SPRING 2012
events MARCH Thursday, March 1 Cuban Revolutionary Cinema De cierta manera (film) Friday, March 2 Sonic Arts Union Retrospective Music with Roots in the Aether – Gordon Mumma (film) Saturday, March 3 Directors in Focus: Peter Rose (film) Sunday, March 4 Le Souk Culture and Cuisine (culture) Al-Bustan Music (live) Wednesday, March 7 Archive Fever! 3.0 !Women Art Revolution (film) Thursday, March 8 Motion Pictures American Independent Cinema Wanda (film) Friday, March 9 Wave Currents Byron Westbrook (live/film) Saturday, March 10 The Janus Collection Onibaba/Kuroneko (film) Tuesday, March 13 Reelblack Presents The Barrel of a Gun (film) Wednesday, March 14 International Women’s Day Gender Games (learn) Exhibit Openings Coloring Book/709b/ Gender Games (art) Full Exposure You are all Captains (film) Thursday, March 15 Cuban Revolutionary Cinema Maluala (film) Saturday, March 17 Sonic Arts Union Retrospective Hardware Hacking Workshop with Nicolas Collins (learn) Gordon Mumma performed by Jenny Lin and Conrad Harris (live)
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tickets/box office: Tickets are available at www.ihousephilly.org + 215.387.5125 IHP’s Box Office opens 30 minutes before the event unless otherwise noted.
Monday, March 19 Everything is Terrible! DoggieWoggiez! PoochieWoochiez! (film)
Wednesday, April 4 Scribe Video Center Suzanne Suzanne/Finding Christa (film)
Wednesday, March 21 Adaptations Le Million (film)
Thursday, April 5 The Films of Cathy Lee Crane Poetic Biography: An Investigation of Words from Two Radical Polemicists (film)
Thursday, March 22 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival You Don’t Like the Truth – 4 Days inside Guantanamo (film) Friday, March 23 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival The Price of Sex (film) Saturday, March 24 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival The Green Wave Granito: How to Nail a Dictator (film) Monday, March 26 Cherry Blossom Festival Manzairaku - Performing Kyogen, Tenshu-Monogatari and Dengaku (live) Wednesday, March 28 Adaptations Ken Jacobs Shorts Program (film) Thursday, March 29 Cuban Revolutionary Cinema Cecilia (film) Friday, March 30 Mixed Messages: Marshall McLuhan and the Moving Image The Medium is the Medium/ US/Turn Turn Turn (film) Saturday, March 31 Mixed Messages: Marshall McLuhan and the Moving Image Marshall McLuhan Panel Discussion (talk) This Is Marshall McLuhan: The Medium Is the Massage Videodrome/A Message from Our Sponsor (film)
APRIL Tuesday, April 3 Hel! Scandinavia Where in the World (learn) International Vision Awards (culture)
Cover:The Mill and the Cross
Friday, April 6 An Evening with Juan Daniel F Molero Reminiscencias (Reminiscences) (film)
Monday, April 23 – Thursday, May 22 Language Program Classes (learn) Tuesday, April 24 Hej! Scandinavia Muslims in Scandinavia (learn) Wednesday, April 25 Return of the New: Recent Film/ Video Works from the UK What it is Not (film)
Monday, April 9 –Thursday, April 12 Language Program Registration (learn)
Thursday, April 26 Hej! Scandinavia Vodka Tasting (culture)
Tuesday, April 10 Reelblack Presents The Last Fall (film)
Friday, April 27 National Poetry Month - Rudy Burckhardt Money/Indelible, Inedible (film)
Wednesday, April 11 Full Exposure Empty Quarter (film)
Saturday, April 28 Ensemble N_JP Nine Chains to the Moon: Buckminster Fuller in Philadelphia (live/film)
Thursday, April 12 Motion Pictures Slasher Saint (film) Saturday, April 14 Sonic Arts Union Retrospective Perfect Lives (film) Sunday, April 15 Andrew Lampert The Good Life (live/film) Tuesday, April 17 Hej! Scandinavia Culture and Cuisine (culture) Wednesday, April 18 Archive Fever! 3.0 The Extraordinary Voyage/ A Trip to the Moon (film) Thursday, April 19 Cuban Revolutionary Cinema Suite Habana (film) Saturday, April 21 Hej! Scandinavia Zero Kelvin/Songs from the Second Floor The Janus Collection The Silence (film) Sunday, April 22 Hej! Scandinavia The Mill and the Cross/Open Hearts (film)
M AY Wednesday, May 2 Archive Fever! 3.0 Films by Bill Morrison (film) Saturday, May 5 Sonic Arts Union Retrospective Robert Ashley and Ensemble (live) Tuesday, May 8 Reelblack Presents Leaked Night at The Five Spot (film) Wednesday, May 9 Return of the New: Recent Film/ Video Works from the UK Two Years at Sea (film) Thursday, May 10 Motion Pictures Femme Fatale The Bride Wore Black (film) Friday, May 11 Secret Cinema A Secret Cinema Blind Date (film) Saturday, May 12 The Janus Collection F for Fake (film) Tuesday, May 15 Scribe Video Center The Anderson Monarchs (film)
McLuhan’s History of the Future
FEATURED SERIES
In 2010, I was invited by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, along with several other curators from Philadelphia arts institutions, to participate in a curatorial intensive being conducted by Independent Curators International. The project I developed over this four month period was an investigation into video art created specifically for broadcast television from the 1960’s to the 1980’s. As television became the dominant medium of the 20th century, a vast number of artists were eager to respond to this new technological phenomenon. At the center of much of this work was the influence of Marshall McLuhan. Mixed Messages: Marshall McLuhan and the Moving Image is a tribute to one of the most transformational thinkers of the 20th Century. Marshall McLuhan was born on July 21, 1911 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is considered to be one the earliest figures in the development of the study of mass media. McLuhan’s interpretation of the ever-increasing societal changes in the post-war era influenced an entire generation of scientists, philosophers and artists. In focusing on television and moving image culture, this program offers an excellent opportunity to investigate McLuhan’s notion of how “all media work us over completely.” For two days we will view works by key figures in film and video art within the context of McLuhan’s radical ideas about “electronic media.” Additionally, we will bring together several notable artists and scholars on media art to frame McLuhan’s theories from a contemporary perspective. -Jesse Pires, Program Curator
For information, times and listings of the Mixed Messages: Marshall McLuhan and the Moving Image series please see pages 17-19 ihousephilly.org
PROGRAMS ADAPTATIONS
In collaboration with the Penn Humanitie Forum and Cinema Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, we present the Adaptations Film Series. The history of cinema is one of adaptations from other media. Great adaptations are often more innovative and enduring than their sources. They compel us to rethink the whole relationship between originals and copies, sources and targets. Wednesday, March 21 Le Million
Wednesday, March 28 Ken Jacobs Shorts Program
ARCHIVE FEVER! 3.0
Central to our visual culture, the archive is a repository for any personal memories, shared histories, objects and documents through which we revisit the history of our time. In this series, we explore the myriad ways in which the archive, archival and found materials are central to the works of film and video artists who are discovering the dynamic possibilities within archives, creating new inventive modes for archival practice. Wednesday, March 7 Wednesday, May 2 !Women Art Revolution Films by Bill Morrison Wednesday, April 18 The Extraordinary Voyage/A Trip to the Moon
Cuban Revolutionary Cinema
Co-presented by the University of Pennsylvania’s Cinema Studies Program, Center for Africana Studies, Departments of English and Hispanic Studies, and Latin American and Latina/o Studies In the beginning of the Revolution in Cuba, there was cinema. Loaded cameras traced the armed parade of barbudos (bearded) as they sojourned from the Sierra Maestra to the northwestern capital of the island. Shortly after Che and Fidel arrived victorious in Havana, but before businesses were nationalized, before the Revolution was declared socialist-communist, before hundreds of thousands went into exile, and even before the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists was formed, the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Arts and Industry (ICAIC) was established. The Cuban Revolution has been obsessed with its image and Cuban Revolutionary Cinema has both participated in and criticized these obsessions throughout the life of the Revolution. This series continues with four more essential films throughout the spring. Cuban Revolutionary Cinema is curated by Rachel Ellis Neyra. Thursday, March 1 De cierta manera
Thursday, March 29 Cecilia
Thursday, March 15 Maluala
Thursday, April 19 Suite Habana
FULL EXPOSURE
Full Exposure is a series dedicated to recent works by innovative film and video makers from around the world, and is a snapshot of the current state of moving image production and its constantly evolving practice. Wednesday, March 14 You are all Captains
Wednesday, April 11 Empty Quarter
Hej! Scandinavia
IHP presents a series of themed programs celebrating the people, culture and heritage of Scandinavia – Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. The Philadelphia Region has a rich and vibrant Scandinavian history. Some of the first Europeans to settle in North America were Swedes and Finns who formed a colony called “New Sweden” along the Delaware River. Today, Philadelphia is home to many people who are of Swedish, Finish, Danish and Norwegian descent. There are also a significant number of Scandinavian businesses with major US operations and headquarters located in the region. Scandinavia is also known for its contributions to creative expression in the areas of art, fashion, design, film, literature and music. In particular, Scandinavian design has been very influential, with a style characterized by simplicity, democratic design and natural shapes. Scandinavians are regarded as proponents of human rights and egalitarian values at home and on the world stage. Famous international humanitarians have included former UN General Secretaries Trygve Lie and Dag Hammarskjöld as well as Raoul Wallenberg. Hej! Scandinavia is co-presented by Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce, Scandinavian American Business Forum, the American Swedish Historical Museum and the Consulate General of Sweden in Philadelphia. Tuesday, April 3 Where in the World/ International Vision Awards
Tuesday, April 17 Culture and Cuisine
Saturday, April 21 Zero Kelvin/ Songs from the Second Floor/ The Silence
Sunday, April 22 The Mill and the Cross/ Open Hearts
Tuesday, April 24 Muslims in Scandinavia
Thursday, April 26 Vodka Tasting
THE JANUS COLLECTION
Truly one of our national treasures, Janus Films is a vital part of American film culture. Film @ International House continues the Janus Collection with titles from their library, all in brand new or restored 35mm prints. Saturday, March 10 Onibaba/Kuroneko
Saturday, April 21 The Silence
Languages
Saturday, May 12 F for Fake
Learn @ International House offers the opportunity to study foreign languages, improve proficiency in conversation and enhance skills that assist in future goals. Monday, April 9 – Thursday, April 12 Language Programs Registration Monday, April 23 – Thursday, May 22 Language Programs Start
PROGRAMS MOTION PICTUREs
The films of Georges Méliès, John Ford, Preston Sturges and Andrei Tarkovsky were previously featured in Motion Pictures, a monthly series that focuses on different movements in film culture such as science fiction, city symphonies and New German Cinema. Thursday, March 8 Wanda
Thursday, April 12 Saint
Thursday, May 10 The Bride Wore Black
Reelblack Presents
Reelblack Presents promotes discoveries and rediscoveries in African-American film. Tuesday, March 13 Tuesday, April 10 The Barrel of a Gun The Last Fall
Tuesday, May 8 Leaked Night at The Five Spot
Scribe Video Center Producers’ Forum
The Producers’ Forum in-person screening series is a lecture discussion program, that allows Scribe to invite important nationally and internationally recognized media makers to Philadelphia to share their work and talk about their process of creating. Wednesday, April 4 Suzanne Suzanne/Finding Christa
Tuesday, May 15 The Anderson Monarchs
Selections from the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, 9th Edition In recognition of the power of film to educate and galvanize a broad constituency of concerned citizens, Human Rights Watch created the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival. The Festival has become a leading venue for distinguished fiction, documentary and animated films and videos with a distinctive human rights theme. Through the eyes of committed and courageous filmmakers, we showcase the heroic stories of activists and survivors from all over the world. The works we feature help to put a human face on threats to individual freedom and dignity, and celebrate the power of the human spirit and intellect to prevail. We seek to empower everyone with the knowledge that personal commitment can make a very real difference. Human Rights Watch is co-presented by Human Rights Watch International Film Festival and the Greenfield Intercultural Centers at the University of Pennsylvania Thursday, March 22 You Don’t Like the Truth – 4 Days inside Guantanamo Friday, March 23 The Price of Sex
Saturday, March 24 The Green Wave Granito: How to Nail a Dictator
The Secret Cinema
For 20 years the Secret Cinema has been the area’s premiere floating repertory cinema series, bringing hundreds of unique programs to nightclubs, bars, coffee houses, museums, open fields, colleges, art galleries, bookstores, and sometimes even theaters and film festivals. Friday, May 11 A Secret Cinema Blind Date
SONIC ARTS UNION RETROSPECTIVE
The Sonic Arts Union was a pioneering composer collective, active between 1966 and 1976, presenting original live electronic music by its members, performed by the composers themselves. Music with Roots in the Aether is a seven-part series of video portraits of notable American composers, in interviews staged as “landscapes” and in performance. Sonic Arts Union Retrospective features the segments on David Behrman, Gordon Mumma, and Alvin Lucier, engaging the composers in friendly and insightful conversations and showing performances of their work. Friday, March 2 Music with Roots in the Aether – Gordon Mumma
Saturday, April 14 Perfect Lives
Saturday, March 17 Hardware Hacking Workshop with Nicolas Collins Gordon Mumma performed by Jenny Lin and Conrad Harris
Saturday, May 5 Robert Ashley and Ensemble Sonic Arts Union Retrospective has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Music Project.
