Henry Hills DVD Release Event
Anthology Film Archives
Sunday, June 28 at 7:30.
Filmmaker in person!
Reception to follow.

Moving to New York in 1978, filmmaker Henry Hills formed a strong alliance with the Downtown music improvisers and the "Language" poets, guiding his film work toward a rhythmic, multilayered world filled with unpredictable changes and a striking improvisational edge. At long last, his uncompromising shorts are being released  on DVD, courtesy of John Zorn's equally radical TZADIK label. This show includes the very best of Hills's wonderfully intense films - from the downtown all-star-filled MONEY to structural dance films like LITTLE LIEUTENANT and BALI MÉCANIQUE. A major force in new cinema, these films are brilliantly visual, crammed with image and double meaning.

- PORTER SPRINGS 3 (1977, 7 minutes, 16mm, color, silent)
- KINO DA! (1980, 2 minutes, 16mm, b&w, sound)
- MONEY (1984, 14 minutes, 16mm, color, sound)
- SSS (1988, 6 minutes, 16mm, color, sound)
- GOTHAM (1990, 3 minutes, video, b&w, sound)
- GOA LAWAH (1992, 5 minutes, 16mm, color, sound)
- BALI MÉCANIQUE (1992, 11 minutes, 16mm, color, sound)
- LITTLE LIEUTENANT (1994, 6 minutes, 16mm, color, sound)
- PORTER SPRINGS 4 (1999, 15 minutes, 16mm, color, sound)
- ELECTRICITY (2007, 7 minutes, video, color, sound)
- FAILED STATES (2008, 10 minutes, video, color, sound)
Total running time: ca. 90 minutes.

The Futurist Film
Led by Karen Mirza and Brad Butler from no.w.here
Saturday 4 July 2009, 11.00–17.00
Saturday 11 July 2009, 10.00–17.00

The futurists loved film. They saw film as the art form that was best suited to capturing the complex sensibility of their time.

Participants in this practical workshop will explore the ideas of the Futurist Cinema Manifesto, look at contemporary practice inspired by them and end up making their own short films.

On day one, no.w.here tutors and participants view historical and contemporary work by Paul Sharits, Samuel Beckett, Nicky Hamlyn, David Dye, Tony Conrad and Steve Farrer amongst others. After a visit to the Futurism exhibition, a practical session devoted to shooting techniques with standard 8 and 16 mm cine cameras will follow. Participants will use these cameras to film in the afternoon.

Between sessions participants will be encouraged to use one of the aims of the Manifesto as an inspiration for making a short film. This work will be screened on day two, followed by further opportunities to practice shooting and developing film at no.w.here lab. All participants plus family and friends are invited to a screening of their film creations in the Starr Auditorium at Tate Modern on 17 July.

This workshop is open to beginners and experienced practitioners.
Tate Modern  East Room
£90 (£70 concessions), booking recommended
Price includes lunch on day one
For tickets book online or call 020 7887 8888.

Directors Lounge cordially invites you:
Barbara Rosenthal – 33 existential videos
Thursday, 25 June 2009 21:00 Uhr

Z-Bar
Gartenstraße 2
10115 Berlin-Mitte

Barbara Rosenthal
humorous conceptual poetry-and.performance shorts
Including World Premiere of “Dead Heat”

Barbara Rosenthal’s work, on one hand many-fold and widespread over media such as performance, artists’ books, photography, installations and video, on the other hand shows continued commitment in her field and consistency over several decades. If you need proof that art can be genuinely political, even if the artist does not calling themself a “political activist”, or possibly even moreso because they do not, then look at Rosenthal’s work. The collection of her video work over 30 years, a part of which will be presented at Directors Lounge, may possibly be best compared with a witty book of aphorisms. It’s altogether irresistible, it’s thoughtful, and it’s funny, absurd, and at the same time, serious, absolutely. And that’s what she wants to be taken for.

You may find Dada, Surrealism or Fluxus in her work, all of which has been overdone with and overused by contemporary artists. However, if you tried to interpret her that way, you would still not come to terms with Barbara’s work.
And if we have a closer look, there may be one strategy (of many) we can recognize: Very often, the artist finds ideas, or encounters situations, and takes them just too literally. By these and other techniques, daily life and its absurdities as mirrored in her work become an arena for thoughts revealing truth (yes!), and the negative consequences of abstractedness in live and politics.

Barbara Rosenthal demands close attention and precise reception from her audience, those who like to follow her track of thoughts and perceptions. Her humour never transmits sarcasm; rather, it is as gentle as the jokes we know from those Zen Masters quizzing their favourite pupil. For example, in “How Much Does The Monkey Count?” that is all they do, Barbara and the monkey she ventriloquizes compete by counting numbers. Or like, when the absurdity of reading the listings of societies from the New York City phonebook turns into a critical statement without her adding anything to it. Or, in another example, when the artist is whispering “forbidden” secrets about a sexual attraction, which reveal less of herself but of the repressing side of political (and sexual) correctness.

The screening will almost be a retrospective as it shows a range of the artist’s earliest (nicely digitally re-mastered) and most recent work. Having said all that, we are happy that Barbara Rosenthal is coming to Berlin exclusively for this screening. And she will be available to the audience, for questions and answers, or at least more thought-nourishing quizzes.
(Klaus W. Eisenlohr)

Links:
http://www.dirctorslounge.net
http://www.richfilm.de/filmUpload/1-framesBarbaraR.html
http://www.z-bar.de

Artist’s Links:
http://www.emedialoft.org/artistspages/barbararosenthal.htm
http://the-artists.org/artist/Barbara-Rosenthal

Press Release (PDF download):
http://netzspannung.org/cat/servlet/CatServlet/$files/439381/BR_BerlinJune09PressReleaseZBarENG.pdf