still from Glorious, 2009 by Guy Maddin

THIRTY FRAMES A SECOND, TWO HUNDRED MILES AN HOUR
DIRECTORS LOUNGE’S GUY MADDIN SHORTS HEADING FOR ESSEN

No longer an upstart after seven consecutive years and scads of films of every conceivable genre, the Berlin International Directors Lounge (DL to the initiated) is still free of formula, corralling batches of like-minded works into presentable groupings but not bowing to predictability. No one knows quite what they are going to see here. That viewers can move freely about, mounting stairs and draping themselves over balcony railings to take in what’s splashed onto the screen may add to the slightly helter-skelter atmosphere. Question-and-answer sessions with selected directors and performers can prove as offbeat as some of the offerings, and left field live performances take it over the top. For free. There is nothing else like this in Berlin, one of the hardest claims you can make in this city. DL, while still arriving, has arrived. Renowned artists such as Michael Nyman have chosen to reveal their newest visions here, and films are being sent for consideration by the hundreds from all over the globe, with their creators and stars often enough making the trip to see how it looks up there, larger than life. Add to that fast-appearing online reviews of films and audience reaction, and you’ve got the makings of a cult carnival waiting to be reborn on a yearly basis, like a child who enjoyed the process enough to want to give it yet another go.
It had to happen that Berlin’s DL and Winnipeg’s enfant bizarre Guy Maddin would come together, and this year marked the time, when the Berlinale jury member brought a handful of his short features to form the backbone of an evening dedicated to his peculiar view of things, as seen through the (filmic) eyes of the influenced, heard via live readings from his enigmatic book From The Atelier Tovar and not least declared by way of the master’s aforementioned shorts themselves. A bit of everything was there. The giddy tomfoolery of Nude Caboose, the frenetic, fetishistic mock-punishment of Sissy Boy Slap Party, the industrial expressionism of The Heart Of The World. The house was full and imagination running at full tilt.
Directors Lounge is, with Mr. Maddin’s blessing, showing these tasty celluloid morsels at C.A.R. in Essen, offering up a peak into many little worlds portrayed in a myriad of ways: playful, distressing, subtle, haunting, head-on. Maddin comes to DL comes to you, and you only need eyes and ears to make it work.

–    Kenton Turk

still from Odilon Redon or The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity, 1995 by Guy Maddin

Beyond The Atelier Tovard , the collection of shorts by Guy Maddin, will be accompanied by works that are influenced by him, dedicated to him, or otherwise Under The Influence Of The Atelier Maddin.

C.A.R. details here

Directors Lounge Screening

Steven Ball
Travelling Practice
video works
Thursday, 27 Oct. 2011
21:00
Z-Bar
Bergstraße 2
10115 Berlin-Mitte

Travelling Practice

Digital video works by Steven Ball 2003 – 2010. These works travel near and far, across physical and virtual space using material collected en route. Travel determines form, subject and object are fluid entities, digital experimentation becomes landscape study, hyperlocal excursion, and experimental documentary, as they explore and exhaust species of spaces and media.

Steven Ball has worked in film, video, sound and installation since the early 1980s. In the late 1980s he accidentally migrated to Melbourne, Australia. There he continued his practice making a number of film, video and sound and installation works, as well as being engaged in various curatorial, administrative, teaching and writing activities. Since returning to the UK he has worked predominantly with digital video, producing a series of works, which among other things, are particularly concerned with digital material processes and spatial representation.

Curated by Klaus W. Eisenlohr

Artist Links:

home: http://www.steven-ball.net

blog: http://directobjective.blogspot.com

videoblog: http://directlanguage2010.blogspot.com

Public Water: http://www.publicwater.net

More infos:

http://www.directorslounge.net

http://www.richfilm.de/currentUpload/

http://www.z-bar.de/Inhaltsseiten/kulturprogramm.html

DL: short cuts to Japan

Directors Lounge presents experimental films all around Japan

We will participate in this year´s 日本デ , the 10th Japan-Day in Duesseldorf, celebrating the 150 anniversary of Japanese-German diplomatic relations. 