WAVE CURRENTS
Wave Currents is an ongoing series that investigates the interaction between live cinema and live music, showcasing a variety of artists whose work is creating an entirely new category of sound/moving image performance. In order to demonstrate the breadth and variety of current audiovisual practices, Wave Currents encompasses work that ranges from abstract to representational, from performative to lacking any obvious human presence. Wave Currents Byron Westbrook
Unless noted, all Film@ International House screenings are free admission for IHP members; $7 students + seniors; $9 general admission.
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Cuban Revolutionary Cinema
Sonic Arts Union Retrospective
De cierta manera layers documentary and fiction, moving adeptly between footage of the demolition of slums just outside of Havana in the early years of transition and reconstruction of the Revolution, footage of the rituals of the Abacuá, a secret and all-male religious society dating to slavery, and the story of a revolutionary romance between Mario, a bus driver who can question but not break from the discourse of machismo, and Yolanda, a school teacher who struggles with the effects of that discourse on her young students’ lives. The film was being edited in 1977 by directors Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Julio García Espinosa, just as Gómez died suddenly of an asthma attack.
Gordon Mumma is interviewed on a football field (after a brief bit of bike repair), followed by a performance of Some Voltage Drop: Simulcast, Schoolwork, Telepos/Foxbat.
De cierta manera (One Way or Another) Thursday, March 1 at 7pm dir. Sara Gómez, Cuba, 1978, 16mm, 78 mins, b/w, Spanish w/ English subtitles
Free admission. 6
Music with Roots in the Aether - Gordon Mumma Friday, March 2 at 7pm dir. Robert Ashley and Philip Makanna, US, 1983, DVD, 116 mins, color
Directors in Focus: Peter Rose
Saturday, March 3 at 5pm and 7pm Peter Rose is a professor in the Media Arts department at the University of the Arts. His works in film, video, installation and performance have received extensive national and international exhibition, including shows at the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Centre Pompidou, the Philadelphia Museum, the Yokohama Museum of Art, the Fabric Workshop and Museum, the Rotterdam International Film Festival and the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
For over forty years I have been wending my way through the land of cinema, fording the rivers of technology, climbing the arboreal labyrinths of structuralism, exploring the hidden chambers of metaphor, and playing games with time, space, light and landscape as they presented themselves. My tactics have been formal, but my ambitions have been irony, poetry, wit, and spectacle, and so these works aren’t easily pigeon-holed, ranging from maniacal deconstructions of language to speechless acts of witness to strange performances with flashlights. The two programs offer thematic summaries of my work. The first is comprised of seven elements of a thirteen part meditation on language entitled VOX; the second eschews language almost altogether to show us things we’ve not seen. – Peter Rose Program 1: Tongue Ties Saturday, March 3 at 5pm Tongue Ties offers a circumnavigation of the subject of language. By turns it is a reflexive riff on reading, homage to the passing of film, a hyper-dimensional performance piece, an edenic parable, a zen koan, an arch ideological satire, and a performance piece about communication. There are reflections on time and language and there are explorations of the places where speech and power seem to intersect. Secondary Currents dir. Peter Rose, US, 1982, 16mm, 16 mins, color
followed at 7pm by Program 2: Sight Songs Sight Songs is a suite of films and videos that concern themselves with dimensional explorations of time and space, with occulting the usual visual modalities and constructing other kinds of vision using the tools of cinema. These works explore multi-temporalities of movement, the raptures of vision, the American landscape, the machineries of the sky, the corridors of the underground, and the powers of darkness, in no particular order. In contrast to Tongue Ties, they lack almost all traces of language and appeal to the formal, the specular, and the kinetic. The man who could not see far enough dir. Peter Rose, US, 1981, 16mm, 33 mins, color
SpiritMatters dir. Peter Rose, US, 1985, 16mm, 5 mins, color
Pneumenon dir. Peter Rose, US, 2003, DVD, 5 mins, color
Metalogue dir. Peter Rose, US, 1996, DVD, 3 mins, color
Odysseus in Ithaca dir. Peter Rose, US, 2006, DVD, 5 mins, color
The Gift dir. Peter Rose, US, 1993, DVD, 6 mins, color
Omen dir. Peter Rose, US, 2000, DVD, 10 mins, color
Digital Speech dir. Peter Rose, US, 1984, DVD, 13 mins, color Babel dir. Peter Rose, US, 1987, DVD, 17 mins, color Pressures of the Text dir. Peter Rose, US, 1983, DVD, 17 mins, color
Incantation dir. Peter Rose, US, 1970, 16mm, 8 mins, color Studies in Transfalumination dir. Peter Rose, US, 2008, DVD, 5 mins, color The Indeserian Tablets dir. Peter Rose, US, 2011, DVD, 14 mins, color ihousephilly.org
Le Souk – Culture and Cuisine Sunday, March 4 at 6pm
Join us for special Culture + Cuisine in IHP’s Australia Lounge and enjoy a Middle Eastern buffet by Zena’s of Collingswood, NJ as our hosts for the evening, Hazami Sayed, Founder and Executive Director of Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture and Al-Bustan Music Director Hanna Khoury, lead a discussion about the Arab community in Philadelphia, and how music is integral to Arab life and culture. Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture is dedicated to presenting and teaching the Arabic language, arts, and culture. Bring your friends and enjoy new tastes from around the world, and then join us after dinner for a musical program featuring Al-Bustan. Culture + Cuisine only: $20 IHP members; $25 general admission. With Concert included: $30 IHP members; $40 general admission.
Le Souk – Al-Bustan Music – An Evening of Arab Music Sunday, March 4 at 7:30pm
Co-presented by Crossroads Music Hanna Khoury (violin); Kinan Abou-afach (cello); Kinan Idnawi (oud) and Hafez El Ali Kotain (percussion) Al-Bustan Music presents an ensemble of musicians performing Arab classical and contemporary instrumental music. AlBustan Music is a program of Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, a West Philadelphia-based organization that presents and teaches the Arabic language, arts, and culture. Al-Bustan’s Music Program is directed by Hanna Khoury, a recipient of the prestigious 2010 Pew Fellowship in the Arts. Khoury is an Arab-Israeli violinist trained in the classical traditions of both Arab and Western music. He established AlBustan’s Arab Music Concert Series which presents a resident music ensemble in performance with six renowned guest artists during the 2011-12 season, providing opportunities to hear exemplary live Arab music on a regular basis in Philadelphia. $10 IHP + Crossroads Music members; $15 students + seniors; $20 general admission.
Archive Fever! 3.0
!Women Art Revolution Wednesday, March 7 at 7pm dir. Lynn Hershman-Leeson. US, 2010, 35mm, 85 mins, color Co-presented by the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania An entertaining and revelatory “secret history” of feminist art, !Women Art Revolution deftly illuminates this under-explored movement through conversations, observations, archival footage and works of visionary artists, historians, curators and critics. Starting from its roots in 1960s antiwar and civil rights protests, the film details major developments in women’s art through the 1970s and explores how the tenacity and courage of these pioneering artists resulted in what is now widely regarded as the most significant art movement of the late 20th century.
!Women art revolution
Motion Pictures
American Independent Cinema Wanda – New Restored 35mm Print Thursday, March 8 at 7pm dir. Barbara Loden, US, 1970, 35mm, 102 mins, color 35mm restored print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive Cited by film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum as one of the 100 greatest American films ever made, Barbara Loden’s neo-realist gem centers on her brilliant performance as a rural Pennsylvanian housewife embarked upon a flight to nowhere, traveling through an American landscape of decrepit factories, two-lane wastelands and ratty motels. Dragged seemingly by the wind into a relationship with small-time crook, Loden’s Wanda floats through her life as if witness to it; a view of desperation filtered through a tinted windshield. Barbara Loden, at surface glance, might be the least likely candidate to have produced one of the absolute masterpieces of American cinema. Beginning her career as a nightclub dancer and pinup girl, she had to face not only class but gender discrimination throughout her life. By her own frank admission, she had been raised in an environment wherein a woman’s only chances for self-improvement were through attachment to a man. It’s precisely from these struggles that Wanda grew. It’s hence ironic and perversely appropriate that Loden was, initially, known for her marriage to Elia Kazan and for her roles in his films Wild River (1960) and Splendor in the Grass (1961), and his stage production of After The Fall (1964). Loden subsequently withdrew from public life alongside Kazan before taking up the writer/director’s helm of Wanda, which is fittingly, her lasting cinematic legacy. – Ross Lipman, Filmmaker and Restorer WANDA: Preservation Funded by The Film Foundation and GUCCI.
