[Frameworks] Magic Lantern Presents: EXPERIMENTAL GOTHIC (October 29 & 30, 2013)

Tue Oct 22 18:16:20 UTC 2013

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M a g i c  L a n t e r n  C i n e m a  P r e s e n t s:

*EXPERIMENTAL GOTHIC*

Curated by Seth Watter

A special event in two parts

October 29 & 30, 2013

A cold dungeon crawling with vermin, statues or portraits endowed with a
mysterious life, a ruined castle or estate, instruments of torture left
over from the Inquisition, sadistic criminals marked by peculiar
deformities, incestuous or forbidden desire and mad pacts with the forces
of evil—these are the tropes we associate with Gothic fiction, and it is no
secret that the classic tale of terror has provided some of the richest
material for film narrative and aesthetics. What is perhaps less often
remarked is the Gothic’s enduring presence in the world of experimental
film, with all its possibilities of visual distortion and atmospheric
intensity. The image of the monster is the most visible sign of horror, but
in its very obviousness tends to mask the actual workings of desire and
dread, the sensation of tunneling through an endless corridor, that cinema
so vividly dramatizes. The various short works featured in these programs
display the hallmarks of Gothic style, charting an underappreciated strain
in the history of avant-garde cinema.

Night one will showcase the films of *Peggy Ahwesh*, and will take place at
AS220’s Black Box Theater. The second program, *“Romantic Agonies,”* will
screen at the Cable Car Cinema and will feature works by Andy Moore, Stan
Brakhage, Lloyd Williams, Patrick Bokanowski, Kayla Parker, Mark Abramson,
Sarah Pucill, and Larry Jordan.

https://www.facebook.com/events/398115910314578/

http://www.magiclanterncinema.com/

*PART ONE: FOUR FILMS BY PEGGY AHWESH*

October 29, 2013 • Black Box Theater @ AS220

Providence, RI • 8 PM • $5

A trilogy of lust, murder and other transgressions by one of America’s
darkest talents, with a bonus short featuring little girls in monster
costumes.

*The Deadman*, 1989. 16mm, b&w, sound. 40 mins.

"THE DEADMAN charts the adventures of a nearly naked heroine who leaves the
corpse of her dead lover in a country house, goes to a bar and sets in
motion a scabrous free-form orgy before returning to her house to die. The
film manages to approximate the transgressive poetic prose of Bataille (a
mixture of elegance, raunchy defilement and barbaric splendor) while
celebrating female sexual desire without the usual patriarchal-porn
trimmings" (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader).

*The Color of Love*, 1994. 16mm, color, sound. 10 mins.

"The last word in ready-mades, Peggy Ahwesh's THE COLOR OF LOVE ... is a
slightly slo-mo, optical reprint of an obviously ill-treated '70s porn
movie in which the chemical rot that's already eaten away the edges of the
image threaten to censor it entirely. ... An ur-text for Ahwesh's work, THE
COLOR OF LOVE is an almost Rose Hobart for the '90s" (Amy Taubin, Village
Voice).

*Nocturne*, 1998. 16mm, b&w, sound. 30 mins.

"A psychological horror film based on fear, disquietude and the
anticipation of violence ... among the shadows of the night and the lurid
dreams of the imagination, with no clear division between fact and
hallucination, between life and death, between dread and desire. Combines
plot elements culled from Italian horror films and texts from Acker,
Shaviro and de Sade" (Canyon Cinema).

*The Scary Movie*, 1993, 16mm, sound, 9 mins.

“Ahwesh's two young actresses, Martina and Sonja, cross-dress in vampire
capes and werewolf claws, re-enacting familiar horror tropes. A roughly
corresponding soundtrack of stock screams and "scary" music suggests that
the girls' toying with gender roles and power dynamics may have dire
consequences” (EAI).

***

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*PART TWO: ROMANTIC AGONIES*

October 30, 2013 • Cable Car Cinema & Café

Providence, RI • 8 PM • $5

Frights, blights, and things that go bump in the night. Films with the
visual logic of a nightmare, fever dreams of desire and despair. Good to
watch right before bedtime.

*Histrionic Response Section*, Andy Moore, 1983, 16mm, b&w/sound, 2 mins.

“I heard some old pipe organ music which suggested "desperate fear" to me,
and I envisioned a relentless series of faces looking terrified, as if they
were in a horror movie and had just seen some terrible monster. I had about
50 people do two things for the camera: act horrified, and act relaxed and
blissful. The resulting footage was edited to conform to that particular
piece of organ music which is heard on the soundtrack. At once terrifying
and comical” (AM).

*Desistfilm*, Stan Brakhage, 1954, 16mm, b&w/sound, 7 mins.

“Internationally acclaimed as the classic of its genre. The camera joins a
drunken adolescent party and participates in the expression of desire and
frustration” (Canyon Cinema). “The best film in the 1950s; breathtaking
camera work; entire cinematic conception and execution is brilliant”
(Willard Maas).

*Ursula*, Lloyd Williams, 1962, 16mm, color/sound, 12 mins.

Gold Medallion, Best Scripted Film Cannes, Best Special Effects for
Sustained Horror, 1961. “URSULA (based on the story ‘Miss Gentilbelle’ by
Charles Beaumont) involves the mental decay of a small child at the hands
of her domineering and cruel mother. The fact the child is presented to us
as a young girl but is actually played by a little boy (Calvin Waters)
really opens this up to multiple interpretations, whether that was intended
or not… The mother (Dorothea Griffin) chastises her child for ripping her
dress and doesn't think she should be playing outside or getting dirty, and
goes as far as killing her daughter/son's pet bird. The child eventually
either murders her mother or just fantasizes about doing so. Throughout,
experimental techniques are used to illustrate the child's inner turmoil;
overlapping shots of trees, the house, the moon and water, as well as
distorted or echoing voices” (The Bloody Pit of Horror).

*A Woman Powdering Herself*, Patrick Bokanowski, 1972, 16mm, b&w/sound, 18
mins.

“But whatever one wants to analyze or not analyze in this film, it is a
work which disturbs one deeply… One notices these briefly passing creatures
(one of which is, yes, a woman powdering herself) slowly and deliberately
undertaking acts you don't quite understand, but which are clearly of a
ghastly nature (perhaps a murder?); one watches two 'real' