Blog post written by Amber Thibault, Cinema and Photography ’15, FLEFF Intern, Lewiston, Maine.

14:40: Introduction of both films, History of Flaneur

14:41: Organon inspiration from French New Wave

14:41: "Tango Flaneur" Film screens

14:54: "Tango Flaneur" Film ends

14:55: Student comment on the static shots Mansoor Behnam "I felt that we should just put the camera there...nobody moves on the camera...it just happened that we talked about all this...we are engaging in ideas...it is some part the way that we think...whatever happens in front of the camera as a pretext of what is being discussed behind the camera"

14:57: Lisa Elin Figge "At first, you don't know how to engage with it...you just have to be patient...do you think that?"

14:58: Audience comment on digging billboard to digging for understanding and the search of understanding.

15:00: When you hear yourself talking, do other ideas come to mind?" Almost a 40 minute talk, we thought it might be boring to people, talk about flaneur from different aspects...decide to make it short to make it more interesting...personally other ideas come whenever I watch"

15:02: Figge talks about how she would further explore the clouds

15:03: explain concept of flaneur - 19th century flaneur idea in upper middle class, Behnam "subversive gesture against whatever reality"

15:04: Figge explains flaneur further "resistance, would be exploring the french malls without buying anything."

15:06: "flaneur is a male positionality and when I'm situating myself in there...my mobility is changed...when I can't walk anymore my reality is changed"

15:07: Poetic reviere, spiritual aspect of beautiful experience of flaneur. 

15:08: Behnam: "Traces of nomadism in flaneur... then set up can't and make a community"

15:10: Intro to Organon: Behnam "nostalgia and memory of Iran...couldn't find myself in Canada...my mind is westernize...reality different...disappointing...only thing help me get over that, taking long walks to help me figure out my life...showing feet and walking is very French New Wave...I used the visual as background of text...implication of organon is the instrument of thinking...

15:11: "Organon" Film screens

15:19: Intonation of voice is desperate Behnam "experimental cinema is powerful and gives me a voice in the figurative and the literal"

15:20: Discussion of an unexplainable cinema "experiemental cinema is a place of indirect expression, my place is to mediate the feeling and expression of these ideas...I really love thoughts...'only thoughts are true that can't be understood by themselves' "

15:23:Ten years old during the time of revolution in Iran. 

15:24: Discussion of how engaging with surroundings and making films is helping with Behnam's acclimation to western life 

15:27: Audience comment - idea of displacement more and more relevant, ie:climate change and movement because of it. Behnam "In Iran, I felt displaced in another way...we all our humans and we have basic needs...community"

Blog post written by Amber Thibault, Cinema and Photography ’15, FLEFF Intern, Lewiston, Maine.

Repetition.

This is the idea behind Tomanari Nishikawa's film "Tokio-Ebisu" which explores the movement and repetition of people and trains on the Yamanote Line.

Nishikawa share with me his recollections of taking the Yamanote Line, the busiest train in Tokyo. This train runs on a loop and and arrives at a train station every two to three minutes. It is in observing this that he notice the repetition that inspired his film; a train would come every couple minutes and stopped in the exact same spot. He also observed that everyone on the platform knew exactly where it was going to stop so they would line up accordingly.

But the technical elements of filmmaking are more compelling to Nishikawa than the storyline.

Nishikawa: "You can tell a story through multiple ways, writing or speaking but film is unique in what you can do with it."

He experimented with exposing the camera to observe what was happening in front of it. Get shot was exposed 30 times! It is this that makes me excited to see it. I can't actually wrap my mind around what that would look like.

Nishikawa's love for the medium of film was apparent in our conversation and contributes to his style. Some of his works can be seen at his website, www.tomonarinishikawa.com

Cinemapolis will be screening his film "Tokio-Ebisu" as part of the Upstate Filmmaker's Showcase this Sunday, April 7th at 4pm.

This is Nishikawa's first time being a part of FLEFF and he was pleasantly surprised to find out FLEFF does not feature just environmental documentaries but has a a selection of non-narrative films as well.

What was your first impression of FLEFF?

Blog post written by Kristen Tomkowid, Journalism '15, Blogger Intern, Poughkeepsie, NY 

Jorge Garcia Nunez put on a FLEFF workshop yesterday about La Poderosa Media Project. The project's mission, as stated on their website, is " is to encourage youth empowerment, cultural empathy, and collaborative learning through community based visual arts programs in Latin America and the United States."

Kristen Tomkowid: Why did you choose to become a part of La Poderosa Media Project?

Jorge Garcia Nunez: For a long time I was part of projects involving media literacy in underserved communities in México, and when the opportunity of creating a larger project with a bigger geographical scope arose, I immediately took it. I believe it is very important to give young people in Latin America the opportunity to use both the technology and the discursive tools to express themselves and find their own voice to create messages relevant to them, so they engage actively in the production of meaning in their societies. 