Wave Currents
WAnda
Byron Westbrook – Corridors Friday, March 9 at 8pm New York City multimedia artist Byron Westbrook presents a mix of new and older works from his Corridors project, combining live music with multi-channel video projections. Mixed live and constructed from synthesizer, guitars, horns, and other instruments, sound comes from multiple speakers placed around the theater while multiple abstract videos are projected on surfaces, playing with the tensions between sight, sound, space, and attention. The music of Corridors is beautiful, rich, and slow-moving drone constructed from acoustic and electronic instrument sources layered in the computer. This immersive three-dimensional experience simply must be experienced live. Special thanks to Philadelphia Sound Forum. $5 IHP members; $8 students + seniors; $10 general admission.
THE JANUS COLLECTION
Onibaba Saturday, March 10 at 7pm dir. Kaneto Shindo, Japan, 1964, 35mm, 103 mins, b/w, Japanese w/ English subtitles Co-presented by the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia as part of the 2012 Cherry Blossom Festival Deep within the wind-swept marshes of war-torn medieval Japan, an impoverished mother and her daughter-in-law eke out a lonely, desperate existence. Forced to murder lost samurai and sell their belongings for grain, they dump the corpses down a deep, dark hole and live off of the meager spoils. When a bedraggled neighbor returns from the skirmishes, lust, jealousy, and rage threaten to destroy the trio’s tenuous existence. Driven by primal emotions, dark eroticism, a frenzied score by Hikaru Hayashi, and stunning images both lyrical and macabre, Kaneto Shindo’s chilling folktale is a singular cinematic experience. free admission for IHP members; $7 Japan American Society members, students + seniors; $9 general admission. Kuroneko (Black Cat) Saturday, March 10 at 9pm dir. Kaneto Shindo, Japan, 1968, 35mm, 99 mins, b/w, Japanese w/ English subtitles In this poetic and atmospheric horror fable, set in a village in war-torn medieval Japan, a malevolent spirit has been ripping out the throats of itinerant samurai. When a military hero is sent to dispatch the unseen force, he finds that he must struggle with his own personal demons as well. Kuroneko is a spectacularly eerie twilight tale with a shocking feminist angle, evoked through ghostly special effects and exquisite cinematography. Free admission for IHP members; $7 Japan America Society members, students + seniors; $9 general admission.
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Reelblack Presents
The Barrel of a Gun Tuesday, March 13 at 7pm dir. Tigre Hill, 2012, video, 105 mins, color Followed by post-film discussion moderated by Philadelphia Inquirer’s Annette John-Hall with filmmaker Tigre Hill, Attorney Michael Coard and Philadelphia NAACP Chapter President J Whatt Mondesire This feature-length documentary offers the most comprehensive examination to date of the murder of white Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and the conviction of black journalist-turned-cab-driver Mumia Abu-Jamal. The case has ignited world-wide controversy, with Abu-Jamal’s arrest and trial becoming a cause célèbre for celebrities, foreign dignitaries and human rights campaigners. For Faulkner supporters, however, the controversy serves as smoke and mirrors to obscure the truth behind a heinous crime. Unlike any other film treatment to date – most notably pro-Jamal documentaries In Prison My Whole Life and A Case for Reasonable Doubt – The Barrel of a Gun benefits from extensive access to principles on all sides of the debate as well as exhaustively researched and one-of-akind archival documentation to present an alternative view of the crime and the historical events that led up to and may have caused it. Shot in Philadelphia; Paris, France; San Francisco; Oakland; Los Angeles and several other American cities, the film includes on-camera interviews with widow Maureen Faulkner; former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell; prosecutor Joe McGill; former Philadelphia district attorney Lynne Abraham; Abu-Jamal attorney Robert Bryan; Sister Helen Prejean; celebrities Ed Asner, Mike Farrell, and Danny Glover; former Philadelphia police commissioner Sylvester Johnson; Pam Africa, head of The International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal; author David Horowitz and radio talk show host Michael Smerconish.
Full Exposure
You are all Captains (Todos vos sodes capitains) Wednesday, March 14 at 7:30pm dir. Oliver Laxe, Spain, 2010, 35mm, 78 mins, b/w, Arabic, Spanish and French w/ English subtitles A further entry in the rapidly proliferating, rich vein of documentary/fiction hybrids, You are all Captains channels the genre-bending and sensitivity towards children found in the best work of Abbas Kiarostami and François Truffaut. Director Laxe stars as a self-described “neo-colonialist” filmmaker who goes to Tangiers ostensibly to hold a series of workshops for disadvantaged street children. It quickly becomes clear, however, that his intentions are not purely disinterested, as he begins to turn these children into pawns in the service of his own film. The winner of the FIPRESCI Prize (The International Federation of Film Critics) at Cannes, You are all Captains is a mysterious, whimsical, and unique creation.
International Women’s Day 2012
Gender Games: Strategies for Achieving Justice in Women’s Health Worldwide Wednesday, March 14 at 6pm Inspired by Penn’s “Year of Games”, International Women’s Day 2012 highlights the interdisciplinary landscape of women’s health and the challenges to achieving justice. Join us for a night of celebration, discussion, and networking. The panel includes health practitioners, policy advocates, and educators working toward justice in women’s health. Each panelist will focus on the ways women’s health can benefit from a “games approach,” such as developing innovative strategies for success, teamwork toward common goals, and using creative tactics to win. Dr Felicity Paxton, Penn Women’s Center Director and Lecturer in the Annenberg School of Communication, will moderate the panel, interweaving the theme of games in a discussion with attendees. The art and performances feature artists who express the need for justice in women’s health through their individual art forms. Co-presented by African Studies Center, South Asia Center, Center for South Asian Studies, Middle East Center, Penn Women’s Center, Penn Consortium of Undergraduate Women ihousephilly.org
and Excelano at the University of Pennsylvania, and United Nations Association, Women’s Caucus for Art, Women’s Campaign International, The Anna Crusis Women’s Choir, Usiloquy, Tune Up, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
InLiquid Art + Design Video Installation 709b by TangenT
Gender Games
An artwork that explores identity and place as well as the private and public expressions of daily life, 709b is a diptych video that takes the viewer on a virtual video voyeur voyage. Originally presented as two simultaneous projections for a DesignPhiladelphia event in Rittenhouse Square during October 2009, the footage has been expanded and sound has been added. The mask we wear and the identities we project to others are not the ones we use when we think we’re not being seen… an idealization of a more messy reality, not unlike map-making generally. Map-making’s most modern iterations, Google Maps and Google Earth, become for us a metaphor for this human proclivity.
As part of our International Women’s Day program, Women’s Caucus for Art presents Gender Games, an exhibit of work by local artists representing the need for justice in women’s health.
TangenT is a collaborative by William Cromar, Yvonne Love, and Gabrielle Russomagno dedicated to mixed-media, project-based, immersive art environments exploring socially relevant and politically current themes.
The Women’s Caucus for Art is a community of women in the visual arts. Through their exhibitions and projects, the WCA-Philly creates both fun and professional opportunities for our members.
Free admission for all exhbit openings.
Free admission. March 12 – June 4
Opening Art Receptions
Wednesday, March 14 from 6pm – 7:30pm
Women’s Caucus for Art of Philadelphia
See page 12 for International Women’s Day Program.
Reza Ghanad
Coloring Book What might be taken for a precocious genius is the genius of childhood. When the child grows up, it disappears without a trace. It may happen that this boy will become a real painter some day, or even a great painter. But then he will have to begin everything again, from zero. – Pablo Picasso Ever since going to art school, I began to envy the child that sits with crayons, and colors. It makes no difference if the child carefully fills in the shapes, making sure to not cross the line, or scribbles recklessly around the page. What matters is the free expression of the inner instincts of the young artist. This series of drawings, the accompanying books, and the participatory project is my attempt to regain the fun of childhood but be honest about the “grown up” artist I have become.
Cuban Revolutionary Cinema
Maluala Thursday, March 15 at 7pm dir. Sergio Giral, Cuba, 1979, video, 80 mins, color, Spanish w/ English subtitles Set in a slightly ambiguous moment of either the late 18th or early 19th century Cuba, Maluala unambiguously presents the palenques, the historical communities of runaway slaves (cimarrones), hidden by the mountains of the Sierra Maestra in eastern Cuba and hunted by the Spaniards. Part of Giral’s trio of films including El otro Francisco and Rancheador, in Maluala one distinctly encounters the sacred rituals of the cimarrones, trading amongst each other, and with rogues and pirates who preyed along the Caribbean coastlines while averting the Spanish galleons. The action begins with the Spaniards’ response to a demand by palenque chiefs not only for freedom but also for land, using agents of the Church to argue that the chiefs will be “free” if they come down from the mountains with their people “to work.” Several palenque chiefs respond and choose the notion of freedom being sold to them, thereby re-entering their people into slavery, that freedom without land is not freedom. Free admission.
Sonic Arts Union Retrospective Hardware Hacking Workshop with Nicolas Collins Saturday, March 17 2pm to 4pm
Composer, musician and professor Nicolas Collins leads a workshop in “hardware hacking.” Assuming no technical background whatsoever, these workshops guide the participants through a series of sound-producing electronic construction projects, from making simple contact microphones, through “bending” toys, to making oscillators and other circuits from scratch. The curriculum is drawn from Collins’ book, Handmade Electronic Music—The Art of Hardware Hacking. Free admission. RSVP at ihousephilly.org. Gordon Mumma Performed by Jenny Lin and Conrad Harris Saturday, March 17 8pm Preceded by a talk with Nic Collins at 7pm Jenny Lin, piano and Conrad Harris, violin Highly-regarded contemporary music interpreters Jenny Lin and Conrad Harris perform recent works by Gordon Mumma. Mumma studied piano and horn in Chicago and Detroit, and began his career as an active horn player in symphonic and chamber music. He co-founded with Robert Ashley the Cooperative Studio for Electronic Music and the now-historic ONCE Festivals of Contemporary Music. Gordon Mumma was among the first composers to employ circuitry of his own design in compositions and performance. An extremely prolific composer and a virtuoso performer (French horn), his work is known for the integration of advanced electric principles in the operation of the musical structures. He has termed this approach “Cybersonic” and has applied it to a wide range of compositions (eg “Hornpipe”, electronic music for cybersonic French horn and “Ambivex,” a surrogate myoelectronic telemetering system with pairs of performing appendages). His most recent work has explored writing for conventional instruments. $15 IHP members; $17.50 students + seniors; $20 general admission.
Everything Is Terrible! presents
DoggieWoggiez! PoochieWoochiez! Monday, March 19 at 7pm Those krazed VHS-hunting pupz from Everything Is Terrible! (everyone’s favorite found footage chop shop) are back with their third inner-eye-opening feature – containing a feat never before attempted in either human or canine history. EIT! asks but a few simple questions: 1) What if we made a movie composed ENTIRELY out of dog-related found footage?, 2) What if this magickal movie, made up of thousands of other dog movies, was also a remake of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s 1973 masterpiece The Holy Mountain?, and 3) What if we went on the road performing an all-new “live in fur” show that picked up where Cirque Du Soleil and The Rock-A-Fire Explosion left off? Well, let’s stop asking dumb rhetorical questions because this never-ending spiral of World-Pup winning, sunglasseswearing, murder-solving, skateboarding pooches is real! This is it! Are you dog enough to go fetch it? ARFFFFFF!
