Fall 2003

Unless otherwise noted,screenings take place at 120 NE Russell, begin at 7:30pm, and cost $6 general/$3 members

silt—Luminal Lines

September 15 installation on view hourly [7, 8, 9, 10 & 11pm]
BodyVox, 1300 NW Northrup $15 ge neral/$10 PICA and Cinema Project members

silt, a San Francisco-based collaborative trio established in 1990 by Jeff Warrin, Keith Evans, and Christian Farrell, creates indoor and outdoor film performances and site-specific installations using projection, sculptural screens, mirrors, liquids, natural materials and their own bodies. The group operates as a kind of mobile laboratory, conducting perceptual experiments using ideas drawn from science, natural phenomena, and mysticism. They describe their investigation as a paranaturalist enquiry that, as they explain, "unlocks the organic dimension of film, blending its technological and mechanical aspects with a palpable sense of its connection to natural processes." silt's performances involve multiple film projections, shadow interferences, kinetic projection surfaces, and sounds. The film material has often been rusted, buried in the ground, consumed by mold and bacteria, and left to interact with the earth's natural alchemical process, like fossilized relics. In performance, the projector beam lights up these organic morphologies, magnetic fields and bacteria, re-sampled in the mechanics of editing. silt operate the film projectors like DJs, physically "performing" with the equipment, and introducing filters, shadows, organic material and their own bodies into the projections. Their visual riffs pulsate and metamorphose, creating a perceptual confusion between the film footage and their live interaction. In this merging of projections, objects, shadows and sounds, the boundaries between the real and the projected, the live and the recorded become confounded. Luminal Lines is a new piece filmed on the Oak Springs Fork of the Clackamas River, in Mt. Hood National Forest; on the Kilchis River, in Tillamook State Forest; and on the Columbia River at the Bonneville Dam. "The ephemeral contours of a river are delineated by time, ebbs and flows. Scale shifts draw smears on the shore and a light wind blows across the surface filling in already complex capillary patterns, where thousands of suns float across the sky. The moon patiently waits at the bottom among the smooth, silted rocks. "A line expresses a relationship, an irrevocable connection between behavior and feeling, assumption and apprehension. These are lines of light, of illumination, that are often just beyond our register. Luminal Lines is concerned with perceptual lines foremost, these lattice patterns of convergences and associations, sympathetic and divergent vectors that we find ourselves immersed in. "Rivers are lines that mark their way through contiguous landscapes, winding and morphing as they go. Along the way they are intersected themselves by lines of industry, migration, commerce and culture. In this, silt’s initial excursion into the Oregon terrain, their paths intersect three diverse rivers at three points in the northwest region of the state. In the tradition of 19th Century moving panoramic riverscapes and the Luminist painters of the western wilderness, silt creates images that invoke the sublime impressions of light while opening perceptual portals into the landscape and its layers of time. At the same time their images bend back on themselves traditional lines of perspective and cinematic/painterly notions of panoramic orientation. Their cameras explore the reflective and refractive qualities of light and water-- small, peripheral glimpses that reflect not grand vistas but subtle phenomena. In addition they use their bodies and simple objects to create optical interferences that explore the physicality of these phenomena."--silt silt's work has been shown at film and art spaces such as SF MoMA, SF Cinematheque, and Cal Arts, among others. Their recent work, All Pieces of a River Shore was exhibited as part of the 2002 Whitney Biennial. Presented in partnership with PICA/TBA Festival. MORE INFO: www.pica.org | www.silt.org

Stan Brakhage Tribute

September 28 + October 12, 7pm
Northwest Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park [$7.00 general/$6.00 members]

