Cinemaker
Co-Op's
"Tiny
Prophecies" (1999)
As most Austin film freaks know, the Austin Cinemaker
Co-op is a small group of 8mm enthusiasts who try and
continue to utilize that somewhat outdated film format
and propagate it's continuation through it's usage.
With "Tiny Prophecies," they have asked Austin's truly
independent filmmakers to make a short 8mm film that
gives their vision of the millennium.
20 shorts were part of the series which were shown
this past week, December 6th & 7th, upstairs at the
Ritz on 6th Street. The setting sure was cool. The Ritz
is a great place to have such an event. There is even
a fully stocked bar up there. I will give Cinemaker
credit on venues. Their choices are often great.
Of course, as for films, their wasn't a whole lot
to like. More than ever, the inability to light 8mm
films was in evidence. This is surely a group of filmmakers
who have some knowledge of the format. Sure, some were
new to it, but even longtime 8mm fanatics like Gonzo
and Luke Savisky seemed to have trouble with lighting.
When new filmmakers like Colin Gilmore and Brandon Johnson
seem inept at this, we tend to forgive. But for the
initiated, it seems slightly slapdash. Perhaps Cinemaker
should stop accepting simply anything that is turned
in for their festivals.
The night began with an awesome looped sequence seemingly
created by Aaron Valdez. Although, I will be the first
to admit that I have not cared for some of his work
in the past, Valdez's two presentations here were awesome.
The opening one, which began the evening, showed two
arcs (two film projections side by side) which had a
ball travelling at their edge from one side of the screen
to the other. The loops were not exactly the same length,
so they ran slightly out of sync. One was colored green,
the other red. Valdez, perhaps, made the most outstanding
commentary on the approaching millennium with this presentation,
creating a continuous passage of repetitive time with
ceaseless, seemingly circular motion. With this, Valdez
questions the passage of time while also making us anticipate
the arrival of something that never really occurs. The
balls travel the arc, like the second hand of a clock
moving but time, itself, seemingly goes nowhere. It
was beautiful. He also incorporated computer generated
songs into this presentation but I did not catch the
name of the composer/performer when Jen Proctor announced
it her opening remarks. Regardless, the music was great.
If I were at a dance club and this was the only artificial
stimuli coupled with this non-stop continuous motion
driven beat, I would stay till closing. It was like
being in some sort of post-millennium art bar, complete
with drinks and a unused dance floor.
Valdez's presentation during intermission, and again,
I am guessing that he created these as he ran the projectors,
was a wonderful overlapped use of two film loops which
also commentated on ceaseless motion. An athlete continuously
throws a shotput while lights and images flash about
him. Valdez here discusses motion, futility, the exertion
of energy and the endless nature of struggle without
reward. And again, there is the repetitive nature of
time itself. And as before, the film loops were accompanied
by the same style of music as the opening montage. It
was perfection.
Alas, the rest of the night was rather dismal. I'm
not sure Valdez, who did most of the projection, got
everything in the exact order of the program. So, if
I make a mistake about who made a certain film, I apologize
with this excuse. The first film was "Balance," by Colin
Gilmore and Brandon Johnson. I have met the filmmakers
and find them to be rather nice, intelligent, interesting
guys. Their film was a bit silly and amateurish, but,
at least, it was fun. It had tons of enthusiasm and
interesting ideas. I hope they continue to work here
because the Co-Op sure could use some fresh blood like
theirs. I believe they made the film with little experience
in 8mm and little time to create a work. If so, their
finished product, while flawed, was worthwhile viewing.
A more "Austin" commentary on the approaching millennium
can probably not be found anywhere else.
"Akiko For a While" by Justin Hennard had awesome
sound design, even if the film was a bit confusing.
Again, like many others, I'm not sure what it had to
do with the topic at hand, but at least it was creative
and unique. Hennard, whose previous co-op films have
been quite good, shows wonderful promise and I cannot
wait to see more of his work. He has a vision and a
creative spark that oozes out of his films.
"Liberty (Realized)" a film by Tiana Hux was shot
by Luke Savisky. It was made up of one continuous shot
that follows a young woman around her "house" set seemingly
around the turn of the century. Perhaps, in discussing
the approaching millennium, Hux found it necessary to
discuss this past century, for her film presented not
only the emergence of woman's place in American society,
but also the advent of communication methods like the
telephone and the camera. Perhaps slightly autobiographical,
Hux's protagonist seems to find her place in changing
yet continuous time of the modern world by stepping
behind the camera and taking a photograph of that which
surrounds her.
"The Countdown" by Zach Phillips was typical but amusing
only because Phillips was the only one who had the insight
to actually commit the rather archetypal idea on film.
Too bad he tried to create sync sound for the film which,
at the viewing I attended, was horribly out of sync,
causing a few guffaws here and there.
"That Fucker Bailey's Bar-B-Q" by Donald Thalhuber
was a commentary on fandom and modern hero worship that
was interesting and amusing but, again, seemed out of
place in this series. I'm not sure what it has to do
with the millennium. It also was not as coherent or
thought-provoking as Thalhuber's earlier work. Still,
Thalhuber seems to make interesting commentaries on
celebrity, modern morality, sex, murder, drugs, and
mind control. He combines these issues to give us marvelous
ideas about our modern pop culture and our reaction
to it. He is definitely also a filmmaker to watch.
Sean Dunn's "This Time Again" seemed to strike a perfect
balance between artsy pretense and plot and story. The
film only hints at things, but it does so in an interesting
and visually unique way. I liked it quite a bit.
And that about does it for the good or mildly good
work here. The bad was pretty typical. Gonzo presented
a four- piece series throughout the evening that was
just dumb. Pointless and pretentious crap. Would Cinemaker
let a "new" filmmaker have such a monumental yet drab
presentation in this or nay other series? I doubt it.
Perhaps it's not how good your film is but who you are
that counts here. Jen Proctor's "+.500 -0.25 X009 -0.75"
was not as involved with the manipulation of film via
outside agents as her previous work, but it was just
as tired and ostentatious. Using flashing lights and
color and blurry images, Proctor tied this pointless
film to the evening proceedings with a silly comment
in the program which read, "My vision of the millennium
is entirely out of focus." Perhaps she is suggesting
the poor quality of her film is intentional. "Chill
Pill" by John Bedolla was uncomprehensible junk where
costumed people (you know, in big bunny suits and stuff)
danced around. Yawn.
Of course, there was the typical that was still interesting.
"Evil Train" by Eli Whitney filmed a train in motion
using zooms and pans to interesting effect. It actually
seemed to capture the feeling of motion for a moment.
Francis Bacon's "3 Studies of the Human Body" was humorous
stop motion animation where magazine cutouts of bodybuilders
turned into beef on a carving board. Monsignor Abdullah
El-Fatwah's (I'm not falling for these fake names, by
the way) "Insignificance" was a "Koyaanisqatsi" car
ride. And finally, "Like Moth's to the Flame" showed
that filmmaker Shannon Owens has been spending way too
much time with Jen Proctor.
I supposed I am wrong to speak badly of young filmmakers
who are working in an inexpensive medium and have the
balls to show their work to the public. I applaud most
of their effort even if their finished products often
leave a lot to be desired. But I paid my $5 like everyone
else and I am entitled to an opinion. Hey, you can read
it here for free. Sorry there's no cash bar to make
it go down a bit easier, though.
More about the Cinemaker Co-op at filethirteen:
http://www.filethirteen.com/cinematx99/cinematexas.htm
http://www.filethirteen.com/notes/notes16.htm
http://www.filethirteen.com/links.htm
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