Thursday, September 30, 2010

the new heroes

Gravity is featured in the upcoming issue of The New Heroes! Available soon! I don't know too much about this magazine but I do know they've never steered me wrong in terms of content, especially as a film geek (Jodorowsky made cartoons? What!?! I thought he just made films that were the stuff of nightmares?!) and they are also run by some pretty awesome (and nice) people. Can't wait to see it, especially since I remember Brent doing this interview in the middle of a sleepless install week, hehe...

the walls came tumbling down

I know, I know, I talk about the walls we built for the film a lot! The 16ft of a wooden frame, another 16ft of pipes, all covered with black curtains (I painstakingly sewed!), erected in the backyard as a backdrop for some of the scenes in the film. Well, today, without the other elements of the set as an anchor, the remainder of the walls fell down! I must admit I am so relieved that they fell down naturally so we didn't have to enact the tractor pull chain rope system Brent was constructing in his head as a means of wall demolition... Also, I do have to admit there are a lot less stormy nights lying awake in fear of the walls prematurely crashing down but, there was something nice about having those monolithic set barriers as a visual sign of the films progress...they kind of look like an unrighted ship in today's photos! I wouldn't put it past the weather today to throw a ship in our yard...bring on the (non-set threatening) winter!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Ticket Stubs and Film Touring or, The Road & Reel














Coming home today after being on the road for a bit was making me think a lot about the way we've been touring around the film. Brent, coming from a more musical background, decided to tour his short films around a few years ago opening for bands at small rock clubs & galleries (here are some pictures taken from that tour by an audience member that I found online) which makes perfect sense; when you finish an album you take it on tour, why wouldn't a series of short films be any different? Now we are touring Gravity around in the same spirit, playing live performances or just screening the film, in theaters and museums across the country. The more I think about it the more sense touring a film makes in today's world...just like the music world, that now relies on live performances as a way to make up for the lacking record sales and whose live/theatrical experience is way different than any digital file on a computer, why can't the film world adapt in such a way too?

As indie financing and miraculous tales of independent films being scooped up at film fests for record prices and shown in theaters all over the globe are dwindling why wouldn't touring around an indie film be the next logical step in the independent film world?  
There are a good number of people out there following this idea- the women over at Cut & Run (who even raised funds online to help finance a portion of their experimental film tour) and even our favorite cine-maniac with his Lunch Film series are great examples- but I guess I am more interested in the reasons why film touring, or maybe even just a more accessible/independent way of getting films into indie theaters, isn't more common? In an era where Robert Redford is roaming the festival circuit with his self funded film in hopes of distribution dreams what is the next step in getting indie films in theaters?

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Middle Path

Tonight we visited the small town of Gambier in the state of Ohio to do a tiny screening of Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then. The campus is pretty much the most gorgeous college campus I have ever seen (apparently Forbes agrees!) and the students all seem both at ease and eager to be in such a learning conducive environment. It is really funny to screen the film on a huge, giant screen with an enormous projector and then the next night intimately share the film in a small student run gallery in the middle of (a beautiful) nowhere on a large flat screen monitor (which you can see peeking out of this picture below) with an audience strewn across the floor. There were some great, thoughtful questions in the Q&A too! What a pleasant place! And what delicious apples! Autumns in Gambier? Highly recommend!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

any person, any study

When I visited Cornell for the first time a few years ago I was really amazed- the campus is beautiful (set atop gorges with steep hills and waterfalls), the students intense and the coffee can't be beat! But, I was also kind of amazed by the lack of support the student body has for the amazing institution of Cornell Cinema? Cornell Cinema has such a wide range of programming, from the current pop-classic blockbusters to an impressive library of black & white legends, interspersed with rare live performances (like our own! And Sam Green's too!), all screened in a perfect theater complete with a brimming vintage popcorn machine.  I really don't think the students realize what an unrivaled film resource Cornell Cinema is! Students of Cornell! People of Ithaca! Go to the movies! 

















