No.15 AFW+NFSA Cities & Bodies

Thursday 29th October 2015 – 7.30pm start

Cost – $15 membership for 3 consecutive monthly screenings

Program:

2/60: 48 Kopfe aus dem Szondi Test (Kurt Kren) 1960, 4 mins

Kren´s 48 heads refer to a psychological procedure known as the Szondi Test. Running four minutes and shot at various speeds, Kren´s film fragments faces in extreme close-up: eyes, chins, hairlines, foreheads, with an occasional block of images using full-face. (Regina Cornwell, The Other Side: European Avant-Garde Cinema 1960-1980) 

Manhatta (Paul Strand / Charles Sheeler) 1921, 7 mins

This portrait of New York, a precursor of the European experimental city symphony films, has been acknowledged as the first American avant garde film. 

T.O.U.C.H.I.N.G (Paul Sharits) 1968, 12 mins

This film has been described by Adams Sitney as representing the viewing experience as erotic violence. Rapid still images of a young man in positive and negative, mixed with images of surgery and sexuality, turn him into a kind of icon of violence. 

Rain (Joris Ivens) 1929, 11 mins

A lyrical impression of a rain storm in Amsterdam. This model 'city poem' observes, as Ivens puts it, the changing face of the city during the rain. It was filmed over a period of four months (weather permitting) but edited into a single passing shower. 

Very Nice, Very Nice (Arthur Lipsett) 1961, 7 mins

Impressions of the absurdity and triviality of everyday life in modern urban society and its underlying anxieties. 

Les Astronautes (Walerian Borowczyk/Chris Marker) 1960, 13 mins

Using collage and pixilation techniques, similar to his early Polish collaborater, Jan Lenica, Borowczyk produces a satirical look at competitive space travel. 

The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (Stan Brakhage) 1971, 32 mins

An extended silent film 'poem' about an autopsy performed in a coroner's office in Pittsburgh. 'Brakhage enters with his camera, one of the forbidden terrific locations of our culture, the autopsy room' (Hollis Frampton).

Warning: Contains graphic images of medical procedures.