Picture Start

Aesthetica Magazine - Short Film Competition

2009-11-12T13:20:51Z

"Aesthetica is looking for filmmakers who are driving the genre of short film forward through inspirational and innovative works. Whether you are fresh out of film school or have been making films for years, we want to hear from you. Accepting films in all genres: drama, documentary, music video, satire, comedy and artists' film.

This award offers the winner and runners-up a fantastic prize package, which will bring your films to a wider audience.

The deadline for submissions is 30 April 2010. All winners will be notified by 31 May 2010 and the DVD will be released 1 August 2010."

For more details see the competition website.

This Morning! : Using Visual Methods in Qualitative Research

2009-11-11T12:55:34Z

When: This Morning! Wednesday, November 11th, 11:30am (new time)

Where: Women’s Studies Lounge, 8th Floor, Anderson Hall (new location)

Susan Lucas and Rickie Sanders (Department of Geography/Urban Studies) used visual qualitative methods in their research analyzing images in retirement community brochures, “The View from There: Analyzing Images in Retirement Community Brochures”. They will discuss methodologies used to interpret visual materials, images as sites of cultural production, epistemological concerns in the use of visual methods, common critiques, and institutional factors that impinge on the use of visual methods.

Lucas and Sanders are the authors of many articles with publications in the International Encyclopedia of Human Geography (Methods Section), Children’s Geographies, Professional Geographer, International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, Gender, Place and Culture, The Canadian Geographer, and Journal of Geography.

There will be time for discussion, questions and comments.

Cronica D'una Mirada: Clandestine Filmmaking in Franco's Spain, 1960 – 1975

2009-10-27T19:11:35Z

Film @ International House
Cronica D'una Mirada: Clandestine Filmmaking in Franco's Spain, 1960 – 1975

Co-presented by the Department of Hispanic Studies and the Cinema Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania

This six-part documentary series focuses on a generation of independent filmmakers whose innate unwillingness to conform required them to produce, distribute and exhibit radical films during Francisco Franco’s regime. Shooting under the pretense of amateur filmmaking, they hid within crowds of protesters, producing works that were often highly creative and even experimental. In order to protect the identities of its participants, many of these films had no credits.

While this body of work represents a margin of Spanish film history, it nevertheless contains some of the most crucial, first-hand documents of the end of the dictatorship, revealing problems of housing and social services, immigration, the fate of political prisoners and restrictions on expression and free speech. These films explore an era that fought for freedom through cinema.

Curated by Marta Sanchez and Manuel Barrios. Special thanks to Bryan Cameron and Anna Cox of the Department of Hispanic Studies at the University Of ennsylvania and Charlotte Nitta Cargni.

Wednesday, October 28 at 7pm
Part I: Good Manners
dir. Manuel Barrios, Spain, 2004, DVD, 44 mins, color & b/w, Spanish w/ English subtitles

Apart from professionals, owning a film camera at the end of the 50s was a privilege enjoyed by relatively few and used primarily for travel and family. People who were passionate about film went to the movies or created a cinema club. However, there was a shift that occurred when amateurs created stories with intent and when cinema clubs where used to talk about more than just films. Good Manners and accompanying shorts reflect on amateur films that dared to explore what was not permitted, that try to investigate the day-to-day morality of the time.

followed by
Happy Parallel (El Alegre Paralelo)
dir. Enric Ripoll and Josep-Maria Freixes Ramon, Spain, 1964, DVD, 28 mins, b/w

The film reveals the daily life of the popular Barcelona neighborhood of Parallel, reflecting prostitution, nightlife and all it encompasses.

A Good Friday (Un Viernes Santo)
dir. Joan Gabriel Tharrats, Spain, 1960, DVD, 26 mins, b/w

When it was produced, A Good Friday was considered quite controversial and actually forbidden by the regime and shown only in cinema clubs.

Aspectes i Personatges de Barcelona 1964
dir. Carles Barba, Spain, 1975, DVD, 25 mins, b/w, Spanish w/ English subtitles

Using footage centering on Barcelona, these images and accounts have now become outstanding documents of the period.

Free admission members above Internationalist level;
$5 Internationalists; $6 students + seniors; $8 general admission.
In advance at TICKETWEB or 1/2 hour before showtime at The Ibrahim Theater Box Office.