DL: Short Cuts to Japan, screened on october, 15 at the Black Box cinema will be dedicated to Japan in experimental cinema and video art. Films included will cover a wide range of “Japans”, from fictional to historical to personal…

films by Ciro Altabás, Marina Chernikova, André Werner, Yukihiro Taguchi, Jean-Gabriel Périot, Matthew Dotson & Bart Woodstrop, Anders Weberg & Robert Willim, GUP-py, Kazuhiko Kobayashi, Akinori Okada & Masataka Ohta (pictured: Ansoku No Basyo, 2010) 

curated by Julia Murakami

many thanks to Sascha Lueck and whiteconcepts for their support!

Black Box Kino im Filmmuseum , Schulstr. 4, 40213 Duesseldorf

October 15, 2011, 8 pm (admission free!)

program

    the JGP


Directors Lounge Screenings:  

Petra Lottje + Curtis Burz 
AUF DER SPUR

video works
Donnerstag, 29. Sept 2011
21:00

Z-Bar

Bergstraße 2

10115 Berlin-Mitte

Directors Lounge präsentiert ein Programm mit Petra Lottje und Curtis Burz. Beide Künstler, aus ganz unterschiedlichem Hintergrund, Bildende Kunst bei Petra Lottje und die dokumentarische Tradition europäischen Kinos bei Curtis Burz, befassen sich mit zwischenmenschlichen Beziehungen. Ob diese nun eigentlich „auf der Spur“ sind (on track) oder „abseits der Spur“ (off track) bleibt auch über die ambivalente Benutzung der Medien oder des Recordings bei beiden Künstlern offen, oder hängt davon ab, welchen Blickpunkt der Beobachter (Zuschauer) selbst einnehmen will.

‚Sprache bildet in zahlreichen Videos Petra Lottjes den Ansatzpunkt der Auseinandersetzung. Sie kombiniert Tonsequenzen aus unterschiedlichen Spielfilmen, verleiht ihnen körperlichen Ausdruck und setzt sie in neue Zusammenhänge. … Heute ist jeder Protagonist seines eigenen Films, doch wie eigen ist dieser Film wirklich? Und wie sehr sind wir selbst Medien kollektiver Stereotypen?’ (Susanne Husse, 2010)

In drei Episoden aus dem dokumentarischen Essay „Ich habe Dir nie erzählt, womit ich mein Geld verdiene“ (2011) erzählt Curtis Burz von Menschen, die sich scheinbar in der Mitte der Gesellschaft bewegen, aber doch nur „vom Rand“ aus zuschauen. Die Geschichten basieren auf Interviews, die der Regisseur in der Zeit 2008-2010 geführt hat.

(Kuratiert von Klaus W. Eisenlohr)

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/IchHabeDirNieErzaehltWomitIchMeinGeldVerdiene

http://www.lottje.de

Jakob Kirchheim

schnitte—bilder—worte

film and video works
Thursday, 28 July 2011
21:00
Z-Bar
Bergstraße 2
10115 Berlin-Mitte

Prints–Images-Words

Jakob Kirchheim combines different art genres in very personal ways, genres that usually are not connected with each other. He creates films and paintings using linoleum prints. The seriality of printing initially made the artist experimenting with film. He has used a variety of animation methods without leading him to classic animation forms. The ways Jakob Kirchheim also includes words and maps then results in political meaningful references, and they partly remind of the styles of agitprop from the 1920’s, but also from the 60’s and 70’s. However, the artists likes to see them as media references rather than just bold political statements. These references seem to say, «Agitprop? Isn’t that pure poetry, anyways?» Already in 1987, Jakob Kirchheim conceived his first «Linolfilm», a stop motion film based on linoleum prints as a combination of words and images. Since then he further developed his film techniques using photographs, collage techniques and live footage, and he thus has produced over 20 experimental animation, poetry and documentary films.

