indieWIRE Online Journal

     I am following an online journal called indieWire, a website that has well put together stories, interviews, and many other things relating to mostly independent films, Indie film festivals, and the involved personal in the independent film scene. As I have been reading, I came across an article/interview that was especially interesting to me because of my recent viewing of “Baghdad In No Particular Order.”

 

The interview is entitled, “TRIBECA ‘08 INTERVIEW | “War, Love, God & Madness” Director Mohamed Al-Daradji“ by indieWIRE (April 25, 2008). 

    

     When I first skimmed this interview I realized the content was familiar to me. There was text about Suddam Hussein, Iraq, and US troops. I remember seeing the footage in “Baghdad In No Particular Order” early on in class where the ladies had uniforms on, holding guns, and chanting pro Saddam Hussein, anti-american/Bush chants.  Al Daradji was a Iraq native and had remembered watching Iraqi films as a child before Hussein stopped the practice of filmmaking in Iraq. Al Daradji states, “After Saddam’s Regime was overthrown in 2003, I went back home to Iraq.” He decided to begin filming there found it to be filled with hope. As he filmed, he began to understand better what was really happening in his homeland, and he also found some sort of magical hope that resonated throughout the filming of his country. When he first came back, the times were full of sheer chaos and it lead him to believe that there is hope and he decided to display it the best he could, through film. It is interesting because unlike Chan’s “B.I.N.P.O” the war was still happening. The US troops were still there and in fact Al Daradji and some of his crew were “faced by unimaginable circumstances with no money, Struggling against time, persecution, imprisonment, injuries, terrorist attacks and the American army, our own survival sometimes took over.” Through all of their hardships and struggle, they managed to finish the film and have captured some genuine moments of the real Iraq, and US Iraqis. I hope to see this film and compare it with Chan’s film. Al Daradji understands that his film is indeed a “difficult” film, but he hopes the industry will stand behind him and push it forward because he believes it is a foreign language documentary that fills a need. 

    

     The second article/interview that I found immensly intriguing was indieWIRE INTERVIEW | “Dear Zachary” Director Kurt Kuenne.

        

     Kurt Kuenne was interviewed regarding his film “Dear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His Father.” This article was interesting for many reasons. Kuenne is the man behind almost all aspects of the film. It is a documentary that has Kuenne has a special bond with because he was best friends with the main subject of the film, Dr. Andrew Bagby.  The film pays tribute to Bagby who was viciously murdered by the woman who was four months pregnant with his son. Kuenne states, “When I received the news that my best friend, Dr. Andrew Bagby, had been murdered. Probably because I had documentaries on the brain, within about 24 hours I decided to fashion a tribute film of sorts as a memory album for family and friends.” The original intent of the film was to a “memory album for family and friends.” I find that so interesting because of how popular it is now becoming. Kuenne says in the trailer that Andrew was in every one of his films when they were growing up. The bond is obviously close and it directly effects the sincerity of the content and the genuine care from the filmmaker. Many people have made documentaries about people, places, and ideas that they are not even remotely attached to as Kurt is to Andrew. This film, though I have not seen it yet, has groundbreaking written all over it. Kuenne wanted to stray from your typical crime documentaries or tv shows. He said, “There are a lot of crime documentaries out there about killers, movies that explore their backgrounds and motivations, whose appeal I cannot fathom; I wanted this to be perhaps one of the first told from the point of view of the victim, the usually faceless person the media generally glosses over like a statistic. I wanted to bring Andrew back to life, to make the audience feel like he was their friend, so that they would be just as furious as I am when they witness what was allowed to happen here.”

Kuenn wants the viewers to be put in his shoes, being aware of the tragedy that this story really is. Through this interview I found information about tragedy, a documentary film, and a director that seems to have a unique perspective on filmmaking and documentaries in general. I hope I get the chance to see this film. I know, just from seeing the trailer, that it will have a profound impact on my life and those I pass it on to. It would be wise of him to get started on the DVD process, if he hasn’t yet. 