Robert E. Cargni
Film Program Curator
Ibrahim Theater @ International House
International House Philadelphia
3701 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
p) 1.215.895.6555| (f) 1.215.895.6562
www.ihousephilly.org

Panel Discussion on the Works of Ryan Trecartin

2009-10-06T18:26:55Z

A Panel Discussion on the Works of Wolgin Prize Finalist Ryan Trecartin
October 7, 5:30 pm, Paley Library Lecture Hall

Ryan Trecartin’s work advances understandings of post‐millennial technology, narrative and identity. Discussed from a variety of perspectives, panelists will examine issues of social media and networks; gender and aesthetic themes in video art; and more. Participants include Temple University’sGerard Brown, Chair of Foundations, Tyler School of Art (moderator); Scott Gratson, Director of the Communications Program and SCT Undergraduate Studies; Aaron Smuts, Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy; Elisabeth Subrin, Assistant Professor in the Department of Film and Media Arts; and Andrew Suggs, Executive Director of Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia.

This event is part of a series of collaborative public programs presented in conjunction with the Tyler School of Art’s Jack Wolgin International Competition in the Fine Arts

Strange Fruit screening at Paley Library 7PM Wednesday

2009-09-29T12:41:12Z

September 30, 2009 7:00 PM, Wednesday

Strange Fruit, Dir. Joel Katz, 2002, 57 min.
September 30, 7:00 p.m., Paley Library Lecture Hall

This event is a part of a Film Series Curated by Wolgin Prize Finalist Sanford Biggers
Introduction by Dr. Diane D. Turner, Curator of the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection

Director Joel Katz explores the history of the popular song "Strange Fruit," written by Abel Meeropol and famously performed by Billie Holiday, through interviews with musicians, historians, genealogists and more. Katz fashions a fascinating discovery of the lost story behind this heartbreaking American classic.

This event is part of a series of collaborative public programs presented in conjunction with the Tyler School of Art’s Jack Wolgin International Competition in the Fine Arts

About Wolgin Prize Finalist Sanford Biggers

Sanford Biggers (b. 1970, Los Angeles) is a native of Los Angeles, California, and current New York resident, who uses the study of ethnological objects, popular icons, and the Dadaist tradition to explore cultural and creative syncretism, art history, and politics. An accomplished musician, Biggers often incorporates performative elements into his sculptures and installations, resulting in multilayered works that act as anecdotal vignettes, at once full of wit and clear formal intent. Biggers has won several awards and has participated in a number of prestigious national and international artist residencies and fellowships. Sanford Biggers' installations, videos, and performances have appeared in institutions in China, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Poland and Russia as well as several notable exhibitions such as the Prospect.1/New Orleans biennial, Illuminations at the Tate Modern, Performa 07, the Whitney Biennial and Freestyle at the Studio Museum in Harlem. He is currently preparing for solo shows at the Contemporary Arts Forum in Santa Barbara and the Brooklyn Museum and a permanent commission in New York City through the New York Percent for Art.

About the Competition

Created in 2009 by the real estate developer, banker and philanthropist Jack Wolgin of Philadelphia, the Jack Wolgin International Competition in the Fine Arts was established at the Temple University Tyler School of Art to recognize an emerging artist with a significant studio practice who critically and creatively engages with existing histories and images, and whose work transcends traditional boundaries. With a cash prize of $150,000, the Jack Wolgin International Competition in the Fine Arts grants the world’s largest juried visual art prize awarded to an individual.

Inspired by the diversity of Temple University and its unique connection to the thriving art communities of Philadelphia, Mr. Wolgin chose the Tyler School to host and administrate the Competition. By bringing the work of innovative and talented artists to the Tyler School, the Competition seeks to open a dialogue among students, the diverse communities of Philadelphia, and the greater art world. The exchange of ideas and art inspired by the Jack Wolgin International Competition in the Fine Arts also perpetuates the spirit of Philadelphia, a cultural hub since our nation’s founding, rich in both historic and contemporary art.

3PM Today! Tejaswini Gant on Bollywood

2009-09-23T12:22:17Z

Today (Wed 9/23): Tejaswini Ganti (New York University) will be giving a
talk titled "How the Hindi Film Industry became 'Bollywood."

