Category Archives: Film & Video
Angelica Mesiti
You have but one day to visit Mesiti‘s most recent work Citizens Band at the ACCA New 12 show before it finishes tomorrow. Her installation consists of 4 single channel video art works, and a 5th compositional piece. It features 4 people of non-European heritage composing traditional song. An Asian man outside a convenience store playing the erhu, an African cabbie whistling a traditional tune, another African (female) composing music using the splashing of water and, finally, an Arabic (or North African) immigrant singing a tune from his homeland, with the aid of a basic keyboard. 3 of these were filmed in Sydney, with the final piece featuring the Arabic male shot on the Paris Metro.
At once, you are inclined to reflect upon the situation these immigrants find themselves; inflected is a longing for their homeland and traditional values/ environment. I found the song absolutely lovely, and the scenes well shot. However, I can‘t help but feel the over-riding theme was patronising and all too melancholic for my liking. But I guess that‘s one for you to judge yourself: the works in themselves worth the visit to ACCA.
Otherwise, you can also view parts of the work during this ACCA Artist interview:
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Rodrigo Prieto
Today we visit the cinematography of Rodrigo Prieto. In the 2009 Pedro Almodovar film Broken Embraces; the audience is mesmerised and flawed by Prieto’s fascinating imagery. His camera work and visual motivations, I believe, make it the most influential and admired film that I have ever seen. A major compulsion for Prieto is that of portraiture in the moving image: Broken Embraces contains endless character inquisitions using this method (portraiture in film). It is thus imperative to note Prieto’s previous work on Spike Lee’s 2002 film 25th Hour –a film I also count as highly regarded. The visual stylisation of this film is epitomised by locked-down video shots and ultra colour saturation (or over exposure). Prieto pioneered this aesthetic to an extent; in his portraiture of the characters surrounding Edward Norton (as Monty Brogan; our protagonist in the film). Prieto also shot the 2002, politically-charged Frida, and also the series of Alejandro González Iñárritu films –comprising the 2010 Biuitiful, 2006’s Babel, 2003’s 21 Grams and 2000’s Amores Perros. Amores Perros is also a film whose visual style has profoundly informed my visual dynamic or perspective of the moving image.
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BIVOUAC
A nightly ensemble of Video Art featuring:
MATTHEW BERKA | ANDREW TURLAND | M T WALKER
Screenings in the theatrette between 6pm - 9pm
at LONG PLAY 318 St Georges Rd, Nth Fitzroy.
BIVOUAC ONE: Tues 1st, Wed 2nd and Thur 3rd MAY
BIVOUAC TWO: Mon 7th, Tue 8th and Wed 9th MAY
These visually stunning works explore cultural & socio-political philosophies, the built environment, and the singular protest.
Please come down and enjoy yourself in comfortable surrounds.
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Street Dreams 2012
After its success in 2011, the urban art festival Street Dreams returned to Adelaide in March of 2012 to showcase and celebrate local street artists and their work. The festival is run entirely through the work of volunteers to put together two days full of events centred on appreciating urban art forms and, most of all, having fun with it. Events included street art tours, workshops, mural painting, a “Pimp My T-Shirt” party and the famous “Dumpster Biennale“.
Precede Pictures have put together this short film documenting the highlights of the festival:
http://streetdreams.com.au/
U.D.L. BOYZ – Gang
ULD BOYZ EZCAYP FROHM SPAYC PRIZUN
The UDL Boyz have transmogrified through the vast expanse of the 1994 parallax to bring you the best in future primitive new music from the past. In ‘Gang‘ the boys have had themselves a mischief once again. Our two mustard-stained goofball anti-heroes have smashed out the space prison and are seeking solace and shelter from the solar winds. Yes, you guessed it cuz: another earth-shattering club hit doth reign. Good uld boise indeed.
Video: Nathan Ceddia
Dogme ’95
The Dogme Manifesto was an avant-garde filmmaking movement created, intitially, by Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. These 2 filmmakers were soon thereafter joined by Kristian Levring, Jean-Marc Barr, and Søren Kragh-Jacobsen; comprising the original 5 members of the group to take a vow of chastity to the manifesto (outlined below). The manifesto was drafted to produce films that adhere to the earliest and most basic conventions of filmmaking. The basic nature of the agreement (signed by the initial 5 members in 1995) is to use location sound, natural lighting and original sets –basically; no manipulation of the location, with no foreign items to be brought onto the set and no ‘special effects‘. The manifesto also bans genre movies and superficial action, and limits the temporal conventions of the film: that is to say that the action must take place in the ‘here and now’ and must avoid embellishing the turn of events: such as an actual visual portrayal of a stabbing, car accident or such. Some of the most notable Dogme films include personal favourites Festen (The Celebration), Mifune, and Open Hearts. Dogme ‘95: The Vow of Chastity (abridged):
“I swear to the following set of rules drawn up and confirmed by Dogme 95:”
• Shooting must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in.
