DRAFT  April 2, 2013

THINK SLOW ACT FAST

Sherlock Jr. Script FLEFF 2013

By Patricia Zimmermann in collaboration with actress Cynthia Henderson

(image:  one image of Buster in close up from Sherlock on the screen)

PRELUDE—to the image of Buster Keaton

Scene:  A rehearsal in the beatnik era but remixed with an inflection of postmodern performance art; a sense of trying out the ideas and the space and engaging the audience; performed as a dialogue with Buster Keaton and also with the audience to explore, in a Brechtian way, acting/theater/cinema breaking the fourth wall

Buster Keaton!

Buster Keaton!

Buster Keaton.

Hello! (to Buster) Delighted, just delighted to work with you today. I’ve been thinking: if only I could do some scenes with a silent film star. A director like you who unfurled an absolute anarchy of movement to defy the borders of a set. An actor who installed  a hinge between dreams and reality.

Your face defined DEADPAN.   A fixed face.  An  unmoving face.  A face without a smile. DEADPAN. 

An actor. A director.  An acrobat.  Buster, you wrap vaudeville around cinema. You splice a stoney face to a body that moves constantly, insistently, explosively.   Your body erupts with spontaneity.

There you are, with your physically daring body and your stoney face. You’re a contradiction. You parody all forms of cinema. But you and your acting also pushes us to think…about mobilities.

Oh, and you’re here too? (looking at the audience) So glad you could join us tonight. We need you.

Buster would have liked that, all of you in the theater, waiting for him and for me to DO SOMETHING. 

Picking at your popcorn.  Scrolling through your Facebook page and Twitter feeds. Wondering, when is this show going to start?

And waiting, waiting, waiting, for Buster Keaton. Waiting for him to startle you with spectacle. To do something with space and in space that we simply CAN NOT imagine.

And you, waiting.  So, hello.  Welcome.   I need to know you are there. Hello!  Hello? 

It’s you. (looking at Keaton image)  I think a lot of folks here maybe do not KNOW YOU AT ALL.  I think maybe a lot of us do not know you as one of the most brilliant directors of  silent film. You said NO to melodrama and YES to anarchy.   The Great Stone Face. 

An idea has been traveling through my brain and my body lately.  It just keeps moving and churning and unsettling…MOBILITIES.

Help me say MOBILITIES?  (reach out to the audience)

No, not MOBILITY. That would be too, well, simple, predictable.…not mobile. That’s your phone. The one you really, really want to look at now, the one you are texting on in the dark, hoping no one will see your thumbs scurrying across the screen … But something more, something plural, something expansive, something …unpredictable…MOBILITIES.

Can you help me out  again?  MOBILITIES.

Louder. I need your help. Can’t HEAR YOU.

It's back!

The Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival's annual HOW TO GET YOUR BREAK panel--a perennial favorite among Ithaca College undergrads!

Hear film directors, film distributors, artists, and intellectuals who work internationally share their stories about their first experiences in film, media and communications in an engaging, interactive environment.

Expert, in-depth, and engaging facilitation by Steve Gordon, former Viacom executive and now a faculty member in the Roy H. Park School of Communications (and the originator of the HOW TO GET YOUR BREAK session at FLEFF 8 years ago!)

HOW TO GET YOUR BREAK

(part of FLEFF LAB FRIDAY)

Friday, April 5

Park 220

4-5:30

Moderated by Steve Gordon, Media Arts, Sciences and Studies, Ithaca College,

Featuring  2013 Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival guests from the international film industries:

Peter Miller (film director, AKA Doc Pomus);

Kevin Lee (dGenerate Films);

Carlos Gutierrez (Mexico/USA, Cinema Tropical);

Vanessa Domico (Outcast Films);

Dominica Dipio (Uganda,film director and film scholar); 

Bo Wang (China, China Concerto)

Yong Ki Jeong (Korea, film director, Couples, Once Upon a Time) with translation by Changhee Chun, Cinema, Ithaca College

For bios of all 50 guests coming to FLEFF, as well as schedules of events, see www.ithaca.edu/fleff

FLEFF: A DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT

Blog written by Patricia R. Zimmermann, professor of screen studies and codirector of the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival

It's going to be a jam-packed, amazing, eye-opening, and powerful year of international cinema at FLEFF 2013, our 16th Edition. 

Every year when we wrap FLEFF and I am completely exhausted from watching four films a day and listening to so many discussions where I change how I think about the world, I think, there is absolutely no way to top what we programmed. 

But this year, I think I can state without exaggeration that we've topped any other programming we've done in the past, with more films from more countries with more directors and more distributors.  And, we can promise more post-screening conversations of significance, a FLEFF trademark.

We have secured films from Palestine, France, Korea, USA, Canada, China, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Russia, Tibet, Norway, Sri Lanka, Chile. 

And we have booked a staggering array of film forms and styles: art films, commercial narratives, documentaries, shorts, experimental works--another FLEFF signature programming strategy that embraces heterogeneity. 

And that is just what we are screening downtown at Cinemapolis April 4-7. It does not includes all the films, new media artists, scholars, activists, and special programming on campus throughout the week.  More on those programs in another post.

A special shout out this year to Scott Bliss, Executive Director at Cinemapolis, for his energy and wonderful sense of collaboration. Without Cinemapolis downtown and without those exciting booking confabs with Scott, we would not have a venue to screen and discuss.

FLEFF Films to date for Cinemapolis, April 4-7, 2013 (click the links and find trailers for ALL films below...just to whet your appetites)

AKA Doc Pomus  (USA, 2012) with director Peter Miller

All Together (Stephane Robelin, France, 2012)with distributor Rodrigo Brandao, KinoLorber Films

Amazon Gold (USA, 2013)with director Sarah Du Pont

Anak-Anak Srikandi (Indonesia, 2012)  with distributor Vanessa Domico, Outcast Films,  and producer Laura Coppens

Black Maria Film and Video Festival 2013 shorts, with festival director John Columbus

China Concerto (Bo Wang, China, 2012) with distributor Kevin Lee. dGenerate Films

Couples (Korea, 2011) with Director / Writer  Yong ki Jeong

Dear Governor Cuomo (USA, 2012) with director Jon Bowermaster and other special guests

Everyone’s Child (Zimbabwe, 1995) with filmmaker Tsitsi Dargarembga

Five Broken Cameras (Algeria/Palestine, 2011) with distributor Rodrigo Brandao, KinoLorber Films

Habibi  (Susan Youssef, Palestine, 2011) guest TBA

October (Sergei Eisenstein, USSR, 1928) with Cloud Chamber Orchestra

Old Dog (Pema Tseden, Tibet/China, 2011)  with distributor Kevin Lee, dGenerate Films

On the Road (Walter Salles, USA, 2013) speakers TBA

Once Upon a Time (Korea,2008) with Director / Writer  Yong ki Jeong

Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton, USA, 1924) with Fe Nunn and Friends and Cynthia Henderson

Silenced Voices :Tales of Sri Lankan Journalists in Exile (Beate Arnestad,Norway/Sri Lanka, 2012)  with the subject of the film Sonal Samarasinghe

The Water Front ( USA/Canada, 2008) with film director Liz Miller

Upstate Filmmakers Showcase, with filmmakers Vincent Grenier, Jason Harrington, John Scott, Becky Lane, Arturo Sinclair, and  others TBA

Violeta Went to Heaven (Andres Wood, Chile/Brazil/Argentina/Spain, 2012) with distributor Rodrigo Brandao, KinoLorber Films,

Wild Style  (USA, 1983) 30th Anniversary Screening with director Charles Ahearn

 by Patricia R. Zimmermann, codirector of the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival

We could not be more excited here at FLEFF.

Ithaca College alum and former FLEFF intern extraordinaire Evan Meaney, a new media artist and designer,  has won FLEFF's Distributed Microtopias New Media Exhibition this year for his amazing collaborative project, Null Sets (2012)  Enrico Anditjondro from FLEFF partner organzation Engage Media in Indonesia served as the jury.

Evan will be joining us at FLEFF 2013 as a featured guest, showing his new works and discussing the mobilities of new media arts.