At the Center for Humanities at Temple University, Gladfelter Hall 10th floor, 3-5 pm

Sponsored by the Philadelphia Cinema and Media Seminar

Kaja Silverman speaks at Bryn Mawr on Tuesday

2009-09-23T11:32:16Z

The Center for Visual Culture and Program in Film Studies at Bryn Mawr College
invite you to a lecture.

Kaja Silverman
Professor of Rhetoric and Film, University of California, Berkeley
"Behold the Invisible: Jeff Wall's After 'Invisible Man' by Ralph Ellison, the Prologue"
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
4pm, Carpenter 21
Bryn Mawr College
101 N. Merion Ave., Bryn Mawr, PA
Free and Open to the Public

Filminute 2009

2009-09-08T17:55:57Z

THE WEEKEND GUIDE TO FILMINUTE 2009 Where else can you watch an entire film festival in under 30 minutes?

**********

WHAT
One-minute films. 60 Seconds. No more, no less.

WHO
25 film and animation directors from 13 countries
Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy,
Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Thailand, UK, USA

WHERE
http://www.filminute.com
Filminute 2009

WHEN
Rate, comment, and vote, 24hrs a day until September 30

WHO'S WATCHING
Filminute fanatics. Film fans. Filmmakers. The Audience. The Jury.

WHY
Because the films are really great. Because you get to see Walt in a whole
new light.
Because Jim Jarmusch has a cameo. Because innocence is lost. Because of
the zombies.
Because you get to have your say in who wins. Because everybody's a critic.

**********

CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND HEAD OF JURY
JOHN KETCHUM

CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
SABAA QUAO

STREAMING SPONSOR
LIMELIGHT NETWORKS

Mid Atlantic Black Film Festival

2009-09-01T13:42:08Z

Save the Date!!!
Mid Atlantic Black Film Festival
Norfolk, Va
September 16 - 19, 2009

The 3rd Annual MID ATLANTIC BLACK FILM FESTIVAL (MABFF), emphasizing the
richness of the African American experience through cinema in Norfolk,
Virginia.

MABFF presents black and multi-cultural independent films, including
powerful narratives, compelling historical and contemporary documentaries,
innovative student films, colorful animated, and groundbreaking short
films.

The Mid Atlantic Black Film Festival (MABFF) announced today the program
of master classes and symposiums at this year's Festival. This year the
Festival Master Class and Symposium Program include 4 master classes and 5
symposiums filled with international, national and local African American
film, television, music and entertainment industry experts. The 2009 MABFF
will offer these power- and information-packed sessions sure September 16-
19 at the Historic Attucks Theatre (Norfolk, Va.), Norfolk State
University (Norfolk, Va.), and Hampton University (Hampton, Va.).

2009 Mid Atlantic Black Film Festival Symposium Schedule

Thursday, September 17th
11:30-1:00p.m. Master Class: How to Become an Animator and Mythology in
Animation with Mike Davis of www.blokhedz.tv and the Mad Twinz
Hampton University

1:00-2:00 p.m. Kodak Presents: Film No Compromise
Learn about the new stocks from Kodak and see how you can originate your
project on Motion Picture Film.
Presenter: Janet Tiller, Account Manager for Entertainment Imaging,
Eastman Kodak Company
Hampton University

2:00-4:00 p.m. Symposium: How to Break Into the Business of Making Music
for Movies and Television
Moderator: Eleanor Earl, President of E. L. Earl Entertainment, Assistant
Professor of English and Cinema Studies, Hampton University and
Songwriter/Composer
Panelists:
Louis "Buster" Brown (Get on the Bus, Fighting Temptations)
Elvin Ross (Madea's Family Reunion, Diary of a Mad Black Woman)
Stu Gardner (The Cosby Show, A Different World, Living Single)
David "Pic" Conley - Producer/Performer, Group Surface
Hampton University

5:00-7:00 p.m. Symposium: Soul Sisters and Filmmaking in
Africa
Panelists:
Professor Solomon Isekeije - Assistant Professor of Fine Arts, Hampton
University
Rahman Oladigbolu - Director, Soul Sisters
Eric Sheppard - President and CEO, Diversity Restoration Solutions
Norfolk State University Archives

4:00-7:00 p.m. Master Class: Creating Shows for the Internet: The 10 Most
Important Things You Need to Know
Moderator:
Michael Ajakwe, Jr. - Emmy Award-winning TV Producer, 20-year Hollywood
Veteran
Attucks Theatre

