See the spring 2012 screening schedule below!
K I N E T I C C I N E M A
Kinetic Cinema is a regular screening series curated by invited guest artists who create evenings of films and videos that have been influential to their own work as artists. When artists are asked to reflect upon how the use of movement in film and media arts has influenced their own art, a plethora of new ideas, material, and avenues of exploration emerge. From cutting edge motion capture animation to Michael Jackson music videos, from Gene Kelly musicals to Kenneth Anger films, movement in media has made a great impact on the culture at large. Kinetic Cinema is dedicated to the recognition and appreciation for “moving” pictures. We have presented these evenings at Collective: Unconscious, Chez Bushwick, Interborough Repertory Theater, University Settlement, Launchpad, Green Space and The Tank in New York City, as well as at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia.
U P C O M I N G S C R E E N I N G S
Kinetic Cinema @ Uniondocs
“Electric Salomes and the Technology of Female Spectacle”
Screening and discussion with Amy Ruhl
with filmmakers, Amy Greenfield and Kerrie Welsh
Monday, May 7th, 7:30pm
$9 suggested donation
Filmmaker Amy Ruhl curates a provocative program of Kinetic Cinema that examines how the female body, under the unique technology of cinema, has been the primary source of spectacle since the beginnings of film. Ruhl’s work engages with sources ranging from George Meliès’ “trick films,” to Nazimova’s “Salome” (Dance of the Seven Veils) to Vera Chytilova’s phantasmagoria scene in “Daisies,” one of the most lauded Czech new wave films. She will present examples of these influences and discuss how they have informed her latest short film, “How Mata Hari Lost Her Head and Found Her Body” which was made in part by collaging early film footage together with live action animation.
“How Mata Hari Lost Her Head and Found Her Body”, is an imaginary biography of a real historical figure: the erotic dancer and courtesan executed by firing squad for double espionage in World War I. Reinventing the archetypal femme fatale according to her corporeal afterlife- Hari was decapitated after her execution, her body donated to anatomical study and her head displayed at the Musee d’Anatomie- Ruhl imagines her as a striptease artist whose ability to remove her head takes Belle Époque Paris by storm. Using Oscar Wilde’s Salome as a site for narrative and historical interaction, the film draws upon the cultural phenomenon of “Salomania” among largely lesbian and bisexual female performers in order to engage with an era when Orientalism sold, scandal became success, and deviant desires equaled a crime punishable by death.
The program will also feature works by two contemporary experimental filmmakers, Kerrie Welsh and Amy Greenfield, who will be in attendance and join the discussion.
“Peter, Peter…”
Kerrie Welsh, 16mm color sync sound. 6 minutes 33 seconds, 2002
A dark retelling of the children’s rhyme “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater,” illustrates the disparity between the narratives we construct and the realities they represent.
“Wildfire”
Amy Greenfield, 35mm, 12 minutes, 2003
The final film in Greenfield’s acclaimed Club Midnight film cycle depicts women “clothed” in electronically generated flaming colors, reincarnating Thomas Edison’s 1894 hand-tinted film, Annabelle Dances.
322 Union Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
P A S T S C R E E N I N G S
Kinetic Cinema at Gibney Dance Center
- PORCH STORIES, Photo: Gary Tacon
Let me Entertain You
Marta Renzi, an acclaimed choreographer and filmmaker, curated a program that revealed the real inspiration behind her work, and reminded us of why art matters:
“Asked to share something about why I make dance films, I find myself showing excerpts from feature films that include a prison gang, a drunken orgy, and run the gamut from Greek tragedy to Saturday morning cartoons. To accompany these, I’ve chosen bits from my own dance films featuring characters with everyday lives and actual jobs – nursing aide, garbage collector, fast food worker, bartender – and who dance like it.”
Arthur Aviles, a long time performer and collaborator of Marta’s opened the evening with a video and solo piece of his own.
890 Broadway, Fifth Floor
New York, NY 10003
Kinetic Cinema at Fort Useless
The MerryMakers Make Movies
a screening and discussion with The MerryMakers
Sunday, February 26th at 7pm
The MerryMakers evening length show “Adventures in Anytown,” part vaudeville act and part silent film era comedy, is the result of a collaboration between dancers Elizabeth Burwell and Rachel Sattler and filmmaker Ethan Duff. Dance and film are both effective mediums for visual communication, and by intertwining the two, the MerryMakers created a show that is at once nostaglic and innovative.
