Global Undergrounds: Documentary Films From Spain
On November 13 and 14, as part of an ongoing cinematic and cultural exchange between ATA and the independent cinema La Enana Marron in Madrid, Spain, ATA hosts two nights of Documentary film from Spain sponsored by the General Consulate of Spain in San Francisco. David Reznak, filmmaker and founder of La Enana Marron will be here in person to present the series.
Both screenings will take place at ATA, 992 Valencia Street, Doors open at 7:30pm and films will start at 8pm. Entrance is FREE.
Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 8pm
La Osa Mayor Menos Dos -The Great Bear Minus Two
by David Reznak
16mm, 98 min, colour, 2006. V.O with enghish subtitles
http://www.laosamayormenosdos.com
Like the train that brings you from Madrid to Leganés (town where the film was shot), and shows you the back shop of factories and towns, that path that only the railroad takes; staying at the Mental Hospital becomes like watching society behind the scene.
Madness has a primitive power for revelation: revelation that what is dreamy is to be real, that illusion has no limits. All reality is reabsorbed by fantastic images.
This documentary has been filmed throughout a year to portrait punctual events of each season, follow the cycles of the younger patients, the improvement or even rehabilitation of the healthier, and irreversibility of the eldest.
Best Documentary film award at the XII Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente de Barcelona. L' Alternativa 05, it has been said this is one of the 5 best Spanish films of the decade.
Friday, November 14, 2008 - 8pm
Reality And Truth: Spanish Documents
Curated by David Reznak
This program includes films like "The Siege" and "As it gets dark, it's dawn", that articulate a language from an elaborated formal process and play with the texture of the image and the descontextualization of the sound to create poetic moments, that oppose another two films, "Texas Sunrise" and " Story of Juan", that use improvisation and a seemingly invisible film crew with which, sometimes, the spectator can wonder how these two films were made and come to the conclusion that the script was written with the camera and the film was finished in the editing room. Both have bet on exceptional characters that don't need to be embellished by an elaborated cinematographic language.
These four films represent a free cinema that prove that documentary film is a vehicle for the dramatic construction of the filmed reality, and that a preliminary script is the worst curse of a type of cinema.
El Cerco – The Siege
Nacho Martín y Ricardo Íscar
12 min. 35mm, 2005
V.O with enghish subtitles
Each year, thousands of tuna fish enter the Mediterranean Sea. Man's hands harass them in a blood and death ritual. It's the classic war between man and animals. But it is an unequal fight.
Como Anochece Amanece - As It Gets Dark, It's Dawn
David Reznak.
10 min, 16mm, 1996
V.O with enghish subtitles
A travel log through the Dominican Republic.
Texas Sunrise
Luis Escartin
17min, Video, 2002
V.O with enghish subtitles
Texas Sunrise consists of an incredibly lucid monologue narrated by Johnston Frisco, a North American homeless person reflecting on the role of freedom in the current Western society. Issues such as governmental aid and control over citizens by democracies, the desire of private property and need to feel safe are some of the points insisted on. The close ups of this film show are images structured in a group of mostly static shots that represent the solitude of the West Coast scenarios, followed by Johnston Frisco riding a bike.
The city of Las Vegas and its surroundings landscape are the images that accompany Frisco's words. Postmodern architecture, lonely roads, abandoned cars, pedestrians, restaurant signs and panoramic views of the desert appear throughout the film, in which the face of the protagonist is never revealed.
It is easy to find an iconographic resemblance between One Way Boogie Woogie by James Benning and Texas Sunrise – the best work of Lluis Escartín – but here Johnston's words show such veracity and vital consequence that they end up being the protagonist of the 17 minutes, leaving the succession of frames in the background.
Historia De Juan – Story Of Juan
Fernando Borrero
38 min. DV, 2002
V.O with enghish subtitles
Juan Medina, former convict, infected with HIV, and with a past plagued by drugs and crime, is the protagonist of this documentary film.
His reflections on politics, religion, sexuality and freedom describe a dense and rich personal universe, where humor tinged with irony softens the harshness of the story.