Artist Link:
http://www.jakob-kirchheim.de/

Links:

More infos at http://richfilm.de/filmUpload/1-framesKirchheim.html

Z-Bar
http://www.z-bar.de

Directors Lounge Screening

Michael Brynntrup

meSelf, mySelf and iSelf
film + video works

Thursday, 30 June 2011
21:00
Z-Bar
Bergstraße 2
10115 Berlin-Mitte

Michael Brynntrup is an artist and filmmaker who has been probing the limits of independent, personal and experimental film since the 80’s. Very early in his art career, he started off with Super-8 films, but soon experimented with multiple projections and collaborations with other artists. With „Jesus, der Film“ his collaboration took the form of a „cadavre exquis“, the joint product of a number of directors who only saw part of the work of their collegues, but who all were asked to have Brynntrup play the main character, Jesus. The resulting feature-long film became a legend, while little later, Brynntrup also became a well known director in the gay-and-lesbian cinema movement. His goal, however, was to never become monopolized by a certain scene, and thus, since his start, he has strived for a diversity of themes and genres in his work. Still, we can find the repeated and ongoing questions of the identity of the self, the questions, how the roles we play in society are being defined by gender and sexual orientation, and how the mirror of the other, and the mirror of death influences our lives. Last but not least, the artist adresses the question how much of an impact the mirror of media does have. (Curated by Klaus W. Eisenlohr)

Links:

Michael Brynntrup
http://www.brynntrup.de/

Z-Bar
http://www.z-bar.de

More infos (Klaus W. Eisenlohr):
http://www.richfilm.de/currentUpload/index.html

Directors Lounge Screening

FLEXFEST 2011 –

SELECTED WORKS FROM THE FLORIDA EXPERIMENTAL FILM/VIDEO FESTIVAL 2011

presented by
Roger Beebe, artistic director of Flexfest

Thursday, 26 May 2011
21:00
Z-Bar
Bergstraße 2
10115 Berlin-Mitte

FLEX: the Florida Experimental Film and Video Festival presents a program of highlights from their 2011 biennial competitive festival. FLEX is interested in an expansive notion of experimental media. “Work may draw on documentary, animation, avant-garde, underground, or other traditions—or no traditions at all.“ As such the programming comprises a variety of mediums from 16mm direct animation to found video and from laconic place studies to experimental love poems.

Since its start in 2004, Flexfest has become one of the most important festivals for experimental media in USA, challenging us to rethink what ‘experimental’ means. Roger Beebe, who is the artistic director of Flexfest, and who is currently teaching a 5 week workshop at LaborBerlin, will present the program. He was already a guest at Directors Lounge in 2009 (Link). Roger Beebe will be available for Q&A.

The Florida Experimental Film/Video Festival presents both year-round programming and an annual festival (FLEXfest) in Gainesville, Florida. Showcasing a broad range of experimental media, FLEXfest alternates a biennial competitive festival with a biennial curated event. Past FLEX guests have included Craig Baldwin, Jim Trainor, Helga Fanderl, Deborah Stratman, Ben Russell, Robert Todd, Leighton Pierce, Naomi Uman, Bill Brown, Scott Stark, Jacqueline Goss, Johan Grimonprez, Vanessa Renwick, and many others.

Program:
Utopia, Part 3:The World’s Biggest Shopping Mall, Sam Green (13:09/HD/2009/USA)

Iron-Wood, Richard Tuohy (7:00/16mm/2009/Australia)

The Voyagers, Penny Lane (16:30/DV/Jun. 2010/USA)

Horizon Line, Katherin McInnis (1:00/HDV/USA)

Somewhere Only We Know, Jesse McLean (5:15/Video/2009/USA)

Tusslemuscle, Steve Cossman (5:00/16mm/Nov. 2009/USA)

Portrait #2: Trojan, Vanessa Renwick (5:00/35MM TO VIDEO/2006)

White House, Georg Koszulinski (8:00/DV/2009/USA)

Day/Night (Devil’s Milhopper), Andres E. Arocha (4:56/16mm/Apr. 2009/USA)

