-----Original Message----- From: Secret Cinema [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: 30 September 2004 10:48 To: Secret Cinema Subject: [secretcinema] London Film Festival 2004: Advance Notice (3) [faked-from][mx] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/pDJolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> THE TIMES bfi 48th LONDON FILM FESTIVAL AVANT-GARDE WEEKEND 30-31 October 2004 DAY TWO Sun 31 Oct 12:00 NFT 3 [also Thu 28 Oct 20:15 NFT 1] LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF Dir Thom Andersen/USA 2003/169 mins A remarkable documentary about cinema, an endlessly fascinating visual lecture and an important social commentary, Thom Andersen's love letter to Los Angeles explores the city's representation on film. With its relentless, mesmerising montage of clips and archive footage, the film explores how the Western centre of the film industry is actually portrayed on-screen. Divided into chapters that treat Los Angeles as - amongst other things - background, character and subject, the film revisits crucial landmarks (the steps up which Laurel & Hardy attempted to manoeuvre a piano in The Music Box, explores famous buildings (the Spanish Revival house in Double Indemnity, the cavernous Bradbury Building made famous by Blade Runner), and charts the city's 'secret' history through such films as Chinatown, L.A. Confidential and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. As comfortable with softcore exploitation as it is with the avant-garde, Los Angeles Plays Itself is a cinematic treasure trove that makes one think again about a city that - as a movie location - has never seemed quite as romantic or exciting as New York. Indeed, the world around you may seem more mysterious and compelling after almost three hours well spent in Andersen's company. And you'll definitely never refer to Los Angeles as 'L.A.' again. (David Cox) S Sun 31 Oct 16:00 NFT 3 NATHANIEL DORSKY: DEVOTIONAL CINEMA A LECTURE SCREENING As an antidote to the frenetic pace and complexity of modern life, Nathaniel Dorsky¹s films invite an audience to connect at a precious level of intimacy, nourishing both mind and spirit. His camera is drawn towards those transient moments of wonder that often pass unnoticed in daily life: jewelled refractions of sunlight on water, dappled shadows cast along the ground. The films are photographed, non-narrative and have none of the visual trickery we might associate with the avant-garde. Dorsky¹s work achieves a sensitive balance between humanity, nature and the ethereal, weaving together lyrical statements in a rhythmic cadence that creates space for private reflection. The world floods through the lens, onto the screen and into our minds. In this lecture-screening of Variations (which provided the inspiration for the OEmost beautiful image¹ sequence of American Beauty) and his new film Threnody, Dorsky discusses the qualities of cinema that attracted him to use the medium in such a poetic way, and will read from his recently published book OEDevotional Cinema¹. This is his first public appearance in the UK. VARIATIONS Dir Nathaniel Dorsky/USA 1992-98/24 mins 'What tender chaos, what current of luminous rhymes might cinema reveal unbridled from the daytime word? During the Bronze Age a variety of sanctuaries were built for curative purposes. One of the principal activities was transformative sleep. This montage speaks to that tradition.' THRENODY Dir Nathaniel Dorsky/USA 2004/20 mins 'Threnody is the second of two devotional songs, the first being The Visitation. It is an offering to a friend who has died.' Total running time c.75 mins S Sun 31 Oct 19.00 NFT 3 [also Sat 30 Oct 12.00 NFT 3] TIRA TU RELOJ AL AGUA [THROW YOUR WATCH TO THE WATER] Dir Eugeni Bonet/Spain 2004/91 mins José Val del Omar (1904-82), one of the pioneers of European avant-garde film, remains virtually unknown outside of Spain. His visionary Triptico Elemental de España (1953-61) embodies the soul, landscape and diverse cultural mix of his Andalucian homeland, connecting life on our planet with the elementary forces of the universe. Using material shot by the film-maker between 1968-82, Eugeni Bonet has assembled Throw Your Watch to the Water, whose images, ranging from documentary to complete abstraction, mark the passage from the earthly world to a transcendental plane. The film opens in the Alhambra, detailing the intricate Moorish architecture, pulsing fountains and activities of the local people. The ancient citadel, at first serene and regal, is overrun by the transparent bodies of tourists, whilst the OEvideoterrorifico mirror¹ of television reflects the frenzy of modern media. Val del Omar envisaged a OEcinematic vibration¹ that would be the vertex of his life¹s work, and this film, in which images and thoughts flow free of time, is a meta-mystical allegory that seeks a unity between the spiritual realm, the ancient world and contemporary life. S Sun 31 Oct 21:00 NFT 3 DRIFT STUDIES WATER, WATER Dir Nicky Hamlyn/UK 2004/11 mins Reflections and refractions of light, alternated in hard, optical flicker and gliding dissolves. ASPECT Dir Emily Richardson/UK 2004/9 mins A time-lapse chronicle of the modulation of natural light, from high above the canopy of trees to the filtered rays on the forest floor. SKAGAFJÖRDUR Dir Peter Hutton/USA 2004/35 mins Photographic study of the mists, clouds and extraordinary landscapes of the mysterious land of the sagas. Peter Hutton has fixed his camera on the awesome panoramas of Iceland and created a monumental film, which records the subtle luminosity of the region and its dramatic atmospheric conditions. FLOWER Dir Yuiko Matsuyama/Japan 2004/6 mins The meandering flow of china ink, suspended in water, opens up a microcosmic world of Brownian motion. ZWERK Dir Bart Vegter/Netherlands 2004/8 mins An abstract, computer-generated work produced by using mathematical formulae to create complex interference patterns in colour tinted layers. ARKTIS - ZWISCHEN LICHT UND DUNKEL Dir Jürgen Reble/Germany 2003/32 mins This new video is a surprising departure for Reble, who is best known for his alchemical treatment of celluloid. Digitally processed, it transforms shots of the arctic landscape, drawn from education films and travelogues, into a virtual fantasy world illuminated by the hallucinatory half-light of evening. Total running time c100 mins S texts by Mark Webber unless otherwise indicated all quotes by the film-makers Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/secretcinema/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [log in to unmask] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/