 Now, as for the show...the live show was really different from the others we've done so far, I think all of us are really starting to ease into the complexities of the film together as a band and the live performances are becoming something even more wonderful than we were originally expecting! It makes me extra excited for each new live screening, seeing the film grow and change into something new each time! With that being said: October 9th! Phoenix, Arizona! Gravity live show!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The Alcazar In the Days of Cole Porter

Still a bit under the weather but still able to get out to tonight's Gravity screening at the Cinematheque at the Cleveland Institute of Art! Being a bit groggy made me not really get a sense of the crowd or reaction or any idea of what was going on for that matter but, I did jump into a perfect film nerd circle that formed in the lingering post show crowd led by a professor orating on the film The Rules of the Game (love that film!) in relation to Gravity- which I think is a good sign as to how the screening went!? I was also awake enough to notice that the Cinematheque has a great calendar! Silent Running? That is sci-fi gold! A Matthew Barney retrospective? (Not my thing but...) Pretty rad! Being sick led to me spending too much time in the hotel though...and the hotel (a little bit Barton Fink and a little bit Wes Anderson) made it a wonderful place to be sick in! "The Alcazar," a historic remnant of bustling 1920's Cleveland, has a bunch of elderly residents that congregate to do puzzles in the lobby in the wee hours of the morning and a suite that used to be Cole Porter's! It's a cinematic gem all it's own! And I do love puzzles! Obviously I need more puzzles! I mean sleep. I need more sleep.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Prized Liberties of Iowa

So, I completely missed out on the Iowa City screening due to a fierce temperature complete with chills AND sweats! I sort of feel bad because I really like going to these theaters in small cities and walking around the area and all....and each theater is always a little different! The Bijou theater is a non-profit run by the students of the University of Iowa and, starting this semester, provides FREE screenings to all students! What!? That is pretty incredible! When I was in college those extra dollars to see a movie really did make a difference between eating and not eating so much so that one friend went to the first day of every film class, got a syllabus and compiled all of the free class film screenings into a schedule for all of us film lovers to sneak in on (a tactic that I recommend to every college student). Apart from the free factor, their schedule is pretty top notch; classics, indies, foreign films- where else could you see Terminator Saturday night and Gravity the next with a bunch of new release indies in between? Ok, back to my sickly Big Sleep (a film which I'm pretty sure I saw while sneaking in on a film noir class screening)....tomorrow Cleveland bound for a Tuesday screening, let us hope the scenery has a little more variation than these recent road photos!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Midwestern Windmills

On the road to Iowa City, where Gravity will be screening Sunday night with a Q&A with the director, we have somehow ended up in a little Danish Village called Elk Horn. Yeah. You heard me. A DANISH VILLAGE! With an imported windmill and everything! It looks like the Iowa City film folks embrace this (unexpected) local Danish culture too through their annual Landlocked Film Festival whose program is spotted with Danish shorts & features. Looks like a pretty great fest all round! When looking up the local film scene in Iowa City I also stumbled upon a few other  film -centric fests (some of which seem defunct?) which somehow managed to steer me back to my new fascination with a certain cinematic midwestern town and it's Jane Film Festival! If we weren't on the road I would totally be volunteering at this years's fest! Support women in film! And Danes in film! Also support Scandinavian pastries for breakfast! 

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Kings of the Road

As we lug the giant Berkeley sculpture across the country we hit a late night of steep mountains in Utah with every single hotel flashing their "No Vacancy" signs for so long that we have somehow ended up all the way in Park City, the home of the infamous Sundance Film Festival. Brent's shorts have shown in this very town at the festival a few times, he even did a live show with Califone here a few years back...it's really strange to be in a near empty town that is annually brimming with the film world for a brief moment in the middle of ski season. 

