before me who have worked with non-actors. The script is a collage of favorite over-the-top texts in the poetic and occult vein, and many in the cast are cult figures in the San Francisco scene. It is long for an experimental film, but not three days long long, and with any luck, viewers will share a few giggles with me along the way while enjoying some occasional real beauty.

Director’s bio:

Born in Cambridge, MA, Eddy Falconer studied film theory at Yale and in Paris as well as design at the Hochschule der K¸nste, Berlin. She was Associate Director of George Coates Performance Works in San Francisco from 1997-2001. She has been a performance artist in the drag vein, a frequent reader on the San Francisco poetry circuit, and an actor in the films of Bay Area director Rob Nilsson. Eddy has been published on-line at theicarusproject.net and has exhibited paintings with that organization in New York. She has just written her first play for the stage, DADA DEATH, and is currently finishing a second novel, A LIFE IN THE THEATER, BUT NOT REALLY. Aside from experimental films and documentaries, Eddy is a videographer for underground bands and venues in San Francisco.

Filmography:

Iberia, 2006, 65 Min. Mini-Dv, color.

Winston Tong And Voodoo Cabaret Live, 2002, 23 Min. Mini-Dv, color

The Tarot Of Berlin, 1998, 86 Min. Super-8, color.

Eduardo Falcone Scarpe Per Donne Presenta, 1994, 21 Min. Super-8, color & BW

Umbrella Haus Video, 1989, 48 Min. Hi-8, color

Crunch, 1988, 40 Sec, 16mm B/W

I Do You A Favor Now, And You Do Me A Favor Some Time In The Future, 1988, 1 Min. 16mm BW

Overexposed, 1988, 30 Sec. 16mm BW

Drive, 1988, 2 Min. 16mm BW

 

 

The word “subdesarrollo” or underdevelopment plagues everyone who lives in Latin America. It may mean a colonized economy or insufficient industrial development, or it just may come to mean the idea that foreign is better.

The Cuban film MEMORIES OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, deals with this topic of underdevelopment in a number of ways. Primarily the film concerns itself with the life and thoughts of a bourgeois intellectual, Sergio, who has literally stayed behind the revolution even though his wife and friends flee to Miami. Sergio looks back over the changes in Cuba from the Cuban revolution to the Cuban missile crisis, the effect of living in an underdeveloped country, and his relations with his girlfriends Elena and Hanna. Cuba, B&W, 97min., 1968

With a report and discussion of the film in relation to the Cuban Revolution today by ANSWER activist Gloria La Riva