28.IV.81(Bedouin Sparks), Christopher Harris (2:49/16mm/Jan. 2009/USA)

Links:
http://flexfest.org

http://www.facebook.com/flexfest

http://www.directorslounge.net

http://www.z-bar.de

More program infos:
http://richfilm.de/filmUpload/1-framesFlexfest.html

alina skrzeszewska –
songs from the nickel

Thursday, 28 April 2011
21:00

Z-Bar
Bergstr. 2
D-10115 Berlin-Mitte
U-Rosenthaler Platz

Alina Skrzeszewska created a colorful, sad and thoughtful film about the shadow sides of downtown Los Angeles, not without showing strains of hope. And there is music, songs by the protagonists starring in the film.

The Nickel, the Eastern part of downtown used to be an isolated island in the urban grid of L.A.: historic but sordid former grand hotels; the number of homeless people surpasses the number of inhabitants multiple times; a network of christian missions and charity organisations are entangled in what is called the Skid Row; from 10 pm through 6:30 am you are allowed to sleep in the street (but then you have to move); there is a lack of over 12,000 beds for homeless shelter; on the other hand, a massive police presence and the reign of crack makes life in the street like a trip to hell. In this strange otherworldly urban zone, the old hotels seem to be islands in the stormy waters, and they are the cheapest places to live in town. Here, the artist Skrzeszewska rented a room for over one and half a year while shooting for her film. Those who live here, and whom we get to know in the film, have at least some kind of steady income, a job in the hotel, a veteran pension, or social welfare for the disabled. They were able to leave the state of homelessness or the circle of jail and drugs.

Thus, for Alina the hotels are a place of reflection, a retreat from the “war in the street” as Alina calls it. “In the street there is never time for thoughtfulness.” Therefore, she uses these odd spaces of retreat that the hotels are as spaces of reflection — and possibly projection — to discuss life and the society that creates those biographies missing any hope. The artist’s conditions for a talk in front of the camera was openness to have an earnest conversation. We see very little “false” acting in front of the camera, maybe because the artist does all the recording on her own, and it is this sincerity of a “one to one” talk and Alina’s honest interest in the story of her counterpart that makes her bridge the gap: A young European woman who studies at CalArts and the finally settled tramps. Some of them tell stories of their life, they never told before. We get to know there are many reasons to strand at the hotels of the Nickel. Some were dropped out by the society that fits only for the fittest, and they lost everything they had in the past. Others decided not to “play their game.” All of them still seem to be untouched by the epidemic that now spreads for 2 decades: crack.

In such a way, Alina Skrzeszewska also shows to us the poetry and wisdom of the underprivileged, all of which recorded by a camera that was inspired by Edward Hopper and the reading of Charles Bukowski, as Alina admitted to herself after she had finished the film. The positive notions of the film however derive from the examples of anarchistic renderings of their interests, like the illegal music studio in the hotel’s basement. It’s that very American idea of the self-made man that is still valid, and the roots of American pop culture based in the will of the poorest men to survive in dignity that are still showing, here.

A. Skrzeszewska, who was born in Wroclaw in Poland, and who lives and works somewhere in between Berlin, Los Angeles and Vienna, will be present at the screening at Z-Bar and will be available for Q&A.

In addition, Alina will present the short film “Notes from the Fields”, 10 mins, showing a day’s cycle on the crossing of 5th St. and Los Angeles St. in The Nickels.

Curated by Klaus W. Eisenlohr

More infos, German text and film stills:
http://www.richfilm.de/filmUpload/1-framesSkrzeszewska.html

Artist Link:
http://www.songsfromthenickel.com/
Press Links:
http://www.directorslounge.net
http://www.z-bar.de

 Experiments in Cinema v6.3!

Directors Lounge visits Experiments in Cinema:

On April 15th DL will hit the screen in Albuquerque with some of our favourite films by Keith Sanborn, Eric Dyer, Jean-Gabriel Périot, André Werner, Max Hattler and Ken Paul Rosenthal (Ken will be there in person!).