I think I might prefer the quiet, brisk experience to the snowy circus of networking but, being that I haven't made it out to the fest yet, I can't be too sure...there is some appeal to dvd promotional screeners and quality indie film programming (o, and hot tubs!) that I think any good film nerd can appreciate! Here are some dusky pictures taken in Nevada as we fueled up the truck towards the end of today's road movie installment!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

A Cup in the Ocean

Who knew that Monterey Bay had such a budding film community? I didn't! Until today that is. Brent came to this college campus upon the beautiful Pacific coastline today to talk to a group of students. The professor/filmmaker who brought him here is an amazing woman named Enid Baxter Blader whose new film project (a portrait of the lives who painted military murals on the now abadoned base that CSU Monterey Bay is located on) seems like the perfect, most timely poetic statement an artist could be making right now.  To make the day even better, the ubiquitous Mike Plante happened to be in town so he joined us for an insane walk through the 
Steinbeck Wax Museum (eerie pics seen here, with plenty more to come on flickr soon!). I'd have to say this museum put me in the Halloween spirit complete with an employee who, upon exiting the spooky darkened animatronic exhibits depicting the rise & fall of this coastal area which John Steinbeck found much bleak inspiration in, greeted us with "Hope you're not afraid of elevators because I've LOCKED ALL OF THE DOORS OUT!" Hopefully I will be able to get a good nights rest.... (one eye open in fear of robotic cannery dreams)! At least this great review of the most recent live show will hopefully help lull me into a much needed deep sleep....

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Cherries & Garlic Along the Pacific Coastline

The one day Berkeley de-install went fast & furious with time for a home cooked dinner with an amazing table full of curators, a visit to the legendary home of choice paralysis & a quick beer in the Mission district with some pretty awesome company! Now on the road with a large truck full of sculpture we're stopped briefly in Monterey Bay for a visit with an art/film class. Next up we have screenings in Iowa City on the 19th, Cleveland on the 21st and a live show/screening in Ithaca on the 24th! I need to start reminding myself that sleep and coffee aren't exctly the same thing....here is a pic of Brent unpacking gear at the recent show at EMPAC as Gravity beams behind him much, much bigger than life.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

hudson river blues

Well, there is apparently nothing more satisfying than selling out a show! I know it has been done in the Nervousfilms camp before but I guess I've never been part of that experience before so it was a particularly great night at EMPAC for both me & for Gravity! The night wasn't even over and we had a great review greeting us, a review that recognized the stellar musical efforts of Drew & John, the newest additions to the live show line up! As per usual, Howe (pictured with Brent & the mighty Hudson river below) & Brendan added their genius to the improvised score as well! And, of course, Brent did a wonderful job- he keeps surprising me with new lines to the live narration, lines that are so amazing I find myself sometimes sitting there stunned behind the foley table, missing important slide whistle moments! I guess what I am getting at is: this show was a great experience in every single way! 
















 
Tomorrow we head out to the leftcoast to dismantle the show at BAM...as much as I am looking forward to visiting another ocean and to another cross country road trip in a sculpture filled truck,  I do kind of wish we were heading home...but, a few screenings during this upcoming trip and the fast approaching Fall season will probably make me change my mind! Iowa City, Cleveland and Ithaca all before October! More info soon!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

ear candy

Sound check for tomorrow's show was awesome even in spite of the fact that we were all fueled by caffeine after a long, cold day of travel & sleeplessness! Here is a picture of the theater we will be playing in and here is a photo of John playing in the gigantic, orchestral space he just couldn't resist hearing. I think this is by far the best sounding place we've ever been!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Ilium Was, Troy Is

About two years ago in the middle of winter we travelled up to frigid Troy, New York to perform an evening of Brent's live shorts. This was our first introduction to EMPAC (Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center). The gigantic glass and metal framework space is packed with an enourmous state of the art orchestral theater, numerous performance spaces & recording rooms, tons of tech equipment, and some of the nicest, most competent people I have ever met all adding up to season after season of amazingly curated shows! When we had a tour of the building Brendan kept telling Brent that Brent (and his lo-fi aesthetic) couldn't even begin to appreciate the amount of resources this place has to offer! With all this in mind I can't tell you how excited I am to be going back to EMPAC this Friday to do another rare live performance of Gravity (9/10 @ 8pm)! Featuring a line up of Brent, Howe Gelb, Brendan Canty, John Swartz, Drew Henkels and even me on foley! Not to try and sway you even more but...there is a killer farmers market in this town too- come for the experimental media but stay for the farm fresh cheeses and hippie dyed wool!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

the glow

Now that all of the work we've been up to installing is finally finished I realized that I didn't talk too much about the actual show! So...as I've been saying, we brought almost the entire set from the film to this museum in Arizona and we rebuilt it. But it wasn't just that- the house facades, the little neighboring houses that appear as Leonard's neighbors in the film, have been turned into screening rooms broadcasting short Gravity inspired pieces including words, sounds and images that are not included in the main film.

















