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Plus assorted punk videos.

Program:

Tram
Louis Bertelsen
2002 3 min Color Mini-DV US
Filmmaker in Person!
This politically inspired performance uses a former president as its narrator and a San Francisco street as its stage.

The General
Sietske Tjallingii
2004 3 min Color DVD The Netherlands
Bay Area Premiere
A biting satire on patriotism and military power in post-September 11 America.

Viet-Flakes
Carolee Schneemann
1966 11 min B/W 16mm US
“Viet-Flakes was composed from an obsessive collection of Vietnam atrocity images I collected from foreign magazines and newspapers over a five-year period. Magnifying glasses from the ’5 & 10‘ were taped onto a borrowed 16mm Bolex in order to physically “travel” within the photographs—producing a rough animation. Images in and out of focus, broken rhythms and pans, the abstracted shapes and motions, speeding perceptual contradictions. For instance, a pointillism of falling black specks in focus becomes bombs dropping through the sky; an impressionistic swirl of tones translates as faces of US soldiers leading barefoot villagers from a gas-filled tunnel; a ’Rembrandt ink drawing‘ focuses in as a tank dragging a roped body.” (C. Schneemann)

Patriotism
Joyce Wieland
1964 4 min Color 16mm US
Using stop-motion to animate one man’s nightmare of hotdogs, the filmmaker takes a humorous approach to criticizing blind patriotism.

Cross Examination
Lori Hiris
1994 12 min B/W 16mm US
Using the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill broadcast as its soundscape, Cross Examination is a chilling reflection on politics, race, power dynamics and gender relations in America.

Solidarity
Joyce Wieland
1973 11 min Color 16mm US
Women unite at a strike and and shoes star in this cinematic gem with the voices of empowered workers as the soundtrack Wieland continues to challenge and intrigues her audiences by framing her subjects in unconventional ways.

Mr. Speaker
Caroline Avery
1973 11min Color 16mm US
Take a peek at a moment in history by viewing Mr. Speaker, a nonsense riddle with no answer, starring Newt Gingrich.

Across the Border
Dana Plays
1982 8 min Color/B/W 16mm US
This unconventional documentary uses archival footage, optically printed and hand–tinted, to untangle the complex relationship between the people of El Salvador and the US government in the early 80’s.

Allegiance
Lori Hiris
1992 6 min Color/B/W 16mm US
An exploration of US jingoism, national identity and the rhetoric of the 1991 Gulf War.

The MadCat Women’s International Film Festival seeks to exhibit provocative and visionary works that are original in their use of the medium. The festival’s goal is to emphasize innovative works by women that challenge the use of sound and image and explore notions of visual storytelling. This international festival advances an alternative vision by emphasizing work that exploits the medium.

http://www.madcatfilmfestival.org

Program:

Which Way
Claudia Herbst
2001 5min Color BetaSP Germany
US Premiere
Through relentless yet enticing drum beats combined with rapid fire editing of animation, still photographs and live-action sequences, Herbst reveals a national tragedy through her very personal story in Which Way.

Travis
Kelly Reichardt
2004 11:46min Color BetaSP US
West Coast Premiere
Reichardt appropriates and illustrates an NPR radio interview with the Portland mother whose son Travis was killed clearing mines in Iraq just after President Bush declared the end to major combat. Through intricate sound editing the full story of this loss is revealed with chilling clarity.

Good Morning, Night
Kiyoko Segawa
2004 3min Color Mini DV Japan/US
West Coast Premiere
A surreal animation about a family that tries to ignore impending war…

Devour
Carolee Schneemann
2004 7:52min Color MiniDV US
World Premiere
Looped fragments of moments of both domestic intimacy and political disasters create a sense of ambiguous menace both real and imagined.

It’s Not My Memory of It
Julia Meltzer & David Thorne
2004 25min Color BetaSP US
It’s Not My Memory of It is about secrecy, memory and documents. In this riveting video a former CIA source reveals how the agency constructed his false identity. Actual US military footage shows a burial at sea and shredded classified documents are animated and reconstructed to reveal a complex story of cover-ups, the complexity of defining the “truth” and the difference between “real” and “protocol” secrets. Mobilizing specific historical records as images that flash up in moments of danger, this piece addresses the intensification of secrecy practices in the current climate of heightened security.

Call to the Dark Side
Barbara Klutinis
2003 2:30min Color MiniDV US
San Francisco Premiere
Filmmaker in Person!
With an eerie sound track and footage of a boy about to jump off an unidentified ledge, Klutinis creates anticipation and fear of an unknown horror ahead.

The Thief of Bagdad
Diane Nerwen
2003 5min Color MiniDV US
Oil, flying horses and tales of liberation swirl together in this Technicolor action adventure fantasy starring Charlton Heston as a swaggering Texan empire-builder in Baghdad and Conrad Veidt as his nemesis. The film draws on imagery and dialogue from classic Orientalist cinema to depict a clash of civilizations, Hollywood style.

The Invisible Hand
Lori Hiris
2003 12min Color/B/W 16mm US
The Invisible Hand is a hand-drawn history of corporate corruption from Enron, to Halliburton to Marthagate. Hiris uses her stunning craft to reveal new connections between some of the worlds’ most powerful conglomerations.

The MadCat Women’s International Film Festival seeks to exhibit provocative and visionary works that are original in their use of the medium. The festival’s goal is to emphasize innovative works by women that challenge the use of sound and image and explore notions of visual storytelling. This international festival advances an alternative vision by emphasizing work that exploits the medium.

http://www.madcatfilmfestival.org