| Films that reflect
or herald her vision
Curated by: Alla Kovgan, Christiana Galanopoulou
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Daybreak
Express
1953, 5'
director: D.A. Pennebaker. music: Duke
Ellington
Pennebaker's first movie; a New York subway ride to a score by
Duke Ellington.
D.A. Pennebaker began his career in film over 40 years ago. After
having attended Yale and M.I.T., and spending time in the Navy,
Pennebaker worked a variety of jobs. His first directorial triumph
was 1960's
Primary, a cinema-verite account of the 1960 Democratic primaries
that
helped establish him as a major figure in American film. Since
then, Pennebaker, now 72, has filmed or collaborated with some
of the century's
most important cultural figures. In the '60s, he made a pair of
landmark music films: the much-heralded 1967 Bob Dylan documentary
Don't Look
Back and the 1969 concert film Monterey Pop. In the '70s, Pennebaker's
projects included collaborations with Norman Mailer and Jean-Luc
Godard, and he filmed David Bowie's last performance as Ziggy Stardust
for
Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars: The Movie. In the '80s
and '90s, Pennebaker has made a number of concert films, in addition
to
directing the Oscar-nominated documentary The War Room, which followed
Bill Clinton's campaign strategists during the 1992 election.
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GRAND CENTRAL
2000/ 15'.
director, photography,
editing: Jeff Scher. music: Shay Lynch. production: Jeff Scher.
USA
Jeff Scher's Grand Central is a hypnotic study of the rhythms
of pedestrian traffic in New York City's restored rail terminal.
Using
antique cameras,
trick lenses and a modern version of film stock from the early
days of cinema the film is tone poem and ballet of found choreography.
Jeff Scher has been making experimental films in New York City
since the '70s. He has been described as the "Muybridge of the M-TV
generation". He is known for his animation work as well
as live action. He is also a painter, represented by the Maya
Stendhal
Gallery
in New York. His works are included in the collections of many
museums like The Museum of Modern Art, Academy Film Archives,
Hirshhorn Museum,
and Musée d'Art Moderne.
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In Absentia
2001/4'
director: Margie Medlin. choreographer:
Sandra Parker. music: Amelia Barden. photography: Sion Michel.
editing: Martin Fox. performers: Michelle Heaven, David Tyndal,
Gerard Van Dyck, Nicole Johnson. production: Dance Works. Australia
Set in an old power station, once alive with the wirr and hum
of electrical generators, its now cavernous space offers a
haunting setting for a
dance film about memory and loss, presence and absence.
Margie Medlin's pebbly black and white film creates chiaroscuro
effects with surface textures coming alive. Past scenarios,
labyrinthine or aery, are jerked into action by unusual camera
angles and
plinking
vacillating music. Shadows knife into costume folds as the
dancers' identities fill out or become depleted. [ top ]
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