Adaptations Film Series
Le Million Wednesday, March 21 at 7pm dir. Rene Clair, France, 1931, video, 81 mins, b/w, French w/ English subtitles An impoverished artist discovers he’s purchased a winning lottery ticket at the very moment his creditors come to collect. The only problem is – the ticket is in the pocket of his coat, which he left at his girlfriend’s apartment, who gave the coat to a man hiding from the police, who sells the coat to an opera singer who uses it during a performance. By turns charming and inventive, René Clair’s lyrical masterpiece had a profound impact on not only the Marx Brothers and Charlie Chaplin, but on the American musical as a whole. Free admission.
Selections from the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, 9th Edition
You Don’t Like the Truth – 4 Days inside Guantanamo Thursday, March 22 at 7pm dir. Luc Côté and Patricio Henríquez, Canada, 2010, video, 99 mins, English and Arabic w/ English subtitles You Don’t Like the Truth – 4 Days Inside Guantanamo is a stunning documentary created from security camera footage of an encounter in Guantanamo Bay between a team of Canadian intelligence agents and Canadian citizen Omar Khadr, then a 16-year-old detainee. Based on seven hours of video footage recently declassified by the Canadian courts, the film delves into an unfolding highstakes game of cat and mouse between captor and captive over a four-day period. Maintaining a surveillance-camera style, You Don’t Like the Truth analyses the political, legal, and psychological aspects of the interrogation through interviews with Khadr’s lawyers, a psychiatrist, an investigative journalist, former Guantanamo detainees, and a former US interrogator. This unique depiction of Omar Khadr’s interrogation offers an unusual insight into a world where “the truth” itself is often negotiated. 14
The Price of Sex Friday, March 23 at 7pm dir. Mimi Chakarova, US/United Arab Emirates/ Bulgaria/Moldova/Greece/Turkey, 2010, video, 73 mins, English, Bulgarian, Romanian, Russian and Turkish w/ English subtitles Intimate and revealing, The Price of Sex is about young Eastern European women drawn into a world of sex trafficking and abuse, told by the women who refused to be silenced by shame, fear, and violence. Emmy-nominated photojournalist Mimi Chakarova, who grew up in Bulgaria, takes us on a personal journey exposing the shadowy world of sex trafficking from Eastern Europe to the Middle East and Western Europe. Filming undercover and gaining extraordinary access, Chakarova illuminates how even though some women escape to tell their stories, sex trafficking thrives.
Granito: How to Nail a Dictator Saturday, March 24 at 5pm dir. Pamela Yates, Peter Kinoy and Paco de Onis, US, 2010, video, 100 mins, English, Quiché and Spanish w/ English subtitles Part political thriller, part memoir, Granito takes us through a haunting tale of genocide and justice that spans four decades, two films, and filmmaker Pamela Yates’s own career. Granito is a story of destinies joined together by Guatemala’s past and of how When the Mountains Tremble, a documentary from 1982, emerges as an active player in the present by becoming forensic evidence in a genocide case against a military dictator. In an incredible twist of fate, Yates shot the only known footage of the army as it carried out the genocide. Twenty-five years later, this recording becomes evidence in an international war crimes case against the very army commander who permitted Yates to film. Irrevocably linked by the events of 1982, each of the films’ characters is integral to the country’s reconstruction of a collective memory, the search for truth, and the pursuit of justice. Through the work of American filmmakers, forensics experts in Guatemala, and lawyers in Spain, the quest for accountability in Guatemala continues – with each individual contributing his or her own granito, or tiny grain of sand.
The Green Wave Saturday, March 24 at 7pm dir. Ali Samadi Ahadi, Germany/Iran, 2010, video, 80 mins, English and Farsi w/ English subtitles By providing an animated backdrop for the urgent blog posts and tweets that became a lifeline to Iranian prodemocracy activists, The Green Wave recounts the dramatic events of the most severe domestic crisis in the history of Iran. From the widespread hope of political change in Iran through the 2009 elections to the violent suppression of the mass protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election, filmmaker Ali Samadi Ahadi brings us into the world of Iranian citizens who risked their lives in the hopes of a better future. Interweaving online posts, video footage caught by those present and extensive interviews, The Green Wave is an artistic portrait of modern political rebellion, an exposé of governmentsanctioned violence, and a vision of hope that continued resistance may galvanize a new future not just for Iran but for the region as a whole.
ihousephilly.org
Cherry Blossom Festival
Manzairaku - Performing Kyogen, Tenshu-Monogatari and Dengaku Monday, March 26 at 7pm Co-presented by the Japan America Society as part of the 2012 Cherry Blossom Festival Introduced by Dr Frank Chance, Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania Manzairaku, a group whose name literally means “all year joy,” are coming from Japan to perform traditional theater for this year’s Cherry Blossom Festival. Kyogen is said to have been established as a form of performing art during the Muromachi period. It takes its roots in both Japanese indigenous performance and Sangaku – a Chinese artistic entertainment with comical mimicry and acrobatics that was introduced to Japan during the Nara period (710-784/794). The development of those elements combined became known as Sarugaku in the Heian period, where it was refined with the support of religious institutions and eventually laid the foundation for what has been known since the sixteenth century as “the drama of humanity”, or kyogen. Kyogen wittily demonstrates the ‘108 ridicules of worldly human beings’, a familiar notion in Buddhism. Japanese actress Keiko Matsuzaka performs a reading of Tenshu-Monogatari. Not simply a “reading”, the style of the piece is more like a play with music. Set in medieval Japan, Tenshu Monogatari tells the story of a forbidden love between a god and a human. Ms Matsuzaka is an award-winning actress, winner of Best Actress of Hochi Film Award for The Gate of Youth, Tora-san’s Love in Osaka and The Sting of Death. Originally Dengaku were rural rice-planting festivities incorporating dances performed by villagers throughout Japan. Throughout the 11th to 16th centuries, these dances were introduced to Kyoto (and other cities) where they enjoyed great popularity before becoming virtually extinct in the culture. The late kyogen master Mannojo Nomura (19592004) created a more widely-appealing and contemporary form of dengaku. For this program, Manzairaku performs Daidengaku through combined various dances. $5 IHP + JASGP members; $8 students + seniors; $10 general admission.
Adaptations Film Series
Ken Jacobs Wednesday, March 28 at 7pm With Ken Jacobs and Charles Bernstein, Professor of English at Penn in person Ken Jacobs was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1933. He studied painting with Hans Hofmann, one of the prime creators of Abstract Expressionism in the mid-fifties. It was then that he also began filmmaking (Star Spangled To Death). In 1967, with the involvement of his wife Florence and many others aspiring to a democratic, rather than demagogic cinema, he created The Millennium Film Workshop in New York City. A nonprofit filmmaker’s co-operative open to all, it made available film equipment, workspace, screenings and classes at little or no cost. The American Museum Of The Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, hosted a full retrospective of his work in 1989, The New York Museum Of Modern Art held a partial retrospective in 1996, as did The American House in Paris in 1994 and the Arsenal Theater in Berlin in 1986. He has also performed in Japan, at the Louvre in Paris, the Getty Center in Los Angeles, etc. Honors include the Maya Deren Award of The American Film Institute, the Guggenheim Award and a special Rockefeller Foundation grant. Day and Night dir. Ken Jacob, US, 2011, video, b/w and color The Green Wave dir. Ken Jacob, US, 2011, video, b/w and color Jack Smith Tumbling dir. Ken Jacob, US, 2011, video, b/w and color Another Occupation dir. Ken Jacob, US, 2011, video, b/w Seeking The Monkey King dir. Ken Jacob, US, 2011, video, b/w and color Free admission.
Cuban Revolutionary Cinema
Cecilia Thursday, March 29 at 7pm dir. Humberto Solas, Cuba, 1983, video, 127 mins, color, Spanish w English subtitles The film that is storied to have led to the temporary displacement of Alfredo Guevara from his presidency of the ICAIC (Instituto Cubano del Arte y la Industria Cinematográficos), Cecilia has been heavily, if not scathingly, debated in circles of Cuban film and art critics. An adaptation of the 19th century novel Cecilia Valdés, the film radically reconceives the story of a mulata so light that she can “pass,” and of such beauty that her one tool for an individual social shift is her very body. Afro-Cuban religions frame the entire cinematic narrative, which begins with a boldly and beautifully shot march of slaves and of Creole Catholics celebrating the Epiphany. The music being sung by one group and the other never blends, but pushes against each other and maintains the separation. Patiently and compellingly, Cecilia conveys the paranoia that spread after the Haitian Revolution of 1794, the relations of criollo (a caste in the Spanish race-based colonial caste system) parents with aristocratic lusts and criollo young adults with ambiguously liberal political leanings, the violent anxieties of the system of slavery experienced by all at different intensities, and the instantiation of Independence, decolonization, as a long and bloody process. Free admission.
Mixed Messages: Marshall McLuhan and the Moving Image Friday, March 30 and Saturday, March 31 Co-presented by Penn Humanities Forum Marshall McLuhan is one of the most recognized cultural theorists of the 20th century. His books Understanding Media, The Guttenberg Galaxy, and The Medium is the Massage are landmark texts that distilled the rapid changes in technology, communication and philosophy in the increasingly global society of post-war America. As television became a popular medium throughout the 1960s, McLuhan recognized its potential for social transformation and conjured a utopian ideal that incorporated art, communication and technology.
