July 27 - 31
A co-presentation of the Film Society and Lincoln Center Festival 2005
photo: Memory Bucket
Welcome to the newest edition of Scanners: the New York Video Festival.
As ever, we will explore all the nooks and crannies in this ever expanding
medium, including artists going beyond video and into all aspects digital
and cyber. This year we're putting a spotlight on Turner Prize winner
Jeremy Deller, and mounting a retrospective of the videos of photographer
Robert Frank. Take a peek - actually a full ogle - into the world of Japanese
soft-porn films, and while we're over in the land of the Rising Sun check
out a pair of the cult "cop festival" anthologies, featuring hit-and-run
exercises in crime busting from all manner of directors. Armond White
will show us what he thinks is making waves in music videos, and you can
also catch documentaries that take a look at the aftermath of the Chinese
Cultural Revolution, and the controversial 2002 toppling of Haiti's President
Aristide. Our compilation programs include old friends and new discoveries
- all pushing the aesthetic envelope. This year we are also dedicating
programs to new animation and to free-form motion graphics that will knock
your proverbial socks off. Finally we present an underground artist using
video to full advantage in feature-length narrative (well, sort of). It's
a brave new world - come on in.
The Film Society thanks 2wice magazine for its support of Scanners:
The 2005 New York Video Festival.
Organized by Marian Masone, Gavin Smith, Graham Leggat, and Cord Dueppe.
Special thanks to AIVF, Masa Yoshikawa;
Heinz Hermanns at interfilm berlin; Artangel, London; Kristy Stubbs Gallery,
Dallas; Marian Luntz, Houston MFA, Diana Holtzberg at Films Transit; Thomas
Münz at Transmediale, Berlin; Hisami Kuroiwa; Electronic Arts Intermix;
Mike Sperlinger at LUX, London; Roopa Choodhury, and Video Data Bank.
THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY - 79m
photo: Viscera
In the camera's eye, from Plato's cave to the Mass Observation Movement
to the postphotographic.
The Form of the Good James T. Hong, U.S., 2005; 3.5m
I Am (Not) Seen Takahiko Iimura, Tamikazu Iwashima (digital interface)
U.S./Japan, 2003; 5m
Viscera Leighton Pierce, U.S., 2004; 11m
Night Vision Alfred Guzzetti, U.S., 2005; 2.5m
Persistent Artifacts Matt Boch / Reasonable People's League, U.S.,
2004; 9m
How Little We Know of Our Neighbors Rebecca Baron, U.S., 2005;
48m
Wed July 27: 4; Sat July 30: 6
COP FESTIVAL & COP FESTIVAL RELOADED
An international cult phenomenon, COP FESTIVAL and COP FESTIVAL
RELOADED are the brainchild of Makoto Shinozaki (Asakusa Kid, Okaeri).
They are a series of shot-on-video cop genre shorts directed quickly,
cheaply, and tongue firmly in cheek by some of Japan's top directors.
The films made to date have been assembled into several compilations,
each of them screened with astonishing success in independent cinemas
in Japan. Rarely seen outside Japan, Shinozaki put together two "best-of"
compilations for us, including work by well-known directors such as Kiyoshi
Kurosawa (shot in three hours), Shinozaki himself and Ryuichi Honda.
COP FESTIVAL - 80m NY Premiere
True Report of Kitty Cop (dir. Ozawa)
Love Juice Cop (dir. Ryuichi Honda, adults only)
Atopy Cop (dir. Noboru Iguchi)
Small Elephant Cop (dir. Kanji Tsuda)
Days with Kura-San (dir. Hideyuki Fujita)
Coming Out Cop, Kamaoka (dir. Boba)
The Spiritual Cop (dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
The Unforgettable Detectives (dir. Makoto Shinozaki)
Wed July 27: 6:30; Sun July 31: 9 (COP FESTIVAL RELOADED will be shown
on Sat July 30 at 10:30pm)
REFLECTIONS OF EVIL
Damon Packard, 2002; 138m
A gross-out horror movie set in an urban Hell on Earth? The ultimate bad
acid trip? A poisonous valentine to the paranoid heart of Hollywood? Hilariously
freaked-out and relentlessly confrontational, Damon Packard's unclassifiable
whatsit regurgitates the fear and loathing of modern L.A.'s toxic, violence-infested
streets as it follows in the stumbling footsteps of its hapless, bloated
protagonist, who is seemingly afflicted with schizophrenia, Tourette's
syndrome, a compulsive-eating disorder, and demonic possession. Mixing
found footage and live action, this deranged tour de force channel-surfs
to its last-minute-twist denouement across a hallucinatory landscape of
70s movie and TV schlock and senseless theme-park excess. Packard's film
bursts at the seams with outrageous visual and audio invention, cramming
in Karen Carpenter, the Summer of Love, Homeland Security and The Omega
Man while paying special attention to the early career of Steven Spielberg
from Something Evil and Jaws to E.T. A genuine underground
discovery that's sure to develop a well-deserved cult following.
