FlexFest 2006

The 2006 edition of the Florida Film Festival has announced its winners: 

- In the film categories, long films section (longer than 12 minutes) the first prize was awarded to Bill Brown for The Other Side and the 2nd Prize to Peter Tscherkassky for Instructions for a Light and Sound Machine. In the short film category (12 minutes and shorter), the 1st Prize went to Jim Trainor for Harmony and the 2nd Prize to Michael Robinson for The General Returns from One Place to another. The special jury's "Gator" film award went to Roger Deutsch for Dead
People.

- In the video categories, long videos section, the
1st Prize was for Frédéric Moffet for Jean Genet in Chicago and the
2nd Prize went to Gregg Biermann for Spherical Coordinates. In the short videos category, the
1st Prize was awarded to Steve Reinke for Ask the Insects and the 2nd Prize to Timo Katz for Whirr. The special jury's "Skeeter" video award went to Dariusz Krzeczek for Luukkaangkangas--updated, revisited.

Other festivals

 At last month's Morelia Film Festival, the best experimental short prize was awarded to Natalia López for En el cielo como en la tierra. The best animated short prize was for Suzan Pitt for El doctor.

The Württemberg Art Association - Stuttgart (Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart) will organize a symposium on "expanded cinema" next month from December 7th to the 10th in the city of Stuttgart, Germany. The symposium , curated by Mark Webber, will feature performances, screenings, workshops and discussions with the particpation of renowned artists such as Tony Conrad, Bruce McClure, Karen Mirza & Brad Butler and William Raban.

The highlights of the programme are the workshops and performances: Karen Mirza & Brad Butler will lead a practice based workshop on Creative Projection; Tony Conrad will demonstrate how to prepare a pickled film (mixing raw film stock, vinegar, vegetables and spices) and will make two performances on the last day; British artist William Raban will make performances with his main works from the 1970s and will give a lecture on Expanded Cinema and Structural Film; last, but not least, performances by Bruce McClure who will later give a practical demonstration and discussion about his works. The programme also includes screenings of films by Paul Sharits, Ken Jacobs, Malcolm Le Grice, Werner Nekes or Sally Potter, specially featuring doble and triple projections.

The Maya Stendhal Gallery (New York) has opened its exhibition George Maciunas 1953 - 1978: Charts, Diagrams, Films, Documents and Atlases, dedicated to the work and life of the leader of the Fluxus movement. The works to be exhibited are Atlas of Russian History, Prehistoric Chinese Art (Shang and Chou Dynasties), European and Siberian Art of Migration, Biography Chronicling Activity between 1939-1978, and Diagram of Historical Development of Fluxus (incomplete). The exhibition will close next October 28th.

In time with the beggining to this exposition about his friend and countryman, Jonas Mekas has published in his web an excerpt of his film Zefiro Torna: Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas.

At the MoMA (New York) and until tomorrow September 30th, there is a Su Friedrich retrospective. The event, aptly called The personal films of Su Friedrich, will center in her mid-career films, with titles such as Hide and seek (1996), The ties that bind (1984), Sink or swim (1990), The odds of recovery (2002) or her new film Seeing red (2005).

Su Friedrich has seen this year 13 of her films remastered and edited in a 5 DVD edition by Outcast Films. Seeing Red has also been released as a separate DVD.

 Finally, Index, the Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation hosts an exhibition featuring the work of Harun Farocki. The exhibition, that will close next November 5th, will center on the film Videogramme einer Revolution, and offers a DVD library with 12 of Farocki's works.

The programme for the 10th edition of Views from the Avant-garde, part of the New York Film Festival's 44th edition has been nearly finished. The event, that will be held days 7, 8 and 15 of October will present new films by Bruce Conner, Nathaniel Dorsky (whose Song and solitude is said to have been the best of the Wavelengths programme at the TIFF), Guy Maddin, Godard & Mieville and others. There are full programmes dedicated to Kenneth Anger, Ernie Gehr, Saul Levine and Paolo Gioli.