Inspired by McLuhan and the advent of portable video cameras such as the Sony Portapak, artists set out to experiment with the burgeoning medium and reconfigure the seemingly one-directional effect of television. Active participants of the newly emerging media ecosystem include Nam June Paik, Les Levine, Steina and Woody Vasulka and groups such as USCO, Global Village and Raindance Corporation. Mixed Messages is a thorough examination of the relationship between McLuhan’s ideas and the film and video art he inspired over the past 50 years. The program, which coincides with the centennial year of McLuhan’s birth, includes a free half-day panel discussion with media artists Peter d’Agostino, Tom Sherman, and Gerd Stern. The panel is moderated by Rebecca Cleman, Director of Distribution for Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) and is free to the public. This program is supported in part through a generous contribution by Pennsylvania Humanities Council. The Medium is the Medium (excerpt) Friday, March 30 at 7pm dir. Fred Barczyk, US, 1969, video, 20 mins, color Produced by WGBH-TV in Boston, The Medium is the Medium is one of the earliest and most prescient examples of the collaboration between public television and the emerging field of video art in the US. WGBH commissioned artists Allan Kaprow, Nam June Paik, Otto Piene, and Aldo Tambellini, to create original works for broadcast television. Their works explored the parameters of the new medium, from image processing and interactivity to video dance and sculpture. US dir. Jud Yalkut, US, 1966, 16mm, 16 mins, color A poetic documentary of the USCO multimedia group, a pioneer art and technology commune of which the filmmaker was an active part. US centers on the building of the tabernacle of The Church of The Living God. A spiritual and aesthetic meditation environment that was both unique and groundbreaking, the Church was incorporated as a free church in the State of New York in Garnerville in 1966. 18
Turn Turn Turn dir. Jud Yalkut, US, 1966, 16mm, 10 mins, color, sound by USCO A kinetic alchemy of the light and electronic works of Nicolas Schoffer, Julio Le Parc, USCO, and Nam June Paik, this film is an exploration of the effect-versus-content thesis of Marshall McLuhan’s ‘the medium is the message/massage’. Turn Turn Turn, a film of the eye-shattering, flashing, rotating light sculptures programmed by USCO to Turn Turn Turn the popular song into a rich electronic fugue on the word NOW: Let’s take the OW out of NOW; let’s turn the NO out of NOW. – Film Quarterly Plus additional video works TBA. Marshall McLuhan Panel Discussion Saturday, March 31 at 2pm This panel discussion further investigates the influence of Marshall McLuhan within the realm of moving image art. Join media artists Peter d’Agostino, Tom Sherman and Gerd Stern for a lively discussion ranging from the origins of intermedia art practice to issues of participation and dissemination in media art works. The session is moderated by Rebecca Clemen (EAI) and is free and open to the public. Free Admission. This Is Marshall McLuhan: The Medium Is the Massage Saturday, March 31 at 8pm dir. Ernest Pintoff, US, 1967, 16mm, 56 mins, color Originally broadcast in 1967 as part of NBC’s “Experiments with Television,” this portrait of Marshall McLuhan is far from the typical television documentary. Featuring performances by Nam June Paik and Charlotte Moorman, commentary by Allan Kaprow and Malcolm Morely and a host of pop culture icons, This is Marshall McLuhan innovatively captures the media environment McLuhan so eloquently describes. Free Admission.
Videodrome Saturday, March 31 at 10pm dir. David Cronenberg, US/Canada, 35mm, 1983, 87 mins, color
preceded by A Message from Our Sponsor dir. Al Razutis, Canada, 1979, 16mm transfer to video, 9 mins, color
Aside from his brief appearance in the 1977 Woody Allen film Annie Hall, Marshall McLuhan’s most notorious film “appearance” was in this sci-fi/horror film. David Cronenberg based the character Professor Brian O’blivion on McLuhan (Cronenberg was a student at University of Toronto when McLuhan was a lecturer there). As the main character Max Renn, played by James Woods, digs deeper into a mysterious and disturbing television transmission his conception of what is real and what is fantasy merge into a frightening nightmare for the electronic age. The film gives new meaning to the concept of media manipulation.
Using only “appropriated footage’” (unlicensed, copied, etc.), A Message from Our Sponsor deals with television and its mythologies – the fetishization of violence through competition (seen as a dominant historical process in American culture) and the fetishization of sexuality through consumption. The claustrophobia of media “reality” – compartmentalized into game shows, movies, news reports, commercials – is presented as continuous interchangeable spectacle. This film looks at the ideology of misrepresentation, the turning of facts into icons, history into myth. It analyzes the media’s meta-language, especially the image of woman as spectacle and commodity; and the psychology and economics of male voyeurism. – Al Razutis ihousephilly.org
APRIL Hej! Scandinavia – Where in the World: Scandinavia – Scandinavian Business Values Tuesday, April 3 at 6pm
Participate in discussion on the business practices of Scandinavian corporations. Panelists will discuss the unique methods and values of some of the most successful businesses in the region, and will include discussion of multinational businesses. The event will be followed by a business networking cocktail party featuring presentation of the International Vision Award. Moderated by Jan Campbell-Westlind, Honorary Consul of Sweden in Philadelphia. Panelists include Margareta Ozolins, Swedish General Manager for Production at AstraZeneca; Poul Jeppesen, President and Gunilla Nilsson, CFO of SKF USA, Inc; Kevin Gorman, General Counsel for SCA Americans; Minna Mars, Partner at EarthRate and Lars Bjork, President and CEO of QlikTech Inc. $8 IHP members, students + seniors; $10 general admission. followed at 7:30pm by International Vision Awards IHP’s International Vision Awards are given to an individual who contributes to global well being through philanthropy, innovation and continued commitment to the international community. The IVA is awarded to Anette Hoegh Goelet of International Center for Clubhouse Development for her tireless efforts in the field of mental health and for creating opportunities for individuals to reach their full potential locally and worldwide. The Vision Awards Program includes cocktails, food and entertainment. $100 general admission includes Where in the World program at 6pm. Suzanne Suzanne dir. Camille Billops and James V Hatch, US, 1982, DVD, 30 mins, b/w A young woman’s successful struggle to confront the legacy of a loving but sometimes abusive father provides inspiration and insight for all who seek to allay the long term damage of child abuse. Finding Christa dir. Camille Billops and James V Hatch, US, 1991, DVD, 55 mins, color
Scribe Video Center Producers’ Forum Suzanne Suzanne + Finding Christa Wednesday, April 4 at 7pm Director Camille Billops in person
Placed for adoption at the age of four, a teenaged Christa finds her birth mother Camille, and the two must face the difficulties that mother and daughter have in emotionally resolving the past. $5 IHP + Scribe members; $8 students + seniors, $10 general admission.
Unoccupied Zone: The Impossible Life of Simone Weil dir. Cathy Lee Crane, US, 2006, video, 45 mins, b/w This portrait of French writer Simone Weil is not simply an account of her life, but rather the embodiment of her ideas. The “unoccupied zone” is therefore only marginally meant to refer to the southern part of France under Vichy. It is more importantly an existential labyrinth imaged by the film itself; a psychic space through which Weil passed while in exile in her own country from 1940-1941. Winner Best Narrative Film – University Film & Video Association Juried Screening (2006). followed by Pasolini’s Last Words dir. Cathy Lee Crane, US, 2012, HD video, 60 mins, b/w and color Known as one of Italy’s most important filmmakers, Pier Paolo Pasolini was first and foremost, one of its poets. This elegiac essay looks at Pasolini’s brutal murder in 1975 alongside the texts he published or left unfinished during the last year of his life.
The Films of Cathy LeE Crane
Poetic Biography: An Investigation of Words from Two Radical Polemicists Thursday, April 5 at 7pm Co-presented by Temple Film Media Arts Department, School of Communication and Theater and The Bryn Mawr College Program in Film Studies Over the last decade, Cathy Lee Crane has committed herself to an ongoing experiment with the biographical film, cultivating a fictional form of biography that seeks to penetrate what late filmmaker Raul Ruiz described as the “subtle tissue of life”. Combining staged and archival material, Crane materially renders the spectral life of thought itself as a kind of poetry. These two films contend with the end of the lives of two radical polemicists from the 20th century whose social critiques were provoked into being by the political extremities of their times. Acknowledging that the past has an intimate relationship to the present, the films utililze the re-enactment as a function that seeks to make history a living presence. Through theatrical, or ritualized gesture, the present maintains its distance from the past while also evoking it.
An Evening with Juan Daniel F Molero
Reminiscencias (Reminiscences) – Philadelphia Premiere Friday, April 6 at 7pm dir. Juan Daniel F Molero, Peru, 2010, digital video, 84 mins, color, Spanish w/ English subtitles Reminiscencias explores identity, autobiography, and the creation and loss of memory. A young man suffering from amnesia uses 8mm home movies and videos from his cell phone to puzzle out his own history. Is this dramatic process reality, or is it a canny fiction? Followed by a discussion with director Juan Daniel Molero. Cinema as a neurological rehabilitation treatment? A lot has been written about the connection that exists between film and memory, mostly with a philosophical approach, but it is very unlikely that the first could achieve concrete results against a biological problem within the latter. Or at least that was the situation until Juan Daniel finished editing his antidote-film Reminiscencias. Indeed, the Peruvian filmmaker managed to recover from an amnesia condition by watching
his own family films and videos – from 8mm footage to cell phone videos – which he later used to make a sort of documentary about his own healing process. Apart from the medical aspect, the most impressive thing about this case is the autonomous force with which these images unite together, a procedure so blunt that it drags Reminiscencias towards the tradition of experimental cinema. And yet it never ceases to be one of the most heartbreaking documentaries about a man’s life and environment. BAFICI Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine.
Full Exposure
Language Program Registration Monday, April 9 – Thursday, April 12
For more information on classes, class times and registration please visit ihousephilly.org.
Borrowing from earlier forms of documentary, rather than subscribing to a modern form of documentary replete with talking heads and B-roll images, Empty Quarter presents stark portraits, waiting to be explored and digested by the viewer. Their meaning can be felt in the slow process of accumulation and measured response. Through a series of stationary shots, recording open landscapes and activities of local residents, Empty Quarter reflects on the character of the region. Voices of local residents describe the history of pioneer settlement, social life of rural communities, and the struggles of small town economies as natural areas are viewed among images of industry, various labor processes, resource management and recreation.
Reelblack Presents
Motion Pictures
The Language Program offers the opportunity to improve proficiency in English conversation and study a foreign language. At our small, friendly, informal and affordable sessions, you will learn how to communicate clearly outside of the classroom and enhance skills that assist in future goals.
The Last Fall Tuesday, April 10 at 7pm dir. Matthew A Cherry, 2012, Blu-ray, 98 mins, color Professional football player Kyle Bishop returns to his hometown after a turbulent stint in the NFL and struggles to find his place in life while coming to grip with a fact that he’s retired and still in his mid-20s. Things begin to look up for Kyle when he starts spending time with his former high school girlfriend Faith and her young son. After Kyle lands a job at a nearby gym, he starts to think that maybe it’s time to settle down and start a family. But when a major NFL team tries to lure him back onto the gridiron with an offer that’s difficult to refuse and the father of Faith’s child shows up seeking forgiveness for his past indiscretions, the former football star realizes he faces the most important decision he will ever make. Based on his exploits as a former NFL wide receiver, The Last Fall is the feature film debut from Matthew A Cherry. 22
Empty Quarter Wednesday, April 11 at 7pm dir. Alain LeTourneau and Pam Minty, US, 2011, 16mm, 71 mins, b/w, sound Empty Quarter is set in Lake, Harney and Malheur counties of Southeast Oregon. An area populated by ranching and farming communities, the region is roughly one-third of Oregon’s landmass yet holds less than 2% of the state’s population.
Slasher Saint (Sint) Thursday, April 12 at 7pm dir. Dick Maas, Netherlands, 2010, digital video, 85 mins, Dutch w/ English subtitles Unfortunately, Saint Nicholas is not the jolly joy-giver you thought he was. Turns out he’s a bloodthirsty priest who, whenever there’s a full moon in December, will try to slaughter as many children as possible.