    

    

Benjamin Fisher

Act/React

     I was able to visit the Act/React exhibit with two of my closest friends. I was the only one with any idea of what to expect. I convinced them to come and that their money would be well spent. I have to be honest, I went to this exhibit with an amusement park mentality. I thought, “interactive art, hmm, this will be fun.” I found out quickly that going for amusement was not the only purpose artists had in mind. It seemed that the artists wanted visitors to interact, appreciate, and thoughtfully consider their creation.

     The first interactive art installation I thoroughly enjoyed was the piece titles “Deep Walls” by Scott Snibbe. It was second in the seemingly ordered display sequence. I first walked up to the premises of the piece, viewing the screen and the action of other visitors. “Deep Walls” is focused on a screen with 16 rectangles, each projecting a different moving image that was recorded by walking in front of the screen. I was immediately interested as I began to see the result of one’s movements in front of the screen. Walking up to the front of the screen, I did not know what to do with my body. I decided to do a wave with my arms. It was simple and safe. After seeing myself placed in a seemingly random rectangle waving my arms I craved more. My friends jumped in and began to experiment as well. Others around were not shy either. It was an inviting piece. It seemed that one’s individual reaction to their performance prompted others to get involved. We all wanted a piece of the action. It was as though we were at a dance party, and there was a dance line forming, where each person was given their turn dance through the line. Some would have a spirit in which they would try to out do others with more creativity, some just wanted a quick attempt at manipulating the piece, and others just wanted their rectangle to be as outlandish as possible. I felt as though it was one of the strongest pieces, if not the strongest piece in the entire exhibit for several reasons. First, it brought about the most central sense of community by almost forcing others to communicate, but it was done in such a subtle way. In my time invested in the “Deep Walls” I experienced many different attitudes, practices and virtues. Their was laughter, experiment, embarrassment, humility, patience, acceptance, creativity, kindness, vulnerability, and several other ideas that the people projected individually and as a group. I believe one could find many meanings in the piece, but the meanings I would promote are; the most fun is had with others around and people need to feed off the creations of others for the best results in their own creations. Someone’s piece of art might inspire another, who will then go on to inspire another, and so on. This idea was present when one did something in front of the wall that sparked ideas from others. It was a domino effect. I highly recommend visiting this piece for some time. It is the true gem of the exhibit.

     The second most enjoyable piece was the Snow Mirror by Daniel Rozin. This piece seemed to have the most substance underneath the actual piece itself. By substance I am saying that there were some idea(s) that were being promoted through this piece that were not obvious, but it was obvious that they were there, that something of worth was beneath the material. It was a special moment to walk into the room of this piece. The room was dark, small, and contained only a hanging fabric, a camera, and a projector. I felt as though this piece should be apart of a separate interactive art exhibit because of the mysterious nature of it. Maybe an interactive art exhibit in which the greeters would hand out cards of questions chosen by the artist regarding their piece, thus requiring more thoughtful consideration. Watching my figure projected on the fabric was intriguing for many reasons. It was a black and white image, the image was put together with falling pixels or “snowflakes,” and the quality of the picture depended on how still one’s body was. When one moved, the image blurred and almost disappeared into the snowfall as if someone just shook up an etch a sketch masterpiece. If one moves slowly, the projection shows that even a simple movement will cause the entire scene to be different. It moves on like that. It is as if to say that life is always moving. Though we might be standing still, time is still moving (snowflakes falling), we are still growing older. I think it bashes complacency and promotes the idea that people need not get caught up in their pasts, but embrace the now. The thing I love about interactive art is that each different person will interact with the art in their own unique way and have their own meanings or lack thereof for each piece.

I agree with Goerge Fifields critique on art in Act/React. I think that passive art (film, sculpture, paintings, theatre, books etc) could never gain such audience participation that these interactive installation art makers have gained. I never thought of the said forms of passive art as passive, but as I began to think about this idea, I was beckoned to agree. It is interesting to see the trend in interactive art. It seems to rely heavily on computers and technology, but I would like to come into contact with interactive art that does not require or even use technology. I am sure that it exists. I know this inspirational 20th and 21st Century art form will continue to grow and expand in creativity and popularity. It is inevitable considering the amount of technological advancements happening constantly, and because of the universal understanding of technology.

I think Act/React was well worth the visit and that it should be visited with more thoughtful consideration regarding the meaning underneath each piece than one might think. 

 

Benjamin Fisher

 

 

 

“Killer of Sheep” left me for dead.

 

 

Film Poster

 

I was able to see Killer of Sheep in both my film class at UWM, and at the UWM Union Theater. Much to my delight, the director Charles Burnett, was in attendance at the Union Theater showing. He stayed after for discussion questions regarding the film. It was quite informative in a useful way.

 Killer of Sheep has a quality about it that reminds me of one of my favorite films,Bicycle Thieves. These two films contain scenes that are seemingly simple, but in each second, various amounts of meaning are being projected through brilliant sequences of scenes. The fact that Killer of Sheep was made with black and white film stock in a time where color was the primary film choice makes one take a second look at this work. Both times that I saw this film I was struck with different memorable scenes, thoughts, and ideas about the film.  

I could not help my being drawn in by the raw style of filmmaking that was soaked Burnett’s documentary-like footage. I thought that this film could be likened to an actual documentary entitled Baghdad In No Particular Order made by Paul Chan. Chan’s film, though a documentary, has moments in which it feels like narrative, but my main point is that several of Killer of Sheep’s documentary-like scenes are shot similar to Chan’s slow, drawn out, personal style of shooting in Baghdad In No Particular Order. Burnett said in the discussion that he was very influenced by old documentaries and also that he knew it was apparent for one to see that in his filmmaking.

Charles Burnett (1977)

Burnett wanted to breakaway from the popular films made about African-Americans that were being released at the time. His style was the epitome of raw. He filmed it using locals for many of the actors, film crew and the sound crew. Many of the scenes seemed as though he just snuck around in a neighborhood, catching everyday life at the film’s current time and place. He said in his discussion that most everything was scripted, but deep  down I believe some of the scenes just had to have been shots of real events. For example, the scene where a young boy cries atop a roof after being hit by other children throwing rocks at him seems to be pure organic footage. The most exceptional acting was from Stan, his family and the many children throughout. The intense scenes involving Stan and his wife are so simple, yet they have such strong emotive qualities. The many scenes with children show the fearless unabashed nature of children that these type of communities have. The childhood innocence was ever apparent even in the midst of wrong doing and misbehaving.

The movie contains great amounts of character. It is like a good album. New things come about with every viewing. I spoke with my girlfriend about it for about an hour, that doesn’t happen much. I plan to periodically watch this film with several of my other friends so that I can discuss it and gather new ideas and develop existing ones. I know many of my ideas about the film are totally foreign to the actual meaning or non-meaning of the film, but that is why art is so wonderful, in that, my interaction is needed for the film to fulfill it’s purpose. There seems to be many hidden meaning, metaphors, and implied statements throughout the film. According to my understanding of Burnett’s discussion, i gathered that he really did things for simple reasons, not looking to far into the meaning or correlation of scenes. It was quite surprising and almost disappointing to hear that much of what I liked was accidental genius, but I am beginning to be alright with it. All in all Killer of Sheep is a incredibly ground-breaking film that I absolutely recommend.

Journal

I will be following this journal: http://www.indiewire.com/

I was drawn in by the frequent articles that dive into the world of indie film. The video section is also extremely appealing as it has interviews, previews, and footage regarding indie film. The site is easy to navigate and has many different locations to look for substance. I will have a great time using this site this semester and thereafter.

 

Benjamin Fisher