Here's what Distriburted Microtopias curator Dale Hudson, in Abu Dhabi, had to say about Null Sets:  

"Exploring the gaps between data and information, Null_Sets renders large-scale data translation into images that visualize size and architecture when users enter data and click on the “jpegify” button.  Null_Sets engages the utopic notions of digitized data across distributed networks like Project Gutenberg and Google’s libraries by allowing users to enter titles of books that are routed through a Flickr photostream.  If these libraries function like mirco-utopias across distributed networks, then Null_Sets asks us what it means when all information is no longer rendered, so that difference becomes negligible, nonmeasurable, and ideal."

About Amy and Evan:

Amy Szczepanski is a Research Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Tennessee and serves as coordinator of education, outreach, and training for UT's Remote Data Analysis and Visualization Center (RDAV). Her research interests expanded to include broader engagement in mathematics, including the study of mathematics in the fiber arts. Since 2010 her interests have expanded to computer science.

Evan Meaney researches and teaches transmedia design at the University of Tennessee.  His practices explore liminalities and glitches of all kinds, equating failing data to ghosts, seances, and archival hauntology.  He has been an Iowa Arts Fellow, an artist in residence at the Experimental Television Center, and a founding member of GLI.TC/H. Currently, he works with the super computing team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on new projects made possible through generous funding from the National Science Foundation.

What is your response to Null Sets?  What does it get you thinking about?

Written by Jonathan Morello, Assistant to the FLEFF Codirectors

I recently spent some time with Tom Shevory, codirector of FLEFF, to probe his ideas about the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival.

In this portion of our interview, Tom discusses new media and how the various forms of film featured in the programming shape the festival.

Jonathan: What gives you most joy while working on FLEFF?

Tom: For me, it’s learning new ideas and new ways of thinking about these ideas. I’ve learned so much about so many things with the festival.

That’s what keeps me interested. FLEFF is always changing. It’s always different. Year after year, we offer fresh content, presented in ways that have never been seen before at the festival.

The recent transformations of media really add to this way of thinking. I enjoy gaining insight on how this works. It’s just different than the traditional academic structures to say the least.

Jonathan: Can you explain how transformations in media have changed the festival?

Tom: We do a lot of work with new media. We always make sure to include works that engage digital interfaces. We don’t see the distinction between forms. We see film as a broad category that includes all media formats.

Jonathan: How does the incorporation of new media formats add to FLEFF?

Tom: It creates an inclusive environment without limits. New media allows FLEFF to incorporate works in new interfaces.  It allows activist groups, nonprofit groups, and educators to have their message about sustainability heard. They will submit their films to the festival in the form of DVD, Blu-ray or in a digital format for the on-line audience. The use of Skype allows us to interact globally.

Everyone is welcome to share their story, their ideas, and their feelings toward sustainability regardless of form. It doesn’t matter if you are a distributor of major independent films shot and projected using 35mm film or an activist group using online interfaces for user-generated upload.

Jonathan:  How does distribution across these different formats impact FLEFF?

Tom: It mainly effects how and where we plan to program events during the festival.

Most of the films created and distributed by activist groups, nonprofit groups, and educators are shown at Ithaca College during the festival. These works screen better on campus and the creators of these films really enjoy working with the undergraduates. As guests in the classroom, the creators really enhance the dialogue and discussions that pertain to their particular exhibition.

Larger budget films, distributed by major distributors have very particular roll-outs on the film’s exhibition. These pictures are shot and projected using 35mm film. 35mm films are generally what the industry and programmers dub “the most commercial.” A commercial film is something you can sell tickets to because it is designed for wide distribution. These types of works will screen at Cinemapolis in downtown Ithaca.

When programing for the more popular films, we have to be mindful of the roll-outs and how long major distributors plan to run these films in the theaters. In order to use these films, the roll-outs have to coincide with our scheduling and when we plan to have the festival.

Jonathan: Can you think of any other challenges relative to these commercials films?

Tom: Everything in the commercial and art cinema theaters is changing. 35mm film is going to disappear. Replacing it is high-quality digital projection. This provides quality that is superior to DVD, Blu-Ray and even 35mm film.

Jonathan: How does this pose a challenge for FLEFF?

Tom: In order to screen these films, you need high-quality digital projectors that cost about $60,000 each. Cinemapolis needs five of them for a complete upgrade. The theater is in the process of raising money through grants and fundraising to make this full and necessary transition complete.

Keep your eyes and ears open for Part II of this story! It's coming soon!