Sonic Arts Union Retrospective
performances, Lampert’s work explores contemporary conditions of cinema spectatorship by using humor and formal investigations to get at the heart of what it is that makes images moving. From found footage mash-ups to first-person confessionals, the lively pieces in this spirited program will make you laugh, cringe, wonder and worry about Lampert’s current state of mind. Expect a guided Commissioned in 1980 by The Kitchen, Perfect Lives is an opera tour through his mysterious and ongoing BENETTON series (including DOUBLE BENETTON and REVERSAL ORIGINAL), for television in seven half-hour episodes. Co-produced with a visit with two curmudgeonly young adults (ETKA & Great Britain’s arts network Channel Four and first broadcast MASHA: TEENAGERS OF THE OLD WORLD) and a singlein the UK in April 1984, Perfect Lives has since been seen on television in Austria, Germany, Spain and the United States and projector super 8-performance titled THE GOOD LIFE that focuses on Lampert’s long term plans for future fulfillment. has shown at film and video festivals around the world. It is And please note, there will be door prizes! widely considered to be the pre-cursor of “music-television.” Perfect Lives Saturday, April 14 at 1pm, 4pm and 7pm (playing continuously) dir. Robert Ashley and John Sanborn, US, 1983, DVD, 175 mins, color
Perfect Lives has been called “the most influential music/ theater/literary work of the 1980s.” At its center is the hypnotic voice of Robert Ashley. Described as a comic opera about reincarnation, Ashley’s continuous song narrates the events of the story and portrays a 1980’s update of the mythology of small town America. Derived from a colloquial idiom, Perfect Lives transforms familiar material into an elaborate metaphor for the rebirth of the human soul. Single full-day admission.
Andrew Lampert
THE GOOD LIFE Sunday, April 15 at 7pm Artist-Filmmaker-Troublemaker Andrew Lampert returns for an intimate evening of irregular films and the world premiere of a major new “contracted cinema” performance piece. Whether making short films, videos, installations or live
Hej! Scandinavia – Culture + Cuisine: Scandinavia Tuesday, April 17 at 6pm
Enjoy selected cuisine from the Scandinavian region. IHP is currently working with our partners to create a program at a local venue which will design a menu in collaboration with a noted Scandinavian chef, who will be invited to speak about their selections and Scandinavian food culture. At IHP. Tickets + guest chief TBA. For tickets, pricing, and information, please visit www.ihousephilly.org/hej ihousephilly.org
Archive Fever! 3.0
The Extraordinary Voyage with A Trip to the Moon Wednesday, April 18 at 7pm Cinema’s most unforgettable image is perhaps that of the man in the moon being poked in the eye by a rocket ship. The magical Georges Méliès, one of the celebrated heroes of Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, was the creator of that image, and his A Trip to the Moon thrilled audiences in 1902. Now, thanks to one of the most technically sophisticated and expensive restorations in film history, A Trip to the Moon can delight audiences once again in color. The Extraordinary Voyage dir. Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange, France, 2011, video, 60 mins, color This fascinating documentary charts Moon’s voyage from the fantastical Méliès’ production in 1902 to the astonishing rediscovery of a color nitrate print in 1993 to the premiere of the new restoration on the opening night of the Cannes Film Festival in 2011. Interviews with some of contemporary cinema’s most imaginative filmmakers including CostaGavras, Michel Gondry, Martin Scorsese, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Michel Hazanavicius, attest to Méliès’ enduring significance. A Trip to the Moon dir. Georges Méliès, France, 1902, video, 16 mins, color, silent w/ recorded musical accompaniment by Air In the first outer-space adventure in the history of cinema, six members of the Astronomers’ Club set off on an expedition to the moon, encounter the Selenites, flee their King, and return home to a triumphant parade. The hand-painted color version of Méliès’ legendary A Trip to the Moon was unseen for 109 years until its glorious new restoration by Lobster Films, Groupama Gan Fondation for Cinema and Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage.
Cuban Revolutionary Cinema
Suite Habana Thursday, April 19 at 7pm dir. Fernando Pérez, Cuba, 2003, 35mm, 80 mins, color, Spanish w/ English subtitles A cinematic homage to the city of Havana and its inhabitants, Suite Habana resists the reading of Cuba as a place that is stuck in time. In the course of one day and one night, the documentary shows figures in constant if also conflictive motion. A film filled with sounds and cuts of spoken words, Suite Habana relays no audible dialogue. What does a film of no audible dialogue visually suggest? The mechanics of life at its most basic overdetermine all talk, or, at least, the filmic desire to relay that talk to the viewer. But one wonders, is this because the language of the documentary’s subjects does not matter? Or instead, does this emphasis on the rituals of survival, rather than on audible voice, drive the point that the state and the staid narrative of the Revolution find themselves on one side of an interstice, and the nation on the other. Not a silence, but an intense incongruity of needs, concessions, foregone demands, and delimited hopes are activated and actively ignored between them. Free admission.
Hej! Scandinavia Film Series
Zero Kelvin (Kjærlighetens kjøtere) Saturday, April 21 at 2pm dir. Hans Petter Moland, Norway, 1995, 35mm, 135 mins, color, Norwegian w/ English subtitles Visually stunning and psychologically intense, Zero Kelvin is a one-of-a-kind achievement, an existential thriller played out against the bleakly beautiful landscapes of Greenland. The ensemble cast includes some of Scandinavia’s top stars and a tour-de-force performance by the great Stellan Skarsgård. Henrik Larsen (Gard B Eidsvold) is a young writer living in Oslo, Norway, who looks to broaden his horizons with travel and adventure. He leaves behind his girlfriend (Camilla Martens) and joins a fur-trapping expedition that includes himself and two enigmatic men – a sailor Randbæk (Skarsgård) and a scientist Holm (Bjørn Sundquist). The cunning, vulgar Randbæk soon becomes Larsen’s nemesis and the writer must use all of his strength and wit to survive
in a physical and psychological wilderness. Cut off from civilization, the men face the elements and each other with increasing difficulty, leading to a violent and harrowing climax. A psychological thriller set in the context of a tense story of survival, Hans Petter Moland’s Zero Kelvin is the rare exception to the genre – a thinking person’s adventure film. Songs from the Second Floor Saturday, April 21 at 5pm dir. Roy Anderson, Sweden/France/Denmark, 2000, 35mm, 98 mins, color, Swedish w/ English subtitles One evening somewhere in our hemisphere, a strange series of illogical events take place: a clerk is made redundant in a degrading manner; a lost immigrant is violently attacked in a busy street; a magician makes a terrible error in his act. Sleep on this night does not come easily to the citizens of this town. The following day, the signs of chaos are taking hold as the madness grips a board of directors and the city itself is strangled by a horrendous traffic jam. In the midst of this mayhem, one person stands out. Karl – covered in soot from the fire he had set to burn down his furniture store in order to get the insurance money. While the new millennium is casting its web and creating a vast mental breakdown, Karl gradually becomes conscious of the absurdity of the world and realizes just how difficult it is to be human.
THE JANUS COLLECTION
The Silence Saturday, April 21 at 7pm dir. Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1963, 35mm, 95 mins, b/w, Swedish w/ English subtitles Two sisters – the sickly, intellectual Ester and the sensual, pragmatic Anna – travel by train with Anna’s young son Johan to a foreign country seemingly on the brink of war. Attempting to cope with their alien surroundings, the sisters resort to their personal vices while vying for Johan’s affection, and in so doing sabotage any hope for a future together. Regarded as one of the most sexually provocative films of its day, Ingmar Bergman’s The Silence offers a brilliant, disturbing vision of emotional isolation in a suffocating spiritual void.
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Hej! Scandinavia
The Mill and the Cross Sunday, April 22 at 5pm dir. Lech Maiewski, 2011, Poland/Sweden, 35mm, 95 mins, color The newest offering from Lech Majewski, one of Europe’s most acclaimed filmmakers, is a visually inspired restaging of Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s epic 1564 painting The Way to Calvary. Combining a large re-creation of Breugel’s canvas (painted by Majewski), footage of actors and blue screen work, the viewer feels that they are simultaneously in the living, breathing naturalistic world that Majewski has created and the not-quite-static artificial world of the painting (the mill’s sails turn, ravens fly). Defying the parameters of conventional cinematic time and space, Majewski conjured a 16th-century equivalent of virtual reality. With Rutger Hauer as Breugel, Michael York as his patron Nicolaes Jonghelinck and Charlotte Rampling as the Virgin Mary. The word ‘film’ seems inadequate to describe Lech Majewski’s The Mill and the Cross. Each scene is rendered like a brushstroke. – Lauren Wissot, Slant Magazine
Open Hearts Sunday, April 22 at 7pm dir. Susanne Bier, Denmark, 2002, 35mm, 113 mins, color, Danish w/ English subtitles When Joachim carelessly steps into the path of a speeding car driven by Marie, fate in the form of a sudden accident brings together two happy couples – the long married Marie and Niels and just engaged Cecilie and Joachim. With his guilt-ridden wife’s misguided encouragement, Niels offers comfort to Cecilie, and his altruistic gesture quickly develops into a messy affair. Intricate and emotionally complex, Open Hearts tracks moment-to-moment shifts in tone and captures characters at their best and worst with a Cassavetes-like authenticity and a Renoiresque lack of easy moral judgment. Going a step beyond previous Dogme 95 efforts, Open Hearts successfully integrates art-film subjectivity into the more familiar verité approach. One of Denmark’s leading directors of the last decade, Susanne Bier previously specializes in comedy, and her deft touch, together with the witty screenplay by Anders Thomas Jensen, counterpoints the plot’s tragic circumstances with flashes of romantic comedy, not as a sign of callousness but as a candid recognition of the irrepressible resilience of the human heart. The movie takes two strands of soap opera convention – a life-changing accident and an adulterous affair – and spins their suds into gold.
Language Program Classes Monday, April 23 – Thursday, May 22 The Language Program offers the opportunity to improve proficiency in English conversation and study a foreign language. At our small, friendly, informal and affordable sessions, you will learn how to communicate clearly outside of the classroom and enhance skills that assist in future goals. For more information on classes, class times and registration please visit www.ihousephilly.org.
Hej! Scandinavia – Where in the World - Muslims in Scandinavia Tuesday, April 24 at 6pm
Led by Suhail A Khan and Abid Qayyum Raja Muslims, in Scandinavia is a moderated panel discussion regarding the myths and realities of Muslim immigration, citizenship and culture in Norway and Sweden. Followed by Q & A and reception. For speaker bios and more information please visit www.ihousephilly.org $8 IHP members, students + seniors; $10 general admission. ihousephilly.org
Return of the New: Recent Film/ Video Works from the UK What it is Not Wednesday, April 25 at 7pm
Co-presented by the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania What it is Not, a new LUX touring program curated by Gil Leung, brings together a selection of new works by UKbased artists. Against the new as a merely contemporary form of visibility, the works in this program consistently interrogate these terms, their own guises, structures and language. This presentation of their means of representation acts to displace the works’ own logic. Here reference is reflexive, a sort contrapuntal relation between form and deformation, past and present. Both product of labor and autonomous object, the new work is and is not the thing-initself. The new is, in this sense, negative, a duplicitous and illusory new, gone as soon as it is discerned. Death Mask 2: The Scent dir. Ed Atkins, UK, 2010, 8 mins, video, color, sound Conroy Ramon Requilman Live dir. David Raymond, UK, 2010, 6 mins, video, color, sound Concrete Vache dir. Mark Leckey, UK, 2010, 25 mins, video, color, sound The Artist dir. Laure Prouvost, UK, 2010, 10 mins, video, color, sound Misty Suite dir. James Richards, UK, 2009, 6 mins, video, color, sound
Phantom Avantgarde dir. Mark Aerial Waller, UK, 2010, 8 mins, 16mm transferred to video, b&w, sound followed by Slow Action dir. Ben Rivers, UK, 2011, 40 mins, 16mm, color, sound Filmed at islands across the globe, including Lanzarote (Spain), Gunkanjima (Japan), Somerset (Canada) and Tuvalu, Slow Action is a post-apocalyptic science fiction film which exists somewhere between documentary, ethnographic study and fiction. Slow Action applies the idea of island biogeography – the study of how species and eco-systems evolve differently when isolated and surrounded by unsuitable habitat – to a conception of the Earth in a few hundred years; the sea level rising to absurd heights, creating hyperbolic utopias that appear as possible future mini-societies. Slow Action has been commissioned by Picture This and Animate Projects. Supported by Bristol City Council, Elephant Trust, Arts Council England, Daiwa Japan Foundation and the British Council.