So if you are in New Mexico drop in to see what we’ve compiled. And don’t forget to watch the other programs (curated by our mate Bryan Konefsky, pictured here) that include the works by Gerard Freixes Ribera, Jodie Mack, Jeanne Liotta, Kerry Laitala, Wago Kreider, Marie Losier, Scott Stark and Martha Colburn.

Experiments in Cinema – Albuquerque’s annual celebration of international cinematic experimentation!

Witness cinema like you’ve never it seen before! Experiments in Cinema is an annual, Albuquerque-based festival that celebrates recent trends in international, cinematic experimentation and offers a variety of ways in which attendees might think about the history of media representation and participate in shaping future trends in cultural representation. To this end we are deeply invested in year-long outreach efforts where we travel our festival to schools around New Mexico to inspire a new generation of home grown filmmakers to create movies in ways we might never have imagined possible.

This 5 day event consists of film screenings, lectures, workshops and thoughtful dialogue, always.

www.experimentsincinema.com

Directors Lounge hits LA

We are screening assorted highlights at the prestigious Los Angeles Art Association (LAAA) as part of  NOT A CAR, a special all-media, cross-cultural exhibition featuring the highlights from our partners, the C.A.R. art fair in Essen, Germany, alongside original contemporary artworks by Los Angeles artists debuting at Gallery 825 on April 9, 2011. Exhibit runs through April 29, 2011.

program I

Alexei Dmitriev Dubus 4 min
Coleman Miller US Uso Justo 22 min 2005 
Thorsten Fleisch DE Dromosphäre 10 min 2010
Nicolas Ramel FR A/V Sketch#3 40s 2010
Octavian Fedorovici RO Casablanca 1PM 1min 2008
Julia Smith  US  Grand Teton 4 min 1s 2010
Gunter Deller DE Riverrun and Touchdown     7 min 40s 2009
Ryley O´Byrne CA Maenad  2 min 45s 2010
Ron Diorio US Winter Wind  3 min 1s 2009
Maria Niro  US  Glitch Telemetry  ca 3 min  2010
Kika Nicolela FR/BR  Passenger 5min 2007
Bruce Knox DE Danger Global Warming 7min 3s 201
Sergio Cruz UK    Hannah    5 min30s 2010
Ofir Feldman Poetic Account 1 min
Chema Garcia Ibarra ES The Attack Of The Robots From Nebula-5 6min 20s 2008
KRONCK (aka Maximilian Gerlach & Jessica Benzing) Thank You Third World
Max Hattler DE Spin 4 min 2010
Julia Murakami/Alan Smithee  lost masterpieces #1 ((red) 2010
 
………..

program II

Chiara Ambrosio The Crossing    3min 31s
Chiara Ambrosio Whale 4 min 52s
Eric Dyer US Copenhagen Cycles 6 min 37s
Mark Maxwell Naturaleza Muerta   29 min 2011
Chiara Ambrosio    Charon 12 min 16s Musical score Michael Nyman
Jean-Gabriel Périot 200-000 phantoms 10 min

in cooperation with Myriam Blundell Projects

……….

program III

A Journey Through The Symbols – selected video works by André Werner
The weary traveler must clear his own path through the thicket, must find the passages in this labyrinth of symbols. Here the glimpse of a distant female beauty, there a delightful garden; a gold-glittering speck of color draws the traveler and he finds himself entranced… The viewing of a shape, somehow familiar, sets the mind running at full force, tracing distant memories. Expectations crystalize into clear formulations; the eye strives to match the moving pieces into a distinct wholeness. But the process of pasting together the individual tiles, of trying to derive one whole unified object from this melting pot of images, fails. The arrayed bits of meaning waver and… dissolve.
All that remains are the pictures and colors, the shapes and our traveler’s imaginations – The journey carries on in the mind of the beholder. Anja Osswald

A Journey Through The Symbols combines videos from the last twenty years, many of them will be screened in US premiere