Thursday, September 17th Continued
6:00-8:00 p.m. Symposium: Filmmaking with a Purpose: Socially Conscious
Films in the 21st Century
Moderator: Ralph Scott (BETJ The Best Shorts and Lens of Talent)
Panelists:
Monty Ross (Malcom X, She's Gotta Have It, Do the Right Thing)
Leila Steinberg (VH-1's Thug Angel)
Andrew Jones, Director Kings of the Evening
Attucks Theatre

Friday, September 18th
4:00-7:00 p.m. Master Class: TV Writing 101: Everything You Need To Know
About Writing For Sitcoms and Dramas
Moderator: Michael Ajakwe, Jr.
Attucks Theatre

5:00-7:00 p.m. Act Like You Know: Short films about acting and the
entertainment industry
Question & Answer Moderator: Barbara Hamm Lee, Chief Bureau Executive,
WHRO
Hampton University

Saturday, September 19
11:30-12:30 p.m. Kidz Film Series Master Class: Making Movies at Home
Moderator:
Stephanie Allain (Hustle and Flow, Black Snake Moan, Biker Boyz, Something
New)
Attucks Theatre

1:00-3:00 p.m. Symposium: The African American Influence in Film
Moderator: Ralph Scott (BETJ The Best Shorts and Lens on Talent)
Panelists:
Monty Ross - Former Vice President of Production, Spike Lee's 40 Acres and
a Mule Filmworks (Malcolm X, She's Gotta Have It, Do The Right Thing)
Randy Walker, Esq. - Entertainment Lawyer and Assistant Professor of
English, Hampton University
Phil Branch - Assistant Professor of English and Cinema Studies. Hampton
Virginia
Linara Washington-Actress, Kings of the Evening
Attucks Theatre

3:00-5:00 p.m. Symposium: Careers in Film and Television
Moderator: Dr. Karen Turner-Ward - Chair, Department of Fine and
Performing Arts, Hampton University
Panelists:
Van Whitfield - WGA Writer for Film and Television/Published Author
Vanessa Hill - Writer/Director, Director of Graduate Studies Miami
International University of Art and Design
Lance Gibson - Filmmaker/Editor
Andrew Jones, Director, Kings of the Evening
Attucks Theatre

"The MABFF is proud to offer these interactive sessions to everyone from
those looking to get into the industry, to experienced professionals
looking to expand their knowledge base. We are excited to continue to
shine a light on the African American contribution to the industry with
this year's program," said Eleanor Earl, MABFF Festival Director.

MISSION AND OBJECTIVE
A program of the non-profit Crispus Attucks Cultural Center, MABFF's
mission is to provide a cultural alternative to the commercial film
experience; to support independent film and artists; and to promote the
art of filmmaking itself with a focus on the development of creativity and
ideas.

For more information -

MABFF / Mid Atlantic Black Film Festival
P.O. Box 1272• Norfolk, Virginia • 23501
T. 757.622.4763 F. 757.622.4764

www.mabff.org

Marker honors NFL Films' original Phila. home

2009-07-27T12:03:08Z

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on the marker placed outside the former 13th Street site of NFL Films...

and Howard B Haas, Chairman and President of Friends of the Boyd, comments that

Rather than "an old telephone company" the building was the Warner Bros. Film Exchange, opened 1947 in the Art Moderne style and designed by theater architect William H. Lee. WB had a film screening room for the industry & press, film vaults, and rooms from which to distribute movie posters throughout the Philadelphia region.

Houston, We Erased The Apollo 11 Tapes : NPR

2009-07-17T10:07:48Z

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

An exhaustive, three-year search for some tapes that contained the original footage of the Apollo 11 moonwalk has concluded that they were probably destroyed during a period when NASA was erasing old magnetic tapes and reusing them to record satellite data.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106637066

Do the Right Thing Is About More Than Just Race

2009-07-06T10:54:31Z

Video Essays | The L Magazine - New York City's Local Event and Arts & Culture Guide

An excellent video essay on Do the Right Thing on its twentieth anniversary...

My Father, the Radical: Films by Children of Activists

2009-06-05T10:05:01Z

My Father, the Radical:
Films by Children of Activists
Saturday June 6th, 7pm
Sedgwick Theater, 7137 Germantown Ave
(accessible by public transit–R8 and #18 & #23 bus)
$5! Locally made chocolate and baked goods available for purchase.

