Category Archives: film

Silent Pictures on Fifth Avenue

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Silent_Pictures

Silent Pictures
Through October 11, 2009

“Silent Pictures” is inspired by artist Art Spiegelman’s collection of wordless books – mostly black and white artist books from the 1930s. The exhibition features these books, as well as more recent “abstract comics,” and a related film program, which investigates essential qualities and aesthetics of this hugely popular medium.

The abstract comics, compiled by Andrei Molotiu for Abstract Comics, Fantagraphics Books, 2009, call attention to formal mechanisms that underlie all comics. Where the earlier art collected by Spiegelman retains a narrative thrust, the comics gathered by Molotiu emphasize dynamic graphics that lead the eye and mind from panel to panel, suggesting that these structural elements are fundamental to the emotional register of the medium.

The exhibition includes a wall drawing by Renee French, an animation by Rachel Cattle and Steve Richards, and a project for the Fifth Avenue lobby windows by Gail Fitzgerald and Carl Ostendarp. “Comic-Film-Strips,” a related film program featuring mostly wordless, animated, historic films, is curated by Columbia University art historian Noam Elcott.

Book Signing

Thursday September 10, 5–6 PM
Jim Hanley’s Universe, 4 West 33rd Street, New York, NY
Editor Andrei Molotiu and some of the contributing artists will sign copies of Abstract Comics: The Anthology.

Curator Walk-through

Friday September 11, 6 PM
With Andrei Molotiu

Abstract Comics: A Panel Discussion

Saturday September 12, 4 PM
Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art
594 Broadway, Suite 401, New York

Comic-Film-Strips: Noam Elcott in Conversation

Friday September 25, 6–7:30 PM
The Graduate Center Skylight Lounge (9th Floor)
Art historian Noam Elcott will discuss the exhibition’s animated film program, which he curated as part of the “Silent Pictures” exhibition, in the context of twentieth-century avant-garde cinema.

Screening of Manufactured Landscapes today!

Education, Events, film, Inspiration, , , , ,

manufactured_landscapes

Parsons School of Art, Media & Technology will host a screening of EDWARD BURTYNSKY: MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES tonight.

WHEN: Wednesday, August 26, 6PM

WHERE: Lab10 (room 1000, 2 W 13th St., 10th floor)

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris. The film follows him through China, as he shoots the evidence and effects of that country’s massive industrial revolution. With breathtaking sequences, such as the opening tracking shot through an almost endless factory, the filmmakers also extend the narratives of Burtynsky’s photographs, allowing us to meditate on our impact on the planet and witness both the epicenters of industrial endeavor and the dumping grounds of its waste.

In the spirit of such environmentally enlightening sleeper-hits as AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH and RIVERS AND TIDES, MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES powerfully shifts our consciousness about the world and the way we live in it, without simplistic judgments or reductive resolutions.

AWARDS

Best Documentary Feature – Toronto Film Critics Association
Best Canadian Feature – Toronto Film Critics Association
Best Canadian Feature – Toronto Film Festival
Best Documentary – Genie Awards

http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/film.php?directoryname=manufacturedlandscapes
http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/Introduction/Manufactured_Landscapes.html

UMOVE Online Videodance Festival

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umove-1-11-crop50

UMOVE Online Videodance Festival
October 1-31, 2009     On the web and live at select locations

Pentacle’s Movement Media announces the First Annual UMove Online Videodance Festival from October 1-31, 2009 on the web and at select screening locations across the US and around the world in 2009-10. Submission deadline is August 15, 2009.

UMove celebrates the creativity and diversity of kinetic cinema in all its forms, from dance/film to gaming, from animation to mash-ups – created for sharing on the web, on mobile devices and on ipods.

