The April Fool’s Cinema Show: Robert Banks

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The April Fool’s Cinema Show:
Screening of works directed by Robert Banks – With introduction by the artist
Wednesday, April 1, 2009, 9pm
West Lecture Hall
Oberlin College Science Center
119 Woodland St.
Oberlin, OH 44074
Free!

Please join Pioneer Species and The Oberlin Independent Film Series in welcoming the Cleveland-based, cult-cinema-inspired filmmaker Robert Banks to Oberlin for a retrospective screening of his unique oeuvre, which includes multiple award-winning films. A self-described “moving graffiti” artist, Banks has been a champion of emulsion-based cinema for many years, inspiring and challenging audiences with politically and culturally conscious commentary on the film medium.  Working in 16mm and 35mm formats, Banks uses found footage, new footage, and hand-manipulated film to question the intentions of the motion picture industry over that last several decades.

About Robert Banks:

Based in Cleveland, Ohio, Robert Banks specializes in avant-garde structuralist filmmaking.  He attended the Cleveland Institute of Art, and has taught film at Cuyahoga Community College, the Cleveland Institute of Art, and Cleveland State University.  Banks’ films have shown at the Sundance Film Festival, the New York Underground Film Festival, and the Black Mariah Film & Video Festival, among others. Over the course of his career Banks has garnered numerous awards, was named Filmmaker of the Year at the Midwest Filmmakers Conference in 2001, and in 2000 was the honored guest filmmaker at the BBC British Short Film Festival in London.  His best-known work is the 1992 film, X: The Baby Cinema, a 5-minute, 16mm film that chronicles the commercial appropriation of the image of Malcolm X.  An instant underground classic, the film was selected for inclusion on the video compilation, The Best Of The New York Underground: Year One.

The April Fool’s Cinema Show lineup:

- X, the baby cinema
- My first drug, the idiot box
- MPG: motion picture genocide
- Jaded
- Outlet
- Embryonic
- Goldfish & sunflowers
- Autopilot
- A.W.O.L.
- Faith n chaos
- Rock n’ roll blvd
- Mercenary
- Woman in circles

About Pioneer Species:

Pioneer Species is a micro-cinema screening alternative, independent, and experimental media every Wednesday night at various locations in Oberlin, Ohio.  Often, visiting artists and curators will be present to introduce their programs.  The micro-cinema is managed by students of the Oberlin College CINE 323: Exhibition Practices in the Media Arts course.

About the Independent Film Series:

The Independent Film Series (IFS) is an organization whose purpose is to expose the Oberlin community to unique films and film events unavailable within the constraints of other venues of exhibition. IFS focuses on cultivating an understanding of the independent filmmaker’s place in the larger dialog of cinematic culture, and stresses that fringe cinema is relevant, culturally informative, and important to keep alive in the digitally focused present.

The April Fool’s Cinema Show is presented by Pioneer Species and with support from the Oberlin Independent Film Series.  These entities are working together to bring a greater diversity of alternative, independent, and experimental media to the community of Oberlin, with the goal of creating a broader awareness of non-mainstream media and media making. Watch for further updates and events!

Visit us on the web:

http://www.pioneerspecies.net/

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