 These screening houses (or as we like to say to the fire marshall "sculptures" so as to ease his actual housing fire-code addled brain) were blacked out using none other than those damn curtains I spent hours of my life sewing for the set when it was in the yard! Thank goodness those things aren't going to waste! Leonard's house is also on display, his uniquely crafted furniture and all, wide open and able to be peered into from all sides. This time we were even able to fit a larger section of the higher parts of the house but, still not quite all of it!

Brent also decided to keep sections of the house a little more bare than usual too which I think he did to steer people away from their obssession with the non-fiction part of the story, making the film set aspect stand out more and to draw a bigger parallel between the films narrative and the making of the films narrative or maybe even just make you look a little more closely at everything...I can't really say what his intentions were with this detail but it made the set take on a very stark, questioning quality that I think it needed in this still museum setting.
















  Lastly, the feature length version of Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then is projected on the back wall of the gallery. At first we weren't sure about projecting the entire film thinking that people should really watch it from beginning to end but we also realized that experiencing Leonard's world and watching Leonard's world would create a unique immersive experience. Judging by the amount of people (myself included) who kept finding themselves (screw gun in hand during install even) drawn to the strange warm film glow at any point of the features duration makes me think it was definitely a great idea to share all of Gravity with each museum goer, whether they stand there for 75minutes or not!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Ghost Ranch

Here are some more pictures of Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then at the ASU Art Museum! (I tried making a video of the show but it seems to be a bit glitchy...maybe I will try again?) I really can't explain how great this install was. Every single part of it. The ASU Museum has seriously assembled the most amazing group of people in every aspect and I am so excited to see how far they are, no doubt, going to go! 

That includes the patrons as well, the students and art community in the Phoenix area are a strong force that has, and will, keep producing some great work! I kind of hate to leave my little desert life but...we'll be back in October for a bunch of things, including a Brent run animation workshop for those who are interested! 

Now we leave for New York with a few screenings in the next few weeks- including the much anticipated Gravity live show at EMPAC!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Nathan Arizona

Tomorrow, September 3rd, between 4&6pm is the end of install event at the ASU Art Musuem! We've been so busy installing I haven't had the time to even talk about the museum! The museum building itself is sort of an adobe version of the Whitney- a concrete and metal entrance leads you into the belly of the space with various tiers of galleries flanking off of stone tiled stair cases. It showcases a lot of amazing work from it's permanent collection (currently including an array of Japanese prints and a few group exhibits, one of which includes a piece by this amazing man who I can't believe I have never encountered until now) while also maintaining some cutting edge contemporary art curation (right now featuring, of course, Gravity but also Dinh Q Le's Signs & Signals a great body of work about Vietnamese bike vendors and the various images they use to signal what wares they are selling).
The staff at ASU is pretty phenomenal as well, I don't even know how to thank them for all of their wonderfulness through all of the curve  fire balls of this install! I am considering making a short video of this show to share with the internet (and, mostly, my mom- hi mom!) since my camera lens does not have a wide enough angle to encompass all of the things going on in this giant gallery space, what do you think?

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

in the mouth of the desert

 I've come to really love when people who are around for the installs start talking about the set like we do "This is Leonard's house" and even referring to pieces of the set in our terms- the big, slatted tower? "The whale." The giant 2x4 ribcage? "The tower." Bringing our Gravity language around to other people is almost as exciting as almost being finished with this install! Not that I want to leave the wonderful ASU staff but I'm sure we could all take a break from heavy lifting and hammering! 


















Can you believe this photo is in Arizona, not in our backyard?