Upcoming Screenings Online/Week of August 30th
Top Picks for Art Online Week of August 30th
At Home With Mike Kelley: Day Is Done (2005/2006)
Mike Kelley Foundation and Electronic Arts Intermix/Online Film + Streaming Talk
August 27-September 9, 2020/ Free
Pushing through the giant steel and glass doors of a gallery I was engulfed in an alternate reality, a spinning suburban basement offset by high school musical sets and dizzying film projections. I came across framed yearbook photos (vintage from some weird irksome, outdated past) met with vibrant, gaudy, present-day recreated photos, the backdrops for the new scenes sitting idly by (a giant homemade rocket ship, a makeshift altar). Mike Kelley's installation Day Is Done reminded of the inherent dark side of genre/pop-art (and of America), the colors and iconography of everyday culture singed at the edges, lies hidden behind a facade of makeup, poorly crocheted dolls, homemade horse costumes: the artifice of life the fodder for even more artifice. The Mike Kelley Foundation, in conjunction with Electronic Arts Intermix, have been showcasing the artist's work online and this one is one not to miss. Moments of intense frivolity and epic myth-making stuffed with the nation's longing, eerily fitting for the times.
Fantasia Film Festival hosted by Film Fatales/Zoom Webinar
August 30, 2020/Free with Registration
Genre cinema is generally described as films that deal with a specific set of expectations, an outline of who and what will unfold onscreen eases one into a nostalgia coma (think: most Westerns have a gunslinger. And a horse.). Genres often have a set of symbols whose meaning is maintained across films (the cowboy = freedom, the gun = power, the damsel in distress = generalized misogyny). But, sometimes a genre film will subvert stereotypes or play upon its expectations. One of my personal favorite examples of this is the grossly underlooked feminist rape-revenge, Indonesian Western Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts-- and yes, there are horses! Genre film can take on huge issues and wrap them in a warm familiar blanket making the questioning of oppressive and suppressive norms feel socially acceptable. Fantasia Film Festival is a genre film fest and, in conjunction with the filmmaker's collective Film Fatales, a stellar group of women horror directors (including Jennifer Reeder image above and Mattie Do image below) will hold an online discussion exploring the power of the genre film.
Mike Kelley Foundation and Electronic Arts Intermix/Online Film + Streaming Talk
August 27-September 9, 2020/ Free
Pushing through the giant steel and glass doors of a gallery I was engulfed in an alternate reality, a spinning suburban basement offset by high school musical sets and dizzying film projections. I came across framed yearbook photos (vintage from some weird irksome, outdated past) met with vibrant, gaudy, present-day recreated photos, the backdrops for the new scenes sitting idly by (a giant homemade rocket ship, a makeshift altar). Mike Kelley's installation Day Is Done reminded of the inherent dark side of genre/pop-art (and of America), the colors and iconography of everyday culture singed at the edges, lies hidden behind a facade of makeup, poorly crocheted dolls, homemade horse costumes: the artifice of life the fodder for even more artifice. The Mike Kelley Foundation, in conjunction with Electronic Arts Intermix, have been showcasing the artist's work online and this one is one not to miss. Moments of intense frivolity and epic myth-making stuffed with the nation's longing, eerily fitting for the times.
↔
Genre Film as Political and Social CommentaryFantasia Film Festival hosted by Film Fatales/Zoom Webinar
August 30, 2020/Free with Registration
Genre cinema is generally described as films that deal with a specific set of expectations, an outline of who and what will unfold onscreen eases one into a nostalgia coma (think: most Westerns have a gunslinger. And a horse.). Genres often have a set of symbols whose meaning is maintained across films (the cowboy = freedom, the gun = power, the damsel in distress = generalized misogyny). But, sometimes a genre film will subvert stereotypes or play upon its expectations. One of my personal favorite examples of this is the grossly underlooked feminist rape-revenge, Indonesian Western Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts-- and yes, there are horses! Genre film can take on huge issues and wrap them in a warm familiar blanket making the questioning of oppressive and suppressive norms feel socially acceptable. Fantasia Film Festival is a genre film fest and, in conjunction with the filmmaker's collective Film Fatales, a stellar group of women horror directors (including Jennifer Reeder image above and Mattie Do image below) will hold an online discussion exploring the power of the genre film.
↔
Crip Bits: #NoBodyIsDisposable Film + Panel
Sins Invalid/Online Screening + Talk
August 31, 2020/6pm PDT/ Free, Donations encouraged
Sins Invalid was established in 2006 and is a "disability justice based performance project that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and LGBTQ/gender-variant artists as communities who have been historically marginalized. Led by disabled people of color, Sins Invalid’s performance work explores the themes of sexuality, embodiment and the disabled body, developing provocative work where paradigms of 'normal' and 'sexy' are challenged, offering instead a vision of beauty and sexuality inclusive of all bodies and communities." This event will screen a documentary about the group followed by a discussion with some of the performers. A range of topics will be covered in the conversation including climate chaos and the politics of disposibility-- the latter something that has been on my mind a lot lately as Covid-19 ravages from so many different angles of physicality (human, medical, economic, environmental).
↔
A Live Conversation on Mr. Soul!
Portland Museum of Art with Indigo Arts Alliance/Facebook Live Discussion
September 2, 2020/7-8pmET/Discussion Free, Film Rental $12
Soul! was a variety television show that aired on PBS in the late 60s, early 70s. The host was Ellis Haizlip, the first Black producer of WNET and the Uncle of the director of the film Mr. Soul! (2018). The amount of talent that came across Haizlip's stage is staggering. Toni Morrison made her debut here. Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan was cornered by the host on some of his beliefs. James Baldwin, Nikki Giovanni, Betty Shabazz-- even Earth, Wind & Fire!-- all made appearances on this iconic show. The film, which is available to rent online via the Portland Museum of Art's website, is a fast-paced ride through its history and impact, its expression of the multitudes of Black culture a pure and vital thing celebrated through the work of the tv show and also through this film & talk. The lineup for this live discussion event is pretty damn stellar, featuring filmmaker Melissa Haizlip, musician/writer/storyteller/King of the Buskers Samuel James, Sonia Sanchez (the Poet Laureate of Philadelphia), Felipe Luciano (The Last Poets & The Young Lords Party), and Abiodun Oyewole (The Last Poets). 
↔
Film Forum at Home/Live Q&A via Youtube
Sept 2, 2020/6pm EDT/Free
Who doesn't want to hear the stern philosophical musings of Werner Herzog? His thick German accent punishing your inadequacies or questioning your motivations? I once heard him say the word "butterfingers" in a Q&A and it felt like some sort of soul-piercing critique of humanity and lust. He. is. a. legend. This Q&A is in conjunction with Film Forum's screenings of Herzog's latest Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin (2019). In the film, Herzog embarks on a journey following his late friend Bruce Chatwin who, on his deathbed, gifted Herzog his rucksack, well-worn from his life as a travel writer, journalist and novelist. Sheffield born, Chatwin traveled to far flung places such as Patagonia and the hinterlands of Australia. His death was a complicated affair, secretly suffering from AIDS and other ailments, his sexuality obscured, his diagnosis deflected (including increasingly tall tales as to how he fell ill on his adventures, one of which included contracting a fungus in a bat cave). Chatwin is the ultimate Herzog-ian anti-hero: an unfinished end, a fierce passion, a mortal anguish turned into rebirth and immortalization through film.
↔
Please send recs for upcoming weeks to: donnak3[at]gmail[dot]com
posted by Donna K. at
8:14 PM
<< Home