National Poetry Month - Rudy Burckhardt Friday, April 27 at 7pm
In recognition of National Poetry Month we present an evening of film and conversation. Photographer and filmmaker Rudy Burckhardt was a fixture in the New York art scene of the 1950s and 1960s. He collaborated with poets, painters and other visual artists to create splended, intimate portraits of city life. This screening presents two later film works by Burckhardt and will be preceded by a conversation between photographer Will Brown, who studied with Burckhardt, and poet Thomas
Hej! Scandinavia – Vodka Tasting Thursday, April 26 at 6pm
Co-presented by the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce Philadelphia. Please join us for the closing night of our Hej! Scandinavia month-long series of events with a special vodka tasting at the Racquet Club. Showcased vodkas will be from the Scandinavian region, where production of this unique spirit dates back to the 15th century. For tickets, pricing, and information, please visit www.ihousephilly.org/hej
Devaney. Brown and Devaney recently collaborated on a book project. Money dir. Rudy Burckhardt, US, 1968, 16mm, 45 mins, b/w
Coleman uses the concepts behind these endeavors to create a work that weaves together the past, present and future.
Nine Chains to the Moon: Buckminster Fuller in Philadelphia is a video with live score directed by Gene Coleman with A silent screen-style comedy starring Edwin Denby as Hemlock cinematography and editing by Nick Lerman, with music composed by Coleman and played live by Ensemble Stinge. “It deals with old Mr Stinge, the unlovable billionaire, N_JP, featuring Toshimaru Nakamura (no input mixing and many other characters, rich and poor. It shows the luxury board), Naomi Sato (sho), Yoko Reikano Kimura (koto and and degradation of New York City and the simple fresh air shamisen) along with musicians from Philadelphia and New of Maine. The story can’t resist slowing up to look at a girl; York. As fitting for a work about Fuller, the composition it skips a few logical links when it gets too complicated. It is also features the fantastic “Magnetic Resonance Piano”, being told by a hard-drinking farmer to his son to inspire him a special instrument developed by Andrew McPherson at to become a billionaire too. The photography is masterful and draws no attention to itself. The text by Joe Brainard, ditto. The the Drexel University Media Arts Lab. Other works on the documentary sequences show people and buildings on the kind program including Coleman’s “Kyoto_Naigai”, a music video meditation on the architecture and culture of Japan featuring of real life day when you keep finding comedy wherever you look. Special to Burckhardt is the light touch. The jokes – small Philadelphia dance artist Nicole Bindler and a new work composed for the duo Archer Spade (Dan Blacksberg and touching ones, others outright gags – are left unexploited and Nick Millevoi). unexplained. The characters are all pretty bad, money is the root of all evil, and they ought not to enjoy themselves but they do anyway. The film is clearly unpretentious, free-wheeling and This program is supported in part by The American Composers Forum Philadelphia Chapter as part of imaginative.” – Edwin Denby Community Partners: Film Composers Edition program, with funds provided by the William Penn Foundation. preceded by Additional support provided by the Aaron Copland Fund for Indelible, Inedible Music, The Japan Foundation New York, Soundfield, Drexel dir. Rudy Burckhardt, US, 1981, 16mm, 8 mins, color University and The Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Images accompany the lines of a poem by John Ashbery. “Rudy Burckhardt’s film is a brilliant extension of my poem, perhaps the film I might have made myself if I were a filmmaker.” $7 IHP members $9 students + seniors; – Poet John Ashbery $10 general admission.
Ensemble N_JP
Nine Chains to the Moon: Buckminster Fuller in Philadelphia Saturday, April 28 at 8pm Buckminster Fuller was an inventor, architect and “futurist” who made a very large impact on American culture and technology in the 20th century. The first in a series of works by Gene Coleman about Fuller, Nine Chains to the Moon explores his presence in the city of Philadelphia between 1973-1980. Moving between documentary style presentation of the facts and pure abstraction, this work focuses on two projects he worked on while in the city: the lecture series “Everything I Know” and the development of the World Game Institute. In both cases,
MAY Archive Fever! 3.0
Films by Bill Morrison Wednesday, May 2 at 7pm Bill Morrison is a filmmaker and multimedia artist whose work is screened at festivals, museums and concert halls worldwide, including the Sundance Film Festival, the Tate Modern, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Museum of Modern Art acquired eight of his titles for their permanent collection. Morrison received the Alpert Award as well as fellowships from Creative Capital, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the NEA. Decasia, his feature length collaboration with composer Michael Gordon, was described by The Village Voice film critic J Hoberman as “the most widely acclaimed American avant-garde film of the fin-de-siècle.” The Miners’ Hymns dir. Bill Morrison, US/UK, 2011, video, 52 mins, b/w Using rare archival footage, The Miners’ Hymns depicts the ill-fated mining community in Northeast England. The film tells its story entirely without words and features an original score by Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. followed by Release dir. Bill Morrison, US, 2011, video, 13 mins, b/w A crowd gathers to watch Al Capone’s release from prison in 1930. Outerborough dir. Bill Morrison, US, 2005, video, 8 mins, b/w
Sonic Arts Union Retrospective Robert Ashley + Ensemble Saturday, May 5 at 8pm
The Brooklyn Bridge as never seen before.
Preceded by a talk with Arthur Sabatini at 7pm
The Film of Her dir. Bill Morrison, US/Italy, 1996, video, 12 mins, b/w
Robert Ashley presents Concrete, a recent opera. Concrete follows from Ashley’s preoccupation in two previous works with the kind of speech that has not been explored in opera — in Dust, the speech of the homeless; in Celestial Excursions, the speech of people living together in a home for old people. The three operas are not a “trilogy” in any sense, but they all come from this
A history of the movies in just 12 minutes.
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preoccupation with or fascination with special kinds of speech and special kinds of states of mind. Concrete will be presented in surround sound. A distinguished figure in American contemporary music, Ashley holds an international reputation for his work in new forms of opera and multi-disciplinary projects. His recorded works are acknowledged classics of language in a musical setting, and he pioneered opera-for-television. His main artistic innovation has been to examine and incorporate spoken American English into music, experimental soundworks, and opera. Early pieces for electronics and voice, including “The Wolfman,� prefigured later innovations in live electronics and noise music. He also developed a distinctive party of work for electronics and spoken English, eventually expanding to opera and his work in operafor-television. $15 IHP members $17 students + seniors; $20 general admission.
Reelblack Presents
Leaked Night at The Five Spot Tuesday, May 8 at 7pm dir. Mike D, US, 2012, video, 100 mins, color With Q & A by Jazzyfatnastees In celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Award-winning Reelblack production Jazzyfatnastees In Process and the upcoming release of the long-awaited concert film Last Night At The Five Spot, Reelblack is digging into its vault to screen classic clips by artists who made their name at the legendary Black Lily. The Black Lily was a weekly live music showcase founded by Mercedes Martinez and Tracey Moore of The Jazzyfatnastees, which ran from 2000-2005 at the Five Spot in Old City. Many of the artists who performed there would quickly garner nationwide fame including Jazmine Sullivan, Floetry, Kindred The Family Soul, Lady Alma and Jaguar Wright. The night will include rare short films and performance clips by these artists as well as by unsigned Lily legends like Nou Ra, Aaries and Sh-keenan.
ihousephilly.org
Return of the New: Recent Film/ Video Works from the UK
Two Years at Sea Wednesday, May 9 at 7pm dir. Ben Rivers, UK, 2011, 82 mins, HD video, b/w Co-presented by the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania A man called Jake lives in the middle of the forest. He goes for walks in whatever the weather, and takes naps in the misty fields and woods. He builds a raft to spend time sitting in a loch. Drives a beat-up jeep to pick up wood supplies. He is seen in all seasons, surviving frugally, passing the time with strange projects, living the radical dream he had as a younger man, a dream he spent two years working at sea to realize. Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize (Critics’ Week and Horizons sections), Venice Film Festival 2011.
Motion Pictures
Femme Fatale The Bride Wore Black - New 35mm Print Thursday, May 10 at 7pm dir. Francois Truffaut, France/Italy, 1968, 35mm, 107 mins, color, French w/ English subtitles Truffaut’s homage to Hitchcock is a chilling tale of one woman’s quest for revenge. Widowed on her wedding day, Jeanne Moreau sets out to murder the five men responsible. Set in the sunny Mediterranean, the stylish thriller was one of Truffaut’s biggest box office successes and can easily be seen as the influence for dozens of similar Hollywood murder mysteries.
Secret Cinema
A Secret Cinema Blind Date: 35mm Archival Surprises Friday, May 11 at 7pm The Secret Cinema film archive has been collecting 35mm film prints for about a dozen years (in addition to our large collection of 16mm films). While we have not owned a functioning 35mm projector in nearly ten years, we continued accumulating prints in this highquality format – called “the real thing” by some cinema purists, because it has reigned as the standard medium of movie theaters from 1895 until... January 1, 2013, the date that most film distributors have declared as when they will forever cease to issue 35mm (or any size) film prints of new releases. Not having a 35mm projector at Secret Cinema headquarters has resulted in a backlog of acquisitions that we have never viewed. A Secret Cinema Blind Date is sure to be filled with surprises, as it consists of an assortment of 35mm reels with one thing in common: we have never watched any of them before! This intriguing potpourri of rare short theatrical subjects, odd reels of features, sponsored/industrial films, and trailers were acquired mainly by instinct, often solely on the basis of their intriguing titles (and in some cases, our infatuation with dye-transfer Technicolor prints). Come and see if our collecting instincts were right, in a unique program likely to include the good, the bad and occasionally the mundane.
THE JANUS COLLECTION
F for Fake Saturday, May 12 at 7pm dir. Orson Welles, US, 1975, 35mm, 87 mins, color Trickery. Deceit. Magic. In Orson Welles’s free-form documentary F for Fake, the legendary filmmaker (and self-described charlatan) gleefully engages the central preoccupation of his career – the tenuous line between truth and illusion, art and lies. Beginning with portraits of world – renowned art forger Elmyr de Hory and his equally devious biographer Clifford Irving, Welles embarks on a dizzying cinematic journey that simultaneously exposes and revels in fakery and fakers of all stripes – not the least of whom is Welles himself. Charming and inventive, F for Fake is an inspired prank and a searching examination of the essential duplicity of cinema.