Wed July 27: 9; Fri July 29: 3
ANIMATE! - 83m
photo: Mr. Cloth / Sr. Trapo
The latest and best in animation courtesy of our friends at interfilm
berlin (international short film festival and distribution,
www.interfilm.de ).
Rock the World
Suk Won Shin, U.S., 2004; 3m
What President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell really
want.
We Have Decided Not to Die
Daniel Askill, Australia, 2003; 12m
Three rituals, three characters, three modern-day journeys of transcendence.
The Raftman's Razor
Keith Bearden, U.S., 2004; 7m
Misadventures of a do-nothing superhero, tailor-made for a pair of geeky
teenagers.
Mr. Cloth / Sr. Trapo
Raúl Díez, Spain, 2002; 12m
Sr. Trapo is made of cloth and he's carrying a heavy suitcase. He runs
to the station to catch the train and finds it totally abandoned. But
he won't let that stop his travel plans!
Lights
Yu Sudou, Japan, 2003; 1m
Lamps live their own lives, and sometimes they need a little energy.
Obras
Hendrick Dusollier, France, 2004; 12m
A graphic poetic journey through urban mutations, filmed in a singletake.
Contamination
Carl Stevenson, England, 2003; 6m
A glimpse into a dystopian future where genetic modification has run out
of control.
Petit savon parfumé
Nicolas Broton, Olivier Coron, Nicolas Payan, Claire Pujol, France, 2002;
6m
Max the superhero is on his daily jog across deserts and over snow-capped
mountains. But even superheroes slip up every now and then ...
Generation
David Downe, New Zealand, 2004; 13m
Energy is the heart of electrical power - seemingly material, and yet
intangible. A poem on the cosmology of voltagey.
Little Things
Daniel Greaves, U.K., 2004; 11m
Seven everyday sketches of a dysfunctional world in which nothing quite
works, and everybody has their weaknesses. A cataclysmic event could shake
things up.
Thurs July 28: 4; Fri July 29: 6
2005 VIDEO SHOW: MUSIC TO MY EYES
Collaborations between video artists and musicians can provide new ways
of seeing and hearing pop. This year Armond White's selects current works
distinguished by this doubled interest. These videos show how the sensibilities
of visual and musical artists compete and compliment each other to create
memorable, innovative narratives. From Jay-Z and Mark Romanek to Spike
Jonze and Ludacris to Kate Bush and Joseph Kahn come some of the most
original contemporary iconography. White promises, "Each video demonstrates
aesthetics and politics, art and soul can co-exist." He will be on hand
to explain how.
Thurs July 28: 6
JEREMY DELLER - 83m
The Battle of Orgreave
NY Premiere
Jeremy Deller, 2001.
Co-commissioned by Artangel and Channel 4.
Director: Mike Figgis, U.K., 2001; 60m
The miners strike of 1984-85 represented a turning point in the history
of modern Britain: the defeat of the country's most powerful labor union
was central to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's campaign to crush working-class
resistance to her harsh economic policies. The battle between striking
miners and riot police outside the Orgreave coking plant in June 1984,
involving as many 15,000 participants, was the strike's pivotal event.
17 years later, British artist Jeremy Deller set out to re-create this
notorious and controversial episode, recruiting the services of war reenactment
organizers, former miners and police officers to take part in the "performance,"
plus filmmaker Mike Figgis, who recorded the entire event.
Memory Bucket
NY Premiere
Jeremy Deller, 2003; 23m.
Courtesy private collection, Dallas.
Deller won the 2004 Turner Prize for this portrait of Texas, which takes
in the Branch Davidian's compound in Waco, George Bush's favorite diner
in his hometown of Crawford, and the Alamo, building toward a mesmerizing
finale featuring a swarm of bats.
Thurs July 28: 9
PINK RIBBON
NY Premiere
Kenjiro Fujii, Japan, 2004; 118m
Pink Ribbon chronicles the history of the Japanese sex film industry
and its "pink movies", with lots of rare clips, interviews, and behind-the-scenes
footage. Pink films are produced dirt-cheap, so directors rarely have
the time or money to attempt anything ambitious. They're often a training
ground for directors, Fujii talks with acclaimed auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa,
who began his career in pink films, female director Yumi Yoshiyuki (clips
are shown from her film Sister Sex Come Inside Me), and legendary
60s radical Koji Wakamatsu. Pink Ribbon concludes with a detailed set
visit to a new pink production, Teacher's Love Juice, which we'll
show on Fri, July 29 at 11pm. Appropriately explicit, this documentary
contains nudity. Don't bring your children; 18 years and above only.