Birthmarks, by Naima Lowe (29 minutes)
Birthmarks is a nonfiction film by Naima Lowe featuring her father, Bill Lowe. The film tells the story of the series of small darks scars on Bill’s back that he got when the Newark Police beat him up in 1967, and the ways that fathers and daughters create beauty out of trauma, and art out of living. Using film, video, still photography, archival footage, music, and original writing by Bill and Naima Lowe, Birthmarks takes a complex and layered approach to storytelling that honors the scars of the past and sheds light on a father/daughter relationship in the present and future.

Forest for the Trees, by Bernadine Mellis (57 minutes)Filmmaker Bernadine Mellis is the daughter of civil rights lawyer Dennis Cunningham, who started out his career representing the Black Panthers and the Weathermen.
Judi Bari was an Earth First! leader who was one of the first to place as much importance on the legacy and future of the trees as she did on timber workers’ lives and families. But that strategic relationship was too much of a threat. Her car was bombed in 1990, and three hours later, she was arrested as a terrorist–charges that were later dropped. Convinced it was a ploy by the FBI to discredit her and Earth First!, Judi decided to sue.
Cunningham took on Judi’s case and after 12 years, Judi Bari v. the FBI finally gets a court date. Knowing this is one of her father’s most important cases, Mellis is there at strategy meetings, at breakfast, driving to and from the court, documenting her morally driven, very tired dad. Not your typical “Take your daughter to work day,” THE FOREST FOR THE TREES offers access to a piece of U.S. history that everyday grows increasingly resonant.

www.naimalowe.com

Unorthodox Noir at Temple Cinematheque

2009-04-28T18:38:35Z

Temple University Cinematheque presents
A Double-Feature of Unorthodox Noir Films

The Bewitched
dir. Arch Oboler, 1945, 65 mins, black & white

This very unusual noir about a young woman struggling with a murderous split personality remains unavailable on DVD. Take this rare opportunity to see a film by the multitalented Oboler who, like Orson Welles, started in radio and once incited a public panic by detailing the horror of a giant, undulating chicken heart!

Chan is Missing
dir. Wayne Wang, 1982, 75 mins, black & white

Ostensibly a noirish quest for a missing business partner, this independent feature actually becomes a complex portrait of San Francisco's Chinese-American community. The film was shot in three weeks for around $30,000 and incorporates many non-professional actors from the Chinatown community as well as local actors who are given room to improvise in scenes sometimes reminiscent of Cassavetes. The film won numerous awards upon its release and has since been deemed a National Treasure by the Library of Congress Film Registry.

Thursday, April 30, 5:30PM
Tuttleman Learning Center - Room 101
13th between Montgomery and Berks

Both films will be presented on DVD projected onto a big screen.

Fulci's The Beyond on Thursday at Temple Cinematheque

2009-04-20T13:48:28Z

Temple University Cinematheque's Gorehound Contingent
presents

The Beyond
dir. Lucio Fulci, 1981, 87 mins, color

A woman inherits and unwisely decides to renovate a Louisiana hotel that may or may not be built on the site of one of the seven gates of Hell! A splatter masterpiece!

Michael Grant, formerly Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at The University of Kent, writes in Films Studies Winter 2004 that The Beyond exhibits "an order of self-interrogation" similar to the post-symbolist strand of literary modernism. "What this kind of experience gives onto is the true horror, the horror of the uncanny and the fantastic. It is the return of being in negation, the impossibility of death, the universality of existence even in its annihilation. It appears to us in the obsessions and insomnias of the night, and it is the fear of being, not fear for being, the fear of death. It is the experience of living death. ... Seen in this light, the film is nothing other than a catalog of notations of its own aesthetic... The degradation of the world represented in Fulci’s film is in effect a degradation marking the reversal by which reality is removed, and replaced by the shadow of the image. All darkens into the shadow of the beyond, and this peculiar death of the shadow serves in Fulci’s hands to undo the narrative from within, inverting it into what is at once an image of death and a dead image." Plus, a guy's face gets eaten off by spiders.

Hosted by Minister of Fear Michael Benedict

Thursday, April 23, 5:30PM
Tuttleman Learning Center - Room 101
13th between Montgomery and Berks
Free admission

This screening will be presented on DVD projected onto a big screen.