• The sound must never be produced apart from the image or vice-versa.
• The camera must be handheld. Any movement or mobility attainable in the hand is permitted.
• The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable.
• Optical work and filters are forbidden.
• The film must not contain superficial action.
• Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden.
• Genre movies are not acceptable.
• The film format must be Academy 35mm.
• The director must not be credited.
The Dogme was annulled in 2005 -however, many filmmakers (such as Susanne Bier) continue to inform their work with the manifesto.
FruitJam (Narcoze)
Narcoze is a European street artist from Holland. His techniques ranges from illustrative to aersol-based endeavours. Much of his work references escapism and “works inspired by the way people try to escape their own reality“. We recently hit Narcoze up on the FruitJam production he formulated and participated in; alongside fellow Euro street artists and graffers including Edo Rath, Simian Switch, Klik, Ominous, 524, Amik, CES53, Bust, and Sivanksi among others.
INFX: What got the FruitJam project started?
Narcoze: Mutual friends just got together to paint at this place called LerenDoen which literally means learning, doing. So it‘s a place where teenagers learn skills, when otherwise they might not have a chance to learn these things. Keeps ‘em off the streets and not turn into thugs and graffiti writers [ 
]
INFX: How did the artists relate to each other?
Narcoze: Most of us know each other from the graffiti or street art scene, even though they are very different from each other there‘s still a bond which will bring us together to paint at spots like these.
INFX: Do you have any future collabs on the horizon?
Narcoze: Not anything big planned at the moment but we try to get together in the weekends and just paint as often as we can. Good to get the juices flowing.
INFX: What‘s special about the graff scene in Europe?
Narcoze: I think the most important thing that stands out in European graff is that people from all over europe can easily meet up with each other and learn from each other‘s style.
Thanks to Narcoze for allowing time to give us the word-up on the FruitJam project. Check the video:
www.narcoze.com
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Metro Graff Three
Here we have the third video in the Metro Graff series that documents Melbourne graffiti.
This instalment features an introduction by Victor Lancaster -you will know Victor as the seemingly soiled and dishevelled ‘bum‘ busking on the city streets with his home-made drum kit. However, Victor is also on the arts scene and is one talented musician. He has recently released an album, and he composed an electronic music track to accompany an Anthony Lister project in Hosier Lane. The video, proper, features live graff painting on the city streets -by the likes of Bailer, Sofles, Caper, Facter and a bunch more. Shot principly on Union Lane, and Finlay Lane; the video is accompanied by The Nextmen track ‘Spin It Round‘. Enjoy.
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Backroads (Philip Noyce)
Philip Noyce is a well-established figure on the Hollywood scene; responsible for such cinematic tyranny as the diabolical Salt, the pedestrian Patriot Games and The Bone Collector; among other such tedium. But Noyce is indeed an accomplished filmmaker despite the somewhat lame exploits of his latter years. His days of old were much more colourful and sublime; Backroads being his directorial œuvre d‘art. This 1977 film presents an unequivocal view of the ocker (or ‘bogan‘) and his frustration with the views of his Koori peer. The film documents Jack (Bill Hunter) and Gary (a triumphant Gary Foley) as they traverse the Australian outback alongside guests such as Terry Camilleri‘s ‘Frenchie‘; all the while blissfully charmed along the highways by the warmth of Gary‘s sometime-muse Joe (Zack Martin). This is one of the great films of late 70s Australian filmmaking.
The accompanied video offers some of the great moments in this tremendous film:
Yosuke Yamashita
Yosuke Yamashita is a Japanese musician and artist from Tokyo. He has performed extensively worldwide, and has composed music scores for various films, from the late 60s until the present; most notably for Shohei Imamura‘s 1998 Dr. Akagi. He has also recieved various awards, including Japan‘s Award for Fine Arts in 1999 and the Medal With Purple Ribbon in 2003. Currently, he is a visiting professor at both the Kunitachi College of Music and the Nagoya University of Arts. The ten minute video featured below has its‘ origins in one of Yosuke‘s most intruiging works. This 2008 piece, titled Burning Piano is exactly that; albeit with Yosuke playing an improvised jazz piece on the piano throughout its‘ inflammation. However, this was not the first time Yasuke had played a burning piano. That was some 35 years earlier, when he was approached by filmmaker Kiyoshi Awazu to play a burning piano for his short film of the same name. The 2008 version was filmed after Yosuke had revisited the original work, and thus he felt it needed a revival. The 1973 film can be found on Awazu‘s website: www.kiyoshiawazu.com
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Charles Manson once said that ”If you‘re going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy“. In the case of this engrossing but tiresome film,there is a witchiness but it unfortunately falls short of a production ‘done well‘. I say this because I was irked by its‘ many mediocrities. The parallels established betweeen our protagonist, Martha, and her dual realities of the communal dystopia and the corporate-citizen mundane left me in disbelief. I felt that these comparisons were highly unrealistic in an otherwise believable scenario: the characters of Ted and Lucy were far too stereotypical and I was glad actors Sarah Paulson and Hugh Dancy had salvaged the most they could from the roles. Equally, Martha was played very well by Elizabeth Olsen; her performance increasingly compelling following Martha‘s egress from the clutches of Patrick. This Manson-like figure was also played adeptedly by John Hawkes (Winter‘s Bone) but none so convincing as to warrant accolades. The film‘s climactic drive was equally powerful to the acting, but unfortunately lacked the production values to let this film accomplish.