“One small detail of Brakhage's work that all too often gets left out is that his films are stunningly, even ravishingly beautiful. It's no easy or static prettiness that he was after, but the kind of beauty that cleans out one's sensorium, that seems to scour one's sight all the way from the cornea to the optic nerve, that reorients the very way one sees. Brakhage's films serve as eye-training, both for seeing other films and as an opening on to more imaginative ways of seeing the world.” —Fred Camper, SENSES OF CINEMA. Cinema Project and The Northwest Film center are proud to present this two-night tribute to the life and work of one of Avant-Garde cinema’s best known figures. Having created nearly 400 films in his 50 year career, Brakhage was a true film pioneer, creating everything from home movies of his family to hand manipulated, abstract reflections on life and death. Brakhage crossed into many circles, his work always reflected upon and was influenced by his myriad interests: Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, John Cage, Joseph Cornell, Willem DeKooning and Jackson Pollack. The first program of film will focus on Brakhage’s classic and best known work. the second evening of films will focus on more recent pieces by Brakhage—a nearly twenty year period in which Brakhage almost completely abandoned his camera to focus on hand painting strips of film. September 28 Desistfilm [1954, 16mm, b&w, sound, 7min] Window Water Baby Moving [1959, 16mm, color, silent, 12 min] Dog Star Man: Part I< /i> [1962, 16mm, color, silent, 30 min] Mothlight [1963, 16mm, color, silent, 4 min] Burial Path [1978, 16mm, color, silent (18fps), 15 min] Arabic 1 & 2 [1980, 16mm, color, silent, 13 min] The Garden of Earthly Delights [1981, 35mm, color, silent, 2 min] Visions in Meditation #2: Mesa Verde [1989, 16mm, color, silent, 20 min] October 12 The Dante Quartet [1986, 16mm, color, silent, 8 min] Chartres Series [1994, 16mm, color, silent, 9 min] Night Mulch & Very [2001, 35mm, color, silent, 6 min] Comingled Containers [1997, 16mm, color, silent, 3 min] Panels for the Walls of Heaven [2002, 16mm, color, silent, 35 min] Resurrectus Est [2002, 16mm, color, silent, 9 min] Chinese Series [2003, 16mm, b&w, silent, 3 min] Presented in partnership with Northwest Film Center MORE INFO: www.nwfilm.org | www.fredcamper.com

Divine Politics: Betzy Bromberg

October 17 + 18

For the second program in our RACC sponsored visiting artist series, Cinema Project welcomes filmmaker, Betzy Bromberg. Bromberg has been making films since 1976 and has exhibited extensively at venues such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and the London and Rotterdam Film Festivals. Bromberg has walked a fine line between the experimental film community and the commercial film industry. Her twenty year professional career as optical effects supervisor and camerawoman has been the major financial resource for her independent work. This self-made tactic may account for Bromberg's unique aesthetic: less measured, more raw, and unabashedly politically charged. Bromberg, currently Director of the Program in Film and Video at California Institute of the Arts, will be in attendance both nights. [Guest curated by Pam Minty and Alain LeTourneau] 17 October Petit Mal [1978, 16mm, color, sound, 18 min] Ciao Bella [1979, 16mm, color, sound, 13 min] Body Politic (god melts bad meat) [1988, 16mm, color, sound, 40 min] 18 October Divinity Gratis [1996, 16mm, color, sound, 59 min] Generously Support by a Grant from RACC

Illuminated Texts: Recent Films by David Gatten

October 28 + 29

The recent work of David Gatten has delved into an incredibly unique study of hand manipulated image making and the relationship between language and abstract image. Using a variety of non-traditional processes (photographing the splices in a film, composing a film out of strips of cellophane tape, etc.), Gatten's work is equal parts history, landscape, auto/biography, and structural experiment. For his first Portland exhibition, Gatten will present two nights of film—the first night will be three films from The Byrd Project, a seven-part series about the "division of landscapes, objects, ideas and people; about letters, libraries, and lovers; auctions, ghosts and the Byrd family of Virginia during the early 18th century." Closing the first show is What the Water Said No. 1-3, an experimental fi lm abou t place made by soaking unexposed film stock in the ocean. The second night's program, Variations on Writing A Diary explores the co-mingling of personal history and abstract image making. It will include Hardwood Process, a new untitled work in progress, Bibelots by Ariana Hamidi, as well as repeats of two films from the previous evening. Gaten will be introduce both evenings. October 28 Moxon's Mechanick Exercises [1999, 16mm, b&w, silent (18fps), 26 min] The Enjoyment of Reading [2001, 16mm, b&w, silent, 13 min] Secret History of the Dividing Line [2002, 16mm, b&w, silent, 20 min] What the Water Said, Nos. 1—3 [1998, 16mm, color, sound, 16 min] October 29 Hardwood Process [1996, 16mm, color, silent, 14 min] Bibelots by Ariana Hamidi [2002, 16mm, color, silent, 20 min] The Enjoyment of Reading [2001, 16mm, b&w, silent, 13 min] Secret History of the Dividing Line [2002, 16mm, b&w, silent, 20 min] Untitled (work in progress) [2003, 16mm, b&w, silent, 7 min]

