Marker (and Varda)

There's an embarrassment of riches this week, as Penn, Temple, and Slought are organizing a commemorative symposium on Chris Marker's work, with visiting filmmakers to include Agnes Varda. Here's a rundown of events:

Wed. March 13

6pm
Agnès Varda, in conversation with Molly Nesbit

University of Pennsylvania, Meyerson Hall

Thurs. March 14
7PM
Screening: Beaches of Agnes (Varda 2008)

Varda in person

International House

Friday, March 15

5:30PM

opening panel and reception for Chris Marker event

Slought Foundation

reservation recommended

Saturday, March 16

10AM-6PM

Chris Marker event

Slought Foundation

reservation recommended

Saturday, March 16

7PM

Screening: early Chris Marker collaborations

International House

Underground Cinema and Apes

The International House is having a mini-series of films with/by Underground Cinema actor Pierre Clementi.

Friday, July 29 at 7pm

Pierre Clémenti: Unreleased Reels
with live musical accompaniment from David First, Chris Forsyth and Koen Holtkamp

Featuring Pierre Clémenti, Philippe Garrel, Jean-Pierre Kalfon, Viva, Catherine Deneuve, Nico, Tina Aumont, Frédéric Pardo, and many more, these rarely seen and newly restored films by French actor Pierre Clémenti constitute a major period of creative expression and experimentation. Akin to the works of Andy Warhol and Kenneth Anger, Clémenti’s films are lyrical and hypnotic and function both as portraits of those closest to him and distinctive visions from the mind of a world famous actor, poet and free spirit.

Souvenir souvenir …(Reel 27)
dir Pierre Clémenti, France, 1967-78, 16mm, 27 mins, color, silent

Positano (reel 30B01: soleil)
dir Pierre Clémenti, France, c. 1968, 16mm, 28 mins, color, silent

La Deuxième femme (reel J)
dir Pierre Clémenti, France, 1967-78, 16mm, 48 mins, color, silent

Saturday, July 30 at 7pm

Wheel of Ashes
dir. Peter Emanuel Goldman, France, 1968, digital transfer from 16mm, 95 mins, b/w

American filmmaker Peter Goldman made his second feature film in France with Pierre Clémenti in the leading role. Poetry and promiscuity merge as young Pierre searches for meaning in his tormented world. Goldman is an under-recognized auteur whose unique films serve as excellent example of American independent filmmaking during a defining era.

Saturday, July 30 at 9pm

Necropolis
dir. Franco Brocani, Italy/UK, 1970, 16mm, 92 mins, color

A surreal and disturbing distillation of Western Civilization, Necropolis is the unhinged vision of Italian director Franco Brocani. Pierre Clémenti is Attila the Hun, naked and on horseback, while Warhol superstar Viva is a drunken and abusive Countess Bathory. A pop pastiche for the psychedelic generation, Necropolis features a soundtrack by Gavin Bryars.

Also, Sunday from 11:00 AM—11:00 PM they are running a Planet of the Apes marathon. $20 gets you entrance to any or all of the 5 films. Matt Prigge has the round up.

Weekend of Avant-Garde and Science Films

This Saturday, the International House will screen three programs of science and experimental films, very few of which are easily seen. For full descriptions of the films, consult the I-House website.

Saturday (Apr 16) 2:00pm

Secret Cinema and Cinema Studies at UPenn present

Cinema/Science

A program of some of the oldest surviving educational films about science and nature and features an assortment of fascinating “popular science” shorts. These ultra-rare reels, many of which haven’t been seen in eight or nine decades, are still potent in their powers to entertain, amuse, and educate modern-day viewers about a variety of subjects. Many of the films have never been shown by Secret Cinema or anyone else since the 1920s! Introduced by science film scholar Oliver Gaycken. Highlights include:

Honey Makers
Pathe Screen Studies, UK, circa 1920s, 16mm

Trip to the Sky
prod Jean Painlevé, France 1937, 16mm

The Battle of the Plants
British Instructional Films, Ltd., UK, circa 1920s, 16mm

Laws of Motion
Encyclopedia Brittanica Films, UK, 1952, 16mm

The Science of Life
Bray Educational Films, US, circa 1920s, 16mm

Saturday (Apr 16) 5:00pm

Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts:

Independent Artist Movement in Cinematography (shorts)

Rien que les heures (Nothing but Time)
dir. Alberto Cavalcanti, France, 1926, 16mm, 45 mins, b/w, silent

Amor Pedestre (Love a Foot)
dir. Marcel Fabre, Italy, 1914, 16mm, 10 mins, b/w, silent

Ritimi di Stazione, Impressioni di Vita N.1 Rhythms (Impressions of Life # 1: Railway Station)
dir. Corrado D’Errico, Italy, 1933, video, 10 mins, b/w, silent

Rennsymphonie (Race Symphony)
dir. Hans Richter, Germany, 1928, 16mm, 5 mins, b/w, silent

La Marche des Machines (The March of the Machines)
dir. Eugene Deslaw, France, 1929, 16mm, 9 mins, b/w, silent

Life and Death of 9413 – A Hollywood Extra
dir. Robert Florey, US, 1928, 16mm, 11 mins, b/w, silent

L’Histoire Du Soldat Inconnu (The History of the Unknown Soldier)
dir. Henri Storck, Belgium, 1931, 16mm, 10 mins, b/w, silent

Saturday (Apr 16) 7:30pm

Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts:

Independent Artist Movement in Cinematography

Limite
Mario Peixoto’s visually entrancing Brazilian classic is a stunning silent poem inspired by a photograph by Andre Kertesz. Described by Peixoto as ‘a tuning fork’ to capture the pitch of a moment in time, it recounts a simple story of three people adrift on a boating trip.

Ulrike Ottinger

Next Tuesday, October 19, the Slought Foundation is hosting a day-long retrospective of Ulrike Ottinger's work. Ottinger's work has ranged from narrative work on the more avant-garde side of the New German Cinema to experimental documentaries, including the 8- hour Taiga, about Mongolia (see this NYT review). Even including the couple of films to be distributed by Women Make Movies to educational and repertory audiences, very little of Ottinger's work has been available in the US.

I do wish for a proper theatrical screening of some of it, but short of that, gallery exhibitions like at the Slought may be the only way to watch it easily. They will have simulatenous video projection of her longer works throughout the day (9am-5pm): Twelve Chairs (198 minutes, 2004), The Korean Wedding Chest (82 minutes, 2008), Taiga: A Journey to Northern Mongolia (501 minutes, 1991/2), and Exil Shanghai (275 minutes, 1997)

From 5-7pm, there will be an evening screening of Still Moving (29 minutes, 2009) and Prater (104 minutes, 2007).

The main event (7-8:30pm), is a presentation by Ottinger herself, followed by public conversation with Kaja Silverman (University of Pennsylvania), Patricia White (Swarthmore College), and Homay King (Bryn Mawr College), moderated by Nora Alter (Temple University).