At the end of the day, Martha is director Sean Durkin‘s smugly crafted amalgamation of his previous projects (such as the short Mary Last Seen) into what I believe is a failed attempt at understanding the mindset of someone shell-shocked by indoctrination.
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Vectrex
Vectrex? Yes, the name is both confounding and mesmerising. It sounds like some sort of cross between Electronics, Geography, and Chemical Warfare coloured with Prog Rock. And it is all these things & more: Vectrex was an early 80s video game console that was manufactured using surplus military electronics, was the first vector-based system (similar to an Oscilloscope), and could bust out glitch-metal anthems at the drop of a hat. Amped with an unencumbered 1.5 MHz of processing power, and smashing the gameplay with a whole 1 KB of RAM, this baby was born out of the rapid development of video game systems prior to the market meltdown of 1984. The system (created by John Ross) was the ultimate in technology: new Vectrex games came with a plastic sheet; inscribed with coloured designs to affix to your monitor. It also had a Laser Pen and 3D Imager glasses that featured colours on a disc that spun past your eyes while playing the game; developed by the unstoppable John Ross nearly a decade before any other 3D system. Alas, these innovations were not enough to save the system from widespread disdain by the masses. Following a 9-month shelf life, and the introduction of the Atari 5200 was the unfortunate death of the Vectrex. Thankfully, though, during the 90s the entire system, games, and components were released into the Public Domain.
Klara
Klara is quite lovely: easy going with a can-do attitude. And do she does -you will witness Klara‘s paste-ups all over town: often without realising it is her handiwork. But there is no missing the quality of her exploits, and this West Australian native‘s quest to make her art happen here in Melbourne. Klara was happy to meet me in the studio last week to interview herself with the aid of some super-maxxed up technology bonuses. Check it out:
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All Through The Night (Cyndi Lauper)
Ethereal electro-pop is a fairly loose term being bandied about at the moment. The resurgence of this reincarnation of early 80s synthesiser music has arguably been spear-headed by the Winding Refn film Drive. On this soundtrack, Refn invited Cliff Martinez to revisit the score he produced for the 1989 Steven Soderburgh film Sex, Lies, and Videotape. However, the sound emanating from Martinez‘ work goes back almost another decade: which brings us to All Through The Night. This song was written by Jules Shear -a modest 80s music producer that is also credited with the creation of the MTV Unplugged series. He wrote All Through The Night for The Cars and although they recorded the folk ballad, they did not release it on their Heartbeat City album, nor as a B-side on their Drive single. Shear, however, did his own recording and released the song on his 1983 solo album Watch Dog. The next year, following a failed collaborative effort between Lauper and Shear, Lauper decided she would record an unrevised cover of the song. During the recording sessions at NYC‘s Record Plant the track began to take on a new form and was completed in a style that epitomises the early 80s synth ballads which, as mentioned, seem to be experiencing a revival of late. Have a listen to this live version from 1984:
Brendan Lee
Brendan Lee is an Australian Photographer and Video Artist from Victoria. His works are mainly centred around Australian identity and the colloquialisms associated with the urban ‘bogan‘. Brendan has recently achieved success in his 2011 show Australian Days at the CCP (Centre of Contemporary Photography), and with the release of his book Bogan Proof Fences. The book is a complement to his next show (of the same title) running from the 1st March until 25th march at The Substation 1 Market St. Newport.
INFX caught up with Brendan in this interview (of sorts) yesterday:
brendanlee.com
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Two Women (Sophia Loren)
What better way to start off the new year than with a full-length, classic feature film?
Sophia Loren stars in this 1960 cinematic gem by one of Italy‘s most successful and prolific film-makers. Vittorio De Silva (Bicycle Thieves, Generale della Rovere) wrote the screenplay and directed this film during the height of his career. It again visits his common thematics: namely in the tragic framing of love, sex, and courage amidst a setting of adversity. The film was highly contentious at the time of its release as it contained imagery considered highly graphic at the time. Loren recieved a Best Actress Oscar for her role; the first time a foreign film had recieved the honour. The 25 year-old had until this point been a sucessful model, but had acted only in minor roles. The film marked a turing point in her career; as she shot to International stardom after Two Women and its‘ Hollywood acclaim. Enjoy.