KT: What is your role in the project? 

JG: Officially I am the Curriculum Director, and my job is to coordinate the creation of all our original pedagogical materials of our three programs: the language and culture program, called "Nuestra América", the filmmaking program, called "Telling Your Own Story", and the distance education program. I also look for and hire the instructors of each course we offer, and oversee the functioning of everything related to the courses in the field. As part of the  "Telling Your Own Story" program, I am the instructor of the script writing module: I basically guide students through all the stages from the premise of the movie until the final script. I occasionally teach the production design module. Finally, once in the field, I help coordinate the whole project.  

KT: Why are you doing FLEFF?

JG: Since La Poderosa Media Project is a blenden concept of film and eduction, FLEFF is the perfect venue to tie both components together.

KT: Would you do it again next year?

JG: Of course! It is a great opportunity for us to get to know and collaborate with a lot of interesting people.

What are your thoughts about the project?

Blog post written by Shawn Steiner, Film, Photography, and Visual Arts '13, FLEFF Intern, Elkridge, MD

Elizabeth Miller has begun her presentation so there is still time to get here if you can! We are in The Park Center for Business room 111.

TRANSMEDIA WORKSHOP: ELIZABETH MILLER

"The beauty of transmedia is that both of us can present at the same workshop and show drastically different things."

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"Stories are at the core of understanding people."

SCREENING: Mapping Memories

This is a participatory transmedia project Miller worked on in which youths of Montreal were able to tell their stories on their terms. It is important to understand that transmedia is more than a digital environment.

Miller does a lot of her work in a documentary setting, but that hasn't stopped these projects from evolving into multiple forms across mediums. And, after watching a couple clips from some projects I am getting more excited for On the Waterfront screening at Cinemapolis tomorrow night.

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"People protect people from violence."

Transmedia projects and the idea of using media to bring information to the public is necessary to helping society. Educating the public is a way to change the world.

And, as a plus, this movement between and through medias is a "mobility."

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Issues of Privacy and Protection

The key is working in a group with people with similar stories. A safe environment is where it starts. But, the purpose of these stories is to create a shift in thought.

Evan: You can't outrun it. Instead of fighting it you have to get right in front of it. Accept you don't have privacy and work in that realm.

Miller: The huge thing in transmedia is public vs. private.

Evan: "Facebook me is better than me." Facebook opens you up to the public sphere in a way in which you cannot recover from.

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Elizabeth Miller is a huge supporter of web documentaries. It allows people to access the databases of information available and travel through it in their own way. And while it is still evolving we don't know what will happen next.

"We are still seeing such a large range. It is a question that is up to you to answer."

QUESTION: Where do you see transmedia evolving?

Blog post written by Shawn Steiner, Film, Photography, and Visual Arts '13, FLEFF Intern, Elkridge, MD

FLEFF is in full swing! And right now Evan Meaney, assistant professor of transmedia design at the University of Tenessee, and Elizabeth Miller, are setting up in Park Center Business School room 111 for their Transmedia Workshop.

Everyone is looking good and just this second something has poppe up on the projector. Stay tuned for updates!

TRANSMEDIA WORKSHOP: EVAN MEANEY

"If you are a hammer than every problem starts looking like a nail."

What happened was people started dabbling "beyond and through" different medias in order to solve different problems in different ways.

Mainly, the key is that if you are one person, but secretly another person, you can be both!

And after "the brief history of Evan Meaney" we are delving into the meat of the workshop.

QUESTION: What is your definition of transmedia?

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"In the pursuit of being pure, I think about voids."

Pure is not in the ordinary sense, but in being clear. A void.

What are voids? They are null_sets.

Which leads into his project "Null_Sets" where he and a partner worked to produce software that converts data into jpeg images. Converting this data into an image removes the context from the information.

It is basically like making anything a "jpeg sandwich." Anything from Moby Dick to tweets to the entire human genome.

"It is really ordered chaos."

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Data vs. Information

Data is made up of all the core items that make up something. What that something is displayed as is an interpretation of data as information.

For example, if you buy groceries, turnips, onions, etc... That is the data. When you make the soup later on, the soup is the interpretation of the data as information. But, what kind of soup you make from those ingredient can change drastically depending on how you desire your food. The data can be interpreted in many ways to create innumerable interpretations.

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"I'm a terrible artist. Science is where it is at."

Think about it, scientists came up with a way to display images from nothing. Meaney says that this is incredible. They are the "Olympic-level geniuses."

And right now, Null_Sets source code and tool kit has been posted to the website and is available to all because "[t]hings are better when they are free."

This is a project that includes high-level coding, gallery presentations, and a participatory website. It requires you to learn a plethora of disciplines in order to ask questions that are revolutionary.

QUESTION: What are you studying? And what else are you interested in? Show your many disciplines.

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"Never turn down learning stuff."