Trinh Minh-Ha

November 3—6

Trinh Minh-Ha—writer, social theorist, filmmaker, and composer—occupies an influential place in Ameri can indepe ndent cinema with her six films and seven books. Using non-linear structures, she has created a body of work, full of visual and theoretical complexity, which challanges common expectations of documentary film. Shot with stunning elegance and clarity, Trinh's work addresses cultural and political structures that influence contemporary life and simultaneously focuses on profoundly personal themes: dislocation and exile, women's roles in Vietnam, and shifting interpretations of culture. We are honored to have Trinh here in Portland to present her lecture The Tear of Debt and her recent work The Fourth Dimension, a lyrical video essay exploring the daily rituals of culture and life in Japan. November 3 Naked Spaces Living is Round [1985, 16mm, color, sound, 135 min] Shot with stunning elegance and clarity, "Naked Spaces" explores the rhythm and ritual of life in the rural environments of six West African countries (Mauritania, Mali, Burkino Faso, Togo, Benin and Senegal). The nonlinear structure of "Naked Spaces" challenges the traditions of ethnographic filmmaking, while sensuous sights and sounds lead the viewer on a poetic journey to the most inaccessible parts of the African continent, the private interaction of people in their living spaces.--Women Make Movies November 4 Surname Viet, Given Name Nam [1989, 16mm, color, sound, 108 min] Of marriage and loyalty: "Daughter, she obeys her father/ Wife, she obeys her husband/ Widow, she obeys her son." Vietnamese-born Trinh T. Minh-ha's profoundly personal documentary explores the role of Vietnamese women historically and in contemporary society. Using dance, printed texts, folk poetry and the words and experiences of Vietnamese women in Vietnam--from both North and South--and the United States, Trinh's film challenges official culture with the voices of women. A theoretically and formally complex work, Surname Viet Given Name Nam explores the difficulty of translation, and themes of dislocation and exile, critiquing both traditional society and life since the war.--Women Make Movies November 5 Shoot for the Contents [1991, 16mm, color, sound, 101 min] Reflecting on Mao's famous saying, "Let a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend," Trinh T. Minh-ha's film--whose title refers in part to a Chinese guessing game--is a unique excursion into the maze of allegorical naming and storytelling in China. The film ponders questions of power and change, politics and culture, as refracted by Tiananmen Square events. It offers at the same time an inquiry into the creative process of filmmaking, intricately layering Chinese popular songs and classical music, the sayings of Mao and Confucius, women's voices and the words of artists, philosophers and other cultural workers. Video images emulate the gestures of calligraphy and contrast with film footage of rural China and stylized interviews. Like traditional Chinese opera, Trinh's film unfolds through "bold omissions and minute depictions" to render "the real in the illusory and the illusory in the real."--Women Make Movies November 6 *BOTH events for November 6th to be held at: Portland State University School of Business Administration Room #190 631 SW Harrison (corner of 6th Ave) The Tear of Debt [Lecture, 4pm] The Fourth Dimension [2001, DV, color, sound, 87 min] "The Fourth Dimension" is an elegant meditation on time, travel, and ceremony in the form of a journey. In her first foray into digital video, Minh-ha deconstructs the role of ritual in mediating between the past and the present. She explains, "Shown in their widespread functions and manifestations, including more evident loci such as festivals, religious rite and theatrical performance, 'rituals' involve not only the regularity in the structure of everyday life, but also the dynamic agents in the world of meaning." With its lush imagery, Minh-ha's Japan is viewed through mobile frames, with doors and windows sliding shut, revealing new vistas as it blocks out the old light.--Steve Seid Generously Support by a grant from RACC Co-presented with PSU/Women's Studies

Deborah Stratman

November 18 + 19*

*due to unforseen travel itinerary changes this program's dates have changed*

After recent Portland screenings of her multiple-award winning film In Order Not to Be Here, Cinema Project is pleased to have D eborah Stratman in attendance to present two programs of work. Having initially s tudied science, Stratman transitioned into making art in order to work with something “more tacle than numbers and experiments.” Since the early 90s Stratman has completed more than a dozen film projects. Marked by beautiful camera work and a stunning ability to sculpt time and space within the frame, her films move from the barren, beautiful landscapes of Iceland to the grim and haunting emptiness of suburban and corporate America. November 18 From Hetty to Nancy [1997, 16mm, sound, color, 45 min.] On the Various Nature of Things [1995, 16mm, color, sound, 25 min] Untied [2001, 16mm, color, sound, 3 min] November 19 In Order Not To Be Here [2002, 16mm, color, sound, 33 min] I Am A Conjuror by Emily Vey Duke & Cooper Battersby [2003, DV, sound, color, 9 min.] The Fine Arts by Emily Vey Duke & Cooper Battersby [2002, DV, sound, color, 4 min.] The Invalids by Mary Billyou [2003, 16mm, 9 min] The Hole by Jennifer Lyter [2003, 16mm, color, sound, 6 min] Low Altitude Atmospheric Civic Modification by Melinda Fries [DV, color, sound, 5 min] Weight Vs. Balance by Melinda Fries [2002, DV, color, sound, 5 min] Portraits by Dean Rank [2000, DV, color, sound, 1 min]