To date, the web format for dance and kinetic-based film has been under-recognized and under-valued by dance film presenters and curators.  It’s time to give these videos a platform to receive both feedback and critical praise. UMove seeks work that is strong in concept and execution, rather than sporting fancy production values or large budgets. Film-makers are free to use a variety of high and low tech media to create their work.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: August 15, 2009

If your submission is chosen you will be required to submit digital stills and a finished copy of your video on DVD (NTSC only) for screening and publicity purposes by September 15, 2009. All submissions regardless of selection will be made available for public viewing on our blog, Move the Frame.

Please visit our blog, for general rules and submission details: http://movetheframe.wordpress.com/umove-festival/

Email all information to movementmedia@pentacle.org

UMOVE SUBMISSION CATEGORIES

·    Animation/Gaming- including digital animation, machinima, Second life, and Virtual Reality games.
·    Cell phone – videos made using a cell phone.
·    Gone in 60 seconds – videos under one minute long
·    Low/No Budget – videos made for under $1,000
·    Surprise me! – unique uses of dance and new media or digital technology

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

The First Annual UMove Online Videodance Festival will take place October 1-31, 2009. The festival will feature short dance and movement-based videos that were made specifically for the web and other new media formats including cell phones, gaming, virtual reality worlds, and mash-ups. In addition to online programming on YouTube and Movement Media’s blog, Move the Frame, the festival will include a launch party and live screenings in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, UK, and other locations to be announced.

UMove was started by three dance film-makers: Kriota Willberg, Marta Renzi, and Anna Brady Nuse (Pentacle’s Director of Movement Media) who are passionate about promoting dance film through any means possible. We seek to find the most innovative and engaging dance videos on the web and to highlight rising talent in the field.

October 1st will mark the launch of the festival online and there will be a live screening and party in New York after which the festival will tour to select locations around the country and the world in 2009-10.

Illustration students picked for Animation and Digital Film Festival

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from Parsons MFA Design Technology Director Anezka Sebek:

It is my pleasure to announce the winners of the juried 10th Annual Parsons Animation and Digital Film Festival.Thanks to our Jurors: Steven Guarnaccia, Jessica Irish, Colleen Macklin, Jane Pirone, and James Ramer for contributing their valuable time to the jury in this busiest time of the semester.

Here are the people who will be in the screening reel TONIGHT–Tuesday, May 19th and TOMORROW–Wednesday May 20th. The SAME REEL of the festival screens at 7PM both days in Swayduck Auditorium, 65 5th Avenue. On Tuesday, May 19th, we will be awarding the people who have taken the “best of” prizes.

Best Character Animation
Best Motion Graphics
Best Overall Technical Execution

We hope that you will join us to congratulate the filmmakers and animators who participated and those who have been selected to the screening reel:

Slaves to Technology Yelena Mirchevskaya
Little Boxes Hsing Yu Chen (Cha Cha)
Duo Duo and Xiang Min Fengyu Hao
Art in Motion by Lilah Montgomery [Illustration Student!]
Faceless Neil by Noella Borie [Illustration Student!]
Plus-size Problem Pasquale Chieffalo
Count your Blessings Nicolas Perez-Gurri
Ranga’s Meat Shop Rohini Metharam
Rat on the Moon Nurbanu Asena
Conversation Nina Torr
UNICEF-Make Children’s Dreams Jaehquck Lee
Serial Killer Jaehquck Lee
Claybrothers Jaehquck Lee
Opening Movie for MFA DT Thesis Show Jun Yung Moon
What if the Food Chain was Broken? Tibo Charroppin
The Watermelon GirlEun Hee Sidney Shin
Bubbletea Jessica A. M. Chen
The Globetrotter Magnus Schullere-Cablay
Urban Rhythm, Surface Tu Varathit
Audio Visual Experiments Claudio Midolo
Metamorphosis of Media Melissa Marcus
The Unseen Journey Jason Tseng
DOA Erik Carter
Apegado Tomas Pichardo-Espaillat and Cem Misirlioglu
Vuela Alto Tomas Pichardo-Espaillat
Ipod Nano Commercial Sangho Moon
BET TV network spot Sangho Moon
The Many Glasses of Me Sangho Moon
In the Life Open Alec Donovan
Open Frame Luke Hanson
Fito Craft Brewery Adolfo Facasse

Congrats to Lilah, Noella, and all other winners for their inclusion!