The MerryMakers Make Movies will explore the ways that nostaglia and image memory influence the contemporary artist while at the same time morph into something new. The program wil include footage form their show along with clips of influencial film images and discussion of their experiences shooting throughout NYC, wearing clown make-up, in the dead of winter. Come to be inspired, come to laugh, leave tapping your toes.
36 Ditmars Street
Brooklyn, NY 11221
Kinetic Cinema at CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing)
“Dance On Camera Extended”
presented in conjunction with CRS and the Dance Films Association
Saturday February 4th, 7pm
Every year, the Dance Films Association’s Dance on Camera Festival showcases films that highlight the relationship between movement and cinema. Hundreds of submissions are received, but only a few are able to be screened. For this special program we have selected some of our favorites that were not able to be shown this year, and will screen them as part of our first Kinetic Cinema event of 2012.
CRS (map)
123 4th Ave, 2nd FL
New York, NY 10003
212.677.8621
info@crsny.org
Kinetic Cinema at CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing)
The Making of Bound
screening and discussion with Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre
Saturday December 3rd, 4:30pm
$10 suggested donation
The New York-based contemporary dance theatre company Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre curated the Dec 3rd Kinetic Cinema where they discussed their unique process using Skype to create new work during the temporary relocation of Artistic Director Samar Haddad King to Palestine. In October 2011 the company premiered their latest performance project, Bound at the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, examining the lives of nine individuals living under occupation. For Kinetic Cinema, they discussed their unique working technique with Samar Haddad King live on Skype, along with a curated selection of videos related to Bound, including footage from the creation process and source films from which they drew their inspiration.
Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre has been hailed as “awesomely athletic” by Chicago Stage Style, and “Like a ray of light coming out of the arid desert…leaving the audience mesmerized in their seats” by Hussein Daaseh, Al Rai. You can more about their long distance creative process in this article by Jennifer Edwards for the Huffington Post.
photo: Sara Genoves-Slyvan
CRS (map)
123 4th Ave, 2nd FL
New York, NY 10003
212.677.8621
info@crsny.org
Kinetic Cinema workshop @ Green Space
The One-person Crew: Techniques and strategies for getting it all done yourself
Workshop with Zena Bibler
Sunday November 20th, 3-6pm
Led by dance filmmaker and former Kinetic Cinema Coordinator, Zena Bibler, in this workshop we focused on strategies for filming (and editing) ourselves in visually interesting and dynamic ways through camera positioning, perspective, rhythm and movement composition. We also discussed techniques for shooting to edit without a DP.
Zena Bibler is a dance artist and filmmaker interested in improvisation structures and site-specific performance. Using movement and film as a means of experiencing diverse environments, she uncovers histories, secret meanings, serendipities, and previously unimagined possibilities in the spaces she explores. Her work has been shown at Judson Church, Dixon Place, La MaMa Galeria, NADA Hudson, Yale University, WestFest, Rice University, São Carlos Videodance Festival, and Moviehouse Brooklyn.
Kinetic Cinema presented by MovieHouse @ 3rd Ward
Can Marriage be Creative?
screening and discussion with Aynsley Vandenbroucke
Sunday November 13th 7pm Doors and Food, 8pm Screening
For the first time, Kinetic Cinema was presented by MovieHouse at 3rd Ward, a screening series that presents the very best in local filmmaking amidst cool beats, drinks, snacks and creative conversation.
For Moviehouse, choreographer Aynsley Vandenbroucke presented a program that delved into the relationship between personal partnership and artistic practice. Through documentaries and interviews of primarily New York-based artists, she looked at questions of freedom and commitment, presence and absence, public and private, mobility and stability. After the screening there was a discussion and debate about these sometimes contradictory human impulses, and the dialogue that ensued was recorded to form the foundation for a new performance piece Vandenbroucke is making surrounding these questions.
photo: Mathew Pokoik
3rd Ward
195 Morgan Ave
Brooklyn, NY
718.715.4961
events@3rdward.com
Kinetic Cinema @ LaunchPad
THE PERPETUAL MOTION OF DANCE & WATER
screening and discussion with Pascal Rekoert
Thursday June 9th 7-9pm
LaunchPad, 721 Franklin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11238
For the final installment of this spring’s Kinetic Cinema, choreographer/filmmaker Pascal Rekoert focuses on the interplay between dance and water including film works of celebrated New York City artists: Xan Burley & Alex Springer, Julie Fotheringham, and Jody Oberfelder.