Fri July 29: 8:30 (18 years and older only)
U.S. Premiere
THE GLAMOROUS LIFE OF SACHIKO HANAI aka HORNY HOME TUTOR: TEACHER'S
LOVE JUICE
Meike Mitsuru, Japan, 2004; 90m
Sachiko Hanai is a call girl at an imekura (or sexual role-play club).
One day she stumbles into a secret meeting between a North Korean and
a Middle Eastern-looking man and a stray bullet hits her smack in the
center of her forehead. The next day she finds a strange metal can in
her pocket and, after dislodging the bullet, she's suddenly able to understand
foreign languages and solve complex mathematic formulas. Unfortunately,
the cylinder she picked up happens to contain the finger of the American
President, whose fingerprint is capable of unleashing a devastating nuclear
apocalypse across the world....
Fri July 29: 11 (director present) 18 years and older only
ARISTIDE: AND THE ENDLESS REVOLUTION
Nicolas Rossier, U.S./Switzerland, 2005; 93m
This smart, single-minded documentary pursues the truth behind the coup
- the 33rd such event in Haiti's bloody history - that led to the forced
removal and exile of Haiti's democratically-elected President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide. In this twisted journey of political intrigues, gun-toting rebels,
and economic fiascos, the ultimate tragedy is that of democracy being
massacred.
Sat July 30: 2
YANG BAN XI: THE 8 MODEL WORKS
Yan Ting Yuen, China/The Netherlands, 2005; 83m
During the Cultural Revolution in China traditional Peking opera was replaced
by a revolutionary, propagandistic operatic form - the Yang Ban Xi. Eight
of these carefully crafted works became incredibly popular and known in
musical history as "the 8 model works." The only operas permitted in China
for 10 years, the model works were pure propaganda delivered through beautiful
images, incorporating the most modern techniques of cinematography, song
and dance. Director Yan Ting Yuen revisits the people who created and
performed in the Yang Ban Xi operas and speaks with members of the younger
generation in China today. By putting archival footage from the operas
themselves alongside interviews with hipsters who have discovered them
and are making them their own, she shines a light on their renewed popularity.
Sat July 30: 4
METAGRAPHICS: FREEING FORM FROM FUNCTION - approx. 100m
The post-millennial ascendance of the web as a superflexible time-based
medium has acted like rocket fuel in the design world, providing virtually
unlimited showcase opportunities and generating all sorts of new forms
of motion graphics. This boom is not limited to designers, either. Musicians,
artists, filmmakers, comic book creators, gifted amateurs, and others
are all getting into the act. This screening and discussion program will
take an idiosyncratic look at the more experimental and new avant-garde
motion-graphics work, with live presentations and discussions with special
guests.
Sat July 30: 8:30
NY Premiere
COP FESTIVAL RELOADED - 70m
Hairwig and the Angry Cop (dir. Suzuki Kosuke)
The Cop Who Goes to the Road to Perdition (dir. Mari Asato)
Detective Q (dir. Norihiro Koizumi)
Detective Cop Rising (dir. Yudai Yamaguchi)
Ultramaso Cop (dir. Sakichi Satoh)
Snatches (dir. Boba)
Please note: Selection may change.
Sat July 30: 10:30
FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE - 73m
photo: Energy Country
Co-presented by the Association of Independent
Video and Filmmakers (AIVF)
A program of landscapes and borders and the figures - anxious, wistful,
politicized, bemused, brutalized, and transformed - who find themselves
traveling within and across them.
Surplus of Landscape
Ellen Zweig, U.S., 2005; 9m
Energy Country
Deborah Stratman, U.S., 2003; 15m
Panoramic View
Bouchra Khalili, France/Morocco, 2005; 15m
América Central
Alfred Guzzetti, U.S., 2004; 7m
Border
Laura Waddington, France, 2004; 27m
Sun July 31: 1
ROBERT FRANK: 20 YEARS WITH A VIDEO CAMERA
photo: Paper Route
A complete retrospective of the videos of photographer Robert Frank culminating
with the New York premiere of his latest work, True Story.
ROBERT FRANK 1
Home Improvements 1985; 29m
C'est Vrai 1990; 60m
Moving Pictures 1994; 16m
Run 1989; 3m
Sun July 31: 3 (108m)
ROBERT FRANK 2
Summer Cannibals 1996; 5m
The Present 1996; 25m
Flamingo 1996; 5m
What I Remember from My Visit (with Steiglitz)
1998; 7m
San Yu 2000; 27m
Paper Route 2002; 23m
True Story 2004; 26m
Sun July 31: 6 (120m)