David Polonsky at Society of Illustrators

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waltz_with_bashir

Tuesday, March 3rd at 6:30 at The Society of Illustrators (128 East 63rd) meet David Polonsky, the illustrator and art director of Ari Forman’s Waltz with Bashir. Polonsky will discuss the techniques that were used to make this unique animated documentary. The talk will be accompanied by clips from the film. A Q and A session will follow and a book signing for the release of a graphic novel based upon the film.

$10 members, $15 non-members.
RSVP to kevin@societyillustrators.org

Here’s a trailer for the movie if you haven’t already seen it:

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.784760&w=425&h=350&fv=]

The Vinyl Frontier Spotlight vol. 12: Tara McPherson

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[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.780015&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

Check out this great video of Parsons Illustration faculty Tara McPherson talking about her artwork, specifically her work with vinyl toys.  This featurette will be part of a larger documentary called The Vinyl Frontier, by Daniel Zana.  In addition to Tara, the documentary will feature work and interviews with a ton of other amazing artists like Attaboy, Tim Biskup, Dalek, Tristan Eaton, Ron English, Frank Kozik, and Gary Baseman. Here’s an excerpt from an interview with the film’s creator, Daniel Zana, which was featured on ToyCyte last year:

TC: For those who haven’t seen the trailer, describe your movie in a nutshell.

DZ: When I tell people I’m making a movie on vinyl toys, some ask, “Are you making a movie on vinyl records or sex toys?” You’d be surprised at how many people don’t know these toys exist. I think it would be neat to show the history of why you have this piece of plastic in your hands. The history of the toy isn’t necessary but you have more appreciate once you understand its history.

I want to talk about where they came from – to intellectualize the discussion about vinyl toys. Are these toys or pieces of art? Why should people take a look at it one way or the other? I want to re-shape the discussion about toys.

There’s so much history behind the pieces. The movie is for members who visit toy forums and are really into particular artists. I’m also making the movie for people who like counter-culture, who are into art. I want vinyl toys to be legitimized as an art form, and I want toy artists to be known for their work. How often do you see on-camera interviews with these artists? Every artist deserves a time to shine.

You can read the whole interview here.

Keep your eye out for the film, which should be released sometime this year!

R. Sikoryak work in “The Bentfootes”

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bentfootes

The dance mockumentary The Bentfootes–for which Illustration Alum and Part-time Faculty member Robert Sikoryak contributed archival animation, design and illustration–won second place in the Narrative Feature category at the Landlocked Film Festival in Iowa City.  Here’s the official description of the movie:

Writer Todd Alcott and choreographer Kriota Willberg team up to direct their first feature film, a loving skewering of 200 years of American dance. Funny, touching and irreverent, The Bentfootes tells the story of a fictitious every-choreographer, Susan Bentfoote (1966-2005) (Nina Hellman) and her quasi-illustrious family, who managed to keep their demented muse alive through all of American history. We follow Jim Raritan (James Urbaniak), Susan’s boyfriend, as he takes us on a wide-eyed, enthusiastic, exasperating journey of discovery into a forgotten tributary in the river of American dance culture and watch as he goes from being the lover of a dead choreographer to becoming a producer of American Modern Dance. A ‘mockumentary’ melange of Spinal Tap and Ken Burns, The Bentfootes includes a memorial concert of Bentfoote dances, interviews with family and friends, historical photos, film and family memorabilia. In its own tongue-in-cheek way it explores the American dancer’s artistic aesthetic from post-revolutionary times to the present.

Congratulations to Bob, the filmmakers, and everyone involved!