CINE SPREE WANTS TO ENGAGE YOU...EXPERIMENTALLY

Karl Lind's In the Can Productions and Grand Detour have joined together to present Cine Spree at the Clinton Street Theater, a full day of screenings, discussions, and low-key mingling surrounding the topic of experimental film.  Kicking off on Sunday at 1p.m., the day's business begins with a Salon-style conversation on the state of experimental filmmaking and exhibition in PDX; I'll be around to help out with this part of the event, which is free to the public, so be sure to stop in, participate, and, above all, say "howdy."

After 3p.m., the complimentary portion of the day concludes, but that's when the booze, food, and films begin flowing.  $15 gets you a slice of it all, but note that there are also options available for foregoing the refreshments and just enjoying the films, including the Oregon premiere of Pip Choderov's documentary Free Radicals.

Keep in mind, the Portland 2012 Cine Spree is being billed as day one of The Clinton Street's Experimental Mini Fest.  Day two goes down on Monday, November, 26th.

Cine Spree happens at the Clinton Street Theater on Sunday, November 25th.  Full details available here.


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CINEMA PROJECT & EFF PORTLAND present THE ANIMALS & THEIR LIMITATIONS: FILMS BY JIM TRAINOR

Cinema Project joins forces this week with the premiere edition of EFF Portland (more coverage of the fest here) to present the animated films of Jim Trainor.  Trainor, who once received the mixed blessing of being shit on by the Mercury; an honor that was later re-examined by an article in the Art Institute of Chicago's student publication where Trainor questioned some people's ability to "get" the work, creates his films mostly with pen and ink on paper, which he then captures on 16mm. 

Tomorrow night's event includes seven of Trainor's idiosyncratic films.  For more on the program, here's the Cinema Project press release:

Since the harmony of nature is actually based on an unhappy system of things destroying other things, I am continually struck and amused by nature documentaries' almost compulsive tendency to try to comfort us instead of leaving us stranded in existential horror, where we belong. —Jim Trainor 

As part of the first-ever Experimental Film Festival Portland, Grand Detour and Cinema Project are pleased to present Chicago filmmaker Jim Trainor. Trainor's strange animation takes the traditional set-up of science and anthropological films and turns it on its head, giving the power of narration to the animals and the headhunters themselves. "I killed my identical twin sister, " a hyena confesses in Harmony. "I killed my sister. But then since I am only an animal, I kept looking for her everywhere." In Magic Kingdom, live-action shots of animals in the zoo are interspersed with the ever-pres­ent animated dots that act as tender representations of the pulse of living beings. Working almost exclusively on 16mm, Trainor often starts out simply with Sharpie and white paper. Perfection is not the point, instead the films purposefully quiver, underlining the subject matter's dark humor.

And here's the lineup of films:


The Presentation Theme [2008, 16mm, b&w, sound, 14min.] 
The Bats [1998, 16mm, color, sound, 8 min.] 
The Moschops pt. I [2000, 16mm, b&w, sound, 6 min.] 
The Moschops pt. II [2000, 16mm, b&w, sound, 6 min.] 
The Skulls and the Skulls and the Bones and the Bones [2003, video, color, sound, 13 min.] 
Harmony [2005, 16mm, color, sound, 13 min.] 
The Magic Kingdom [2002, 16mm, color, sound, 7 min.]

Cinema Project & EFF Portland present The Animals and Their Limitations on Thursday, May 24th.  More info on the program available here.  More info EFF Portland's showcases, tickets, venues and special events available here.


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EFF PORTLAND TINKERS WITH THE PDX FESTIVAL SCENE

I've been really excited about the emergence of EFF Portland ever since the first murmurings about it began popping up in my Facebook feed.  There's been a hollow space in the Portland's film festival circuit ever since the PDX Film Festival quietly exited the scene.  So, the idea of a new experimental fest coming to the rescue was more than welcome.  And from the films that I've seen thus far, the first edition of EFF Portland is a well-curated, diverse, and exciting mix of classically and bleeding edge experimental films, pushing the boundaries of the cinematic experience.

I'll be writing a bit more later in the week about a special event or two at EFF Portland but, for now, here are a few recommended films to catch:

New Hippie Future (dir. Dalibor Barić), screening as part of the "Mycology" presentation on Thurs., May 24th at 9pm:
A kaleidoscopic experience of constantly shifting images and textures, set to a driving Krautrockesque soundtrack.  A beautiful piece; you'll want to see it again as soon as it's over.

Chris Freeman presents: A Scene from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Episode 3X09, "The Vengeance Factor" (dir. Chris Freeman), screening as part of the "Near Side" presentation on Fri., May 25th at 8:45pm:
Freeman moves the context of a piece of pop culture into an entirely different place.  Humor and insight coexist here; it questions as much as it amuses.

 Jazzy Birds (dir. Jeremy Rourke), screening as part of the "Eruption" presentation on Wed., May 23rd at 7pm:
A sweet blending of stop-motion involving cutouts, illustrations, superimposed imagery, etc., all set to a lovely little song that shares the title of the film.

Wrestling With My Father (dir. Charles Fairbanks), screening as a part of the "Upper Crust, part two" presentation on Sat., May 26th at 8pm:
Fairbanks' camera observes his father at a wrestling match.  It's such a flimsy idea that it shouldn't really work but, somehow, a hypnotic effect is forged.

Dark Enough (dir. Jeanne Liotta), screening as a part of the "Magma Flow" presentation on Sat., May 26th at 1pm:
I've been a big fan of Liotta's work, ever since screening her Observando El Cielo in a film class a few years back.  This piece is based in an experiment with text and image, working in collaboration with the poet Lisa Gill.






EFF Portland runs through Sunday, May 27th.  More info on showcases, tickets, venues and special events available here.


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Grand Detour and Reverse Town

This past Tuesday night (1/25), PDX' own experimental film and video exhibition group Grand Detour presented a series of shorts produced by the filmmakers of Reverse Town at the Hollywood Theater.

Reverse Town is a six-member collective of film geeks who all met while gathering skills at the NW Film Center School of Film.

The Grand Detour program consisted of eight short films, including:
Positive dir. by Liz Lewis (trailer)
Bobby Beats by Liz Lewis (full film link)
Death Walker dir. by Daniel Klockenkemper (full film link)
Rougarou dir. by Michael Roberson (full film link)
and additional work by Brian Lancaster, Mario Garza and Ian Geronimo.