Scribe Video Center Producers’ Forum
The Anderson Monarchs Tuesday, May 15 at 7pm dir. Eugene Martin, US, 2012, Blu-ray, 90 mins, color Director Eugene Martin in person The Anderson Monarchs is about an all-girls soccer team competing, living, and thriving in South Philadelphia. The documentary follows Jlon and Kahlaa as they grow as soccer players and learn more about their own abilities. The film celebrates the rights of young women and the community they are building for themselves as talented athletes, emerging scholars, and leaders. $5 IHP + Scribe members; $8 students + seniors, $10 general admission.
Become a Member at IHP! As a member supported organization, IHP depends upon member contributions to present our signature contemporary arts and cultural programs, and to continue providing a warm and welcoming environment for the thousands of people who come from around the world and call IHP home year after year. Please help IHP continue to serve our century-long mission by becoming a member today! When you become an IHP member you receive FREE admission to nearly all Film@IHP Events and other great discounts to programs. Members also receive special invitations to member-only events, behind-the-scenes parties, and special discounts on other programs at IHP. Flip back through the pages of this magazine, look at all the events taking place at IHP, and consider the variety of subjects covered, the ensuing conversations and dialog inspired by them, and the way in which this unique programming engages the local and international community. It only happens at International House Philadelphia.
If you join at the Adventurer level today, you can get all These member benefits at a 40% discount! To join, or explore other member levels, please visit us online at www.ihousephilly.org/give or call 215.895.6528.
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ADVENTURER MEMBER BENEFITS $60 $100 Individual / $115 $175 Household • • • • • • • • • •
FREE admission to Film @ International House: Film @ International House special events at special members-only rates Live @ International House at special members-only rates Chinese New Year and Diwali at special members-only rates Leadership Conference(s) at special members-only rates Invitations to special members-only events throughout the year Invitations to select Residential Events: Student Lectures, Coffee Hours,Welcome Party, etc. Discounts at local shops & restaurants Four complimentary film passes to share with guests 10% discount on Foreign Language classes
10 Great reasons to live at ihp 1 – Convenient location 2 – 24-hour security staff 3 – Computer lab with web access 4 – cafÉ on premises 5 – arts and social activities 6 – tv lounge + recreation center 7 – discounted gYM membership 8 – long And short term housing 9 – laundry facilities 10 – utilities inlcuded If you are a student, scholar, or professional trainee looking for an apartment or room in Philadelphia, consider International House. IHP is a multicultural residential center, and a source of distinctive arts and cultural programming. We are a warm and friendly living environment; a home to over 800 people from as many as 95 different countries around the world annually, including the US, who attend area colleges and universities. As a resident of International House, you’ll not only enjoy the privacy and quiet of our apartments and single rooms, you’ll also develop relationships and make friends with others from around the world, and become part of a unique community where all cultures are celebrated and shared. Our residents also enjoy the benefits of IHP membership, and get free admission and access to films, concerts, cultural events, art exhibits, leadership seminars, executive networking events and more throughout the year. Inquire today and start enjoying life at the intersection of Philadelphia and the World! housing@ihphilly.org, 215.895.6540, www.ihousephilly.org/student-housing ihousephilly.org
International House Philadelphia:
A Unique Location for Your Next Event or Meeting! Whether you are planning a business conference, an intimate soiree, an executive meeting, or a large social event, International House Philadelphia has the space and services to meet your needs and make your event a success. Located in the heart of Philadelphia’s University City, IHP has over 8,500 square feet of available space with the capacity to meet the needs of groups as small as 10, or as large as 600. IHP’s Ibrahim Theater The Ibrahim Theater is a fully-equipped, multipurpose theater facility. Featuring a state-of-the-art concert sound-system, we can accommodate a variety of music presentations from small acoustic ensembles to fully amplified 10+ piece bands. The Ibrahim Theater is ideal for film and video screenings, with the capability to project 16mm and 35mm film as well as most video formats including DigiBeta, BetaSP, DVD, Blu-ray and miniDV. Additional devices can be incorporated into our system. There is also access from the stage, which is perfect for PowerPoint lectures and other visual presentations. Our lighting system is equipped with a digital lighting board. With a knowledgeable staff able to assist you, we can provide a complete package for most events. South America Room At almost 2,000 square feet, with a capacity of up to 150, South America is our most versatile space with a great view and an outdoor balcony. It is ideal for large seminars and classes, as well as receptions. Australia Lounge A uniquely designed atrium space, the Australia Lounge is an attractive setting for receptions, breakfasts, and as a breakout space for conferences, accommodating up to 100 for stand-up events and 50 for a seated gathering or meeting. Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America Rooms These rooms, which accommodate 10 to 60 people, are ideal for small board meetings, seminars, retreats, classes and conference breakout space. The Asia and Africa Rooms can be combined to form a larger meeting space. To request information about IHP’s Ibrahim Theater, please call 215-895-6530 or email programs@ihphilly.org. To request information about our other rooms and event spaces, please call 215-895-6539 or email facilities@ihphilly.org.
getting here
International House Philadelphia is located at 3701 Chestnut Street, in the University City neighborhood, one block south of Market Street and one block north of Walnut Street.
Public Transportation: It’s a short walk from either of the Green Line’s 36th Street stops or the Market-Frankford El’s 34th Street stop. From Center City, take the 21 bus west on Walnut Street to 37th Street. From West Philly, take the 21 bus east on Chestnut to 37th. Parking: It’s easy to park in University City! Discount parking for International House patrons is available at the Science Center Parking Garage, 3665 Market Street. A special rate of $5 per vehicle, effective after 4pm until 7am, Monday through Friday plus all day Saturday & Sunday. Please bring your parking stub to IHP’s Front Desk to be stamped when attending events. Plenty of street parking, free after 8pm, is available on Chestnut and Market Streets and throughout the neighborhood. Contact Us: General Information 215.387.5125 or info@ihphilly.org Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ihousephilly. Become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ihousephilly.
Staff
Tanya Steinberg – Executive Director + Executive Board Member of International Houses Worldwide Association Arts + Language Programs Renae Dinerman – Director of Arts Robert Cargni – Curator, Ibrahim Theater @ International House Jesse Pires – Curator, Ibrahim Theater @ International House Barbara Warnock – Language Programs Manager Jesse Kudler – Production Manager, Ibrahim Theater @ International House Herb Shellenberger – Box Office Manager + Programs Manager, Ibrahim Theater @ International House Admissions + Resident Services Glenn Martin – Director of Admissions + Resident Services Jeff Bourgeois – Associate Director of Resident Services Marlon Patton – Front Desk Manager + Cashier Edwin Garcia – Admissions Coordinator Emily Martin – Admissions Coordinator Eugene Park – Front Desk Coordinator Institutional Advancement William Parker – Senior Manager of Marketing + Public Relations Christina Rockwell – Membership Programs + Development Services Manager Justin Miller – Graphic Designer Business Office Lina Yankelevich – Finance + Human Resources Manager Clara Fomich – Executive Assistant Angela Bachman – Business Office Assistant Building Operations Carole Parker – Director of Building Operations Moshe Caspi – Security Services + Systems Manager Deborah Houda – Housekeeping Operations Manager Raj Persad – Building Operations Manager Alex Rivkin – Information Systems + Technology Manager Wendy Hyatt – Conference Center + Building Services Coordinator Larry Moore – Lead Security Officer Althelson Towns – Lead Housekeeper Housekeeping, Maintenance + Security Yefim Klurfeld Reginald Brown Antoinette Malik Phillip Carter Vipin Maxwell Moifee Dorley Lulzim Myrtaj Robert Engle Amar Persad Kodzo “David” Gasonu Christina Rivera Sherman Griggs Ronald Smith Sylvie Hoeto Linda Stanton Russell Jenkins Robert Wooten Tarnue “Keith” Kabah Henry Koffi
3701 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
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IHP is an independent, member supported non-profit.
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International House Philadelphia is a multicultural residential center, a source of distinctive programming, and the embodiment of an ideal. It has a critical threefold mission: to maintain a diverse and welcoming community for scholars from around the world, while introducing them to the American experience; to broaden the horizons of its Residents and the larger community through high quality international arts and humanities programs; and to encourage cooperation and respect among the peoples of all nations. www.ihousephilly.org
International House Philadelphia:
THE NEXUS BETWEEN INTERNATIONAL CULTURE AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS The generous support of our Members, Friends and Benefactors allows International House Philadelphia to continue the tradition of offering lifelong learning through the Arts, Culture and Humanities to an increasing number of people each year. We receive State arts funding through a generous grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. These programs are also supported in part by Pennsylvania Humanities Council; The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Music Project; Callaghan Family Foundation; Alpin W Cameron Foundation; Citizens Bank Charitable Foundation; The Connelly Foundation; Cozen O’Connor Foundation; Davis United World College Scholars Program; Gupta Foundation; Japan Foundation; Leo Model Foundation, Inc; Ounsworth-Fitzgerald Foundation; Sam and Charles Foundation; Samuel P Mandell Foundation, and San Diego Foundation;. We thank our Corporate members and Supporters including: A’lecole Francaise ; Adroitent, Inc.; Ahmad & Zaffarese LLC., All State Abstract Inc.; Asher & Co, Ltd; B-Pro Safeguard, Inc.; Barlett Insurance Brokers; Berkadia; Blank Rome LLP; Brown Brothers Harriman and Co.; CertainTeed; Citizens Bank; Coinmach; Comcast Corporation; Electriplast Corp; Dole Fresh Food, Inc.; Elliot Lewis; EPAM Systems Inc,; Geiger; Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation; HP Health Parthers; Husky Associates; I-Lead Inc.; Jacoby Donner, PC.; John Wiley & Sons Inc.; Mintz, Levin, Coh, Ferris, Clovsky & Peo, PC; JP Morgan Chase; NMCI, Inc.; Philip Rosenau Co, Inc; PNC Bank; Premier Urology Associates; Progressive Business Publications; Pulse Electronics; Qlicktech, INC.; Reed Smith LLP.; Saks Inc.; Shelly Electric Company; Staples; StarRez; Sheraton University City Hotel, and Wells Fargo. We’re grateful for the support of our Non Profit, Education, and Community Members and Supporters: American Swedish Historical Museum; Community College Of Philadelphia; Community Foundation Of The VI, Inc; Drexel University; Friends of the Japanese House and Garden; Greater Philadelphia Chinese Restaurant Association; Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation; Interfaith Center Of Greater Philadelphia; Lincoln University; Philadelphia Asian American Film & Filmmakers; Philadelphia Zoo; University City District; University City Science Center; University Of Pennsylvania; University Of The Sciences In Philadelphia; World Affairs Council Of Philadelphia We are also thankful for the support of our in-kind donors and the many generous members and annual donors.