Kinetic Cinema @ Green Space
Workshop and Screening: Moving with Objects and Architecture
with Zach Morris
Green Space, 37-24 24th St. Suite 301, Long Island City, NY 11101
Choreography for the Camera Workshop
Tuesday May 3rd 7-10pm
In this workshop, multi-disciplinary artist Zach Morris led participants through a process of creating site-specific movement works for the camera. A grab-bag of choreographic tactics focus on working with the architecture of a site to pull images and meaning from its components. Techniques for researching a site and exploring its possibilities in movement; finding hidden meaning in a space and developing methods to amplify it; and issues of staging, storyboarding, and choreographing for the camera were introduced through a series of focused exercises.
Film Screening: Moving with Objects and Architecture
Tuesday May 17th 8-10pm
Zach Morris of Third Rail Projects and The Dance Film Lab curated an evening of Dance for Camera that has been influential on his work as a site-specific choreographer and dance filmmaker. Films such as Dirty Ho (Lan tou He); (Dir. Lau Kar-Leung, Contrecoup (Dir. Pascal Magnin), Rest in Peace (Chor. Hans Hof Ensemble; Dir. Annick Vroom), as well as footage from Casino Royale (Dir. Martin Campbell), Touch of Evil (Dir. Orson Wells) and Singing in the Rain (Dirs: Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen) were included.
Kinetic Cinema @ LaunchPad
The Virtual Double: A Screening and discussion with Jillian Peña
Friday April 15th 7-9pm, FREE
LaunchPad, 721 Franklin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11238
Following in the steps of the Greek chorus, the corps de ballet and the Rockettes, dance artist Jillian Peña sought to create a homogenous group of dancers to work with. Finding it impossible, Jillian turned to video and found perfect unison of bodies using self-multiplication. In her program, Reflection Jillian showed the earliest and the most recent of her works employing this aesthetic ideal. She also screened works which have inspired her in this process.
118 S. 36th St., Philadelphia, PA 19104-3289
Wednesday, December 9, 2009, 7:30pm
Tickets: $10
New York, NY 10036
Kinetic Cinema is a co-presentation of Pentacle’s Movement Media with The Tank.
“LIQUID FILMS”
Curated by Amy Greenfield
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
7:30pm $10
354 45th St.
New York, NY 10036
For LIQUID FILMS, cinedance pioneer, Amy Greenfield, takes dance into the water in a splash of amazing classic and neo cine-dance from 1903 to the 21st century, to transform the very nature of dance as only a screen medium can.
Kinetic Cinema with Victoria Marks
Wednesday, October 21st,
6:30pm.
Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA)
118 South 36th Street
Philadelphia, PA
Thursday, October 22nd,
7:00pm. $10
University Settlement
184 Eldridge Street
New York, NY 10002
Award-winning choreographer and dance film-maker, Victoria Marks presents a program in which she weaves together her main cinematic influences with her own dance film work.
“Kill The Ego” by Soundwalk and Rostarr
Curated by Lisa Niedermeyer
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
7:30pm $10
354 45th St.
New York, NY 10036
Conceived originally as a sound collage by Stephan Crasneanscki and Dug Winningham of the new media firm Soundwalk, ‘Kill The Ego’ draws on a decade’s worth of New York City field recordings “voices of pimps and engineers, poets and dominatrixs, visionaries and children, hope and sorrow.” Fueled by this sound, underground visual artist Rostarr experiments with gravity, momentum, torque and combinations of all three (break dancing on his canvases) as directors Jim Helton and Ron Patane bring to cinematic life Soundwalk’s original audio collage and Rostarr’s visual work, culminating in a uniquely kinetic representation of New York City.
“REALITY DANCEVISION:
An Intimate Screen Capture of Dance Vloggers”
Curated by Boris Willis
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
7:00pm $10
Chez Bushwick
304 Boerum St., Buzzer #11
Brooklyn, NY 11206
This last Kinetic Cinema of the season featured Boris Willis, a dancer, choreographer, video-maker and blogger based in Washington DC. Willis explored the phenomena of dance vlogs (video blogs about dance) and presented works by of some of the most notable and prolific dance vloggers today. In 2007-08 Willis published the vlog “Dance-a-day” in which he made and posted a dance video every day for 365 days. From his first video shot in a parking lot demonstrating effeminate gestures, to an entire month of posts about important sites of Black history in Washington DC, as well as 43 collaborations with composer David Morneau (who also posted a composition a day on his blog 60×365.com) , Willis covered the entire range of styles, experiments, and types of improvisation one can do with dance and a video camera.
For more information on this program please visit our blog, Move the Frame.
This Kinetic Cinema was a co-presentation with Chez Bushwick.