The Matter With Film & Liminal Lumen Cycle
Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder

December 8 + 9

Tonight we welcome Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder as guest curators and filmmakers for two programs of work. In addition to a some of their own films, Recoder and Gibson will be screening work by Brian Frye, Devon Damonte, Cade Bursell, Bruce McClure and Jennifer Reeves among others. THE MATTER WITH FILM December 8, 7:30pm [Cinema Project, 120 NE Russell] The Matter With Film is a play on the condition of film-as-matter and its matter-of-factness in the face of emerging technologies. What's the matter with film anyway? Why does it matter? As a matter-of-fact film matters. How? It matters as soon as the maker takes the material at hand. In this meeting between film-as-matter and hand something is grasped. Grasped into matter. In the grasping of matter the latter grasps the hand in return, slaps back so to speak. Back-and-forth. The objectification of film as matter and the matter of objectifying go hand in hand, catch one another. The Matter With Film is a catchy title for a curious game we play with a bit of matter. Once handed, we can matter-the-matter so that it matters. For all the films in this program matter in the face of what does not matter, that is of that which immatters and relentlessly chatters.—Sandra Gibson LIMINAL LUMEN CYCLE December 9, 8:00pm [Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy] Luis Recoder's name is often miswritten as "Recorder," but the real spelling is the more auspicious of the two: his abstract films and performance pieces aim at a reinscription of the relationship between image and viewer far more fundamental than that achieved by most experimental films. Working without a camera, Recoder fogs the film in a variety of ways, producing subtly shifting light patterns whose soft edges subvert the standard geometries of most abstract imagery. With their slow shifts and absence of overt rhythmic organization, these pieces invite a focused response to pure color in a manner that calls to mind John Cage's proposed definition of art: "paying attention." Whitney Museum curator Chrissie Iles is correct in comparing Recoder's films to the work of light sculptor James Turrell: both artists use light to explore the boundaries between the palpable and the insubstantial.—Fred Camper, Chicago Reader

Constructing History—Walid Raad and The Atlas Group

December 12 + 13*

December 12, 7pm [Portland City Hall, City Council Chambers: 1221 SW 4th Ave]
December 13, 7:30pm [Cinema Project, 120 NE Russell Street]

*note that the date in our printed calendars is incorrect

For the final installment in our RACC funded 2003 Visiting Artist Series, we are excited to welcome New York based artist Walid Raad. Blurring the boundaries between the real and the imagined, Raad's work investigates the history of wartime Lebanon through imagined characters and events. In recent years his work has been selected for exhibition at Documenta 11, the Rotterdam Film Festival and The Whitney Biennial. This will be Raad¹s first in-person screening/performance on the West Coast. December 12 The Loudest Muttering is Over The Loudest Muttering is Over: Documents from The Atlas Group Archive, is a multi-media presentation drawn from the archives of The Atlas Group. Using photographic stills, pages from notebooks, and short video work, Raad discusses the history of the Lebanese Wars through the lives of anonymous sources and imaginary characters such as Dr. Fadl Fakhouri. December 13 Civilizationally, We Do Not Dig Holes To Bury Ourselves Civilizationally, We Do Not Dig Holes To Bury Ourselves is drawn from Raad's 2001 video Hostage: The Bachar Tapes. In addition to screening the video, Raad will discuss the collaboration between The Atlas Group and his conceptual character Souheil Bachar. Since 1999, Bachar has produced 53 tapes in collaboration with The Atlas Group; only tapes #17 and #31 are available to audiences in Europe and the US. Raad will also read from interviews with Bachar, in which they discuss the larger cultural and historical contexts in which these tapes were produced‹the Lebanese Wars, the narratives of Western men held in Lebanon in the 80s, the Iran-Contra Affair, and the issue of identity. Generously Support by a grant from RACC Co-presented with PICA