Research Catalog

Title

Best of the fests: 1988 [videorecording]

Publication

Chicago : Picture Start, 1991.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Finerty, Tom.
• Bond, Rose.
• Allen, John.
• Lyons, Jonathan.
• Pies, Dennis.
• Mitchell, William.
• Kent, William.
• Vander Meer, Steven.

Description

1 videocassette (90 min.) : sd., col.; 1/2 in.

Summary

1) Arcata Brain Closet (Steven Vander Meer, 9 min., color, 1988) 26 films in one, this short explores and elaborates on ideas that begin with each letter of the alphabet. Vander Meer's genial, low-key wit puts an offhand spin to his selections. Images recur from letter to letter, especially a group of "red ants from Mars" and a large green prehistoric bird. The film takes its name from the California town where it was made and where its maker attended Humboldt State University. 2) A Slice of life (William Kent, 5 min., color, 1988) A black comedy dealing with oedipal conflicts, burning hot pizza and disfigurement. A tracking camera reveals a sleeping man. In a period-piece dream (of his own childhood?) we see a young woman with a baby carriage and an older, heavy-set man with a cigar. When the carriage rolls down a staircase toward the man, his bulk fortunately stops it and saves the baby. Later, they meet again at a pizza parlor, where hot cheese from the slice he orders inadvertently slides in slow motion onto the baby. The dreamer awakens with a start revealing a face marred by burn scars. 3) Sky heart (Dennis Pies, 3 min., color, 1988) Pies' short work is packed with image transformations and suggests a sort of cosmic heart, floating in the heavens, beating and changing form simultaneously. Abstractly animated with pencil, pastel colors, and an airbrush, and shot using a multi-plane, Sky heart presents the great force of the goddess as seen in the power of a thunderstorm. 4) The Early worm (Jonathan Lyons, 3 min., color, 1988) A line-animated film featuring a cast of worried worms and divebombing birds who all have classic cartoon-character voices. 5) Anna Spilt the oil (John Allen, 12 min., blue-tint, 1987) "An intriguing existential story about a man and woman who never meet but are on a collision course with fate and each other. She buys oil and unknowingly spills it on the sidewalk; he slips on the oil and falls into a sewer. Fortunately, there are no casualties..." 6) The Mother art (Richard Mortillaro, 22 min., color, 1988) The age-old craft of the tatoo artist is brought to life through San Francisco's Lyle Tuttle, tatooer and founder of the Tatoo Museum. This amusing film includes divergent reactions from interviewees, sights from grotesque to funny, and excerpts from anthropological documentaries. 7) Cerridwen's gift (Rose Bond, 10 min., color, 1986) Rose Bond employs the technique of "cameraless animation" drawing and painting directly on 35 mm. in this film about Cerridwen, the figure in Celtic mythology, from whose "cauldron of inspiration," poetry was born. 8) Trust me (Tom Finerty, 18 min., color, 1988) Written by and featuring Chicago-based performance artist James Grigsby, the film is an ironic, sometimes light-hearted look at the serious subject of our own mortality. The carnival huckster/pied piper played by Grigsby has the somewhat privileged position of a court jester in our midst, able to pose questions that others avoid. He tries to convince a hall of bingo-playing women in outlandish hats that he can teach them to predict the future. 9) Zebu (William Mitchell, 8 min., color, 1987)Time-lapse cinematography makes visible a spectacular play of light of which we are ordinarily unaware. Stars whirl across the screen, fixed in precise orbits on the celestial wheel. Faint traces of light permeate the darkness, captured by the sensitive film. The film also shows the light newly created by mankind, and how the light of civilization affects the night.

Alternative Title

• Arcata brain closet.
• A Slice of life.
• Sky heart.
• Early worm.
• Anna Spilt the oil.
• Mother art.
• Cerridwen's gift.
• Trust me.
• Zebu.

Subjects

• Animated films
• Experimental films

Credits (note)

• Directors, Steven Vander Meer, William Kent, Dennis Pies, Jonathan Lyons, John Allen, Richard Motillaro, Rose Bond, Tom Finerty, William Mitchell.

Contents

Arcata brain closet -- A slice of life -- Sky heart -- The early worm -- Anna spilt the oil -- The mother art -- Cerridwen's gift -- Trust me -- Zebu.

Title

Best of the fests: 1988 [videorecording]

Imprint

Chicago : Picture Start, 1991.

Credits

Directors, Steven Vander Meer, William Kent, Dennis Pies, Jonathan Lyons, John Allen, Richard Motillaro, Rose Bond, Tom Finerty, William Mitchell.

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Request Access to Reserve Film and Video Collection Special Collections material

Added Author

Finerty, Tom.

Bond, Rose.

Allen, John.

Lyons, Jonathan.

Pies, Dennis.

Mitchell, William.

Kent, William.

Vander Meer, Steven.

Added Title

Arcata brain closet.

A Slice of life.

Sky heart.

Early worm.

Anna Spilt the oil.

Mother art.

Cerridwen's gift.

Trust me.

Zebu.

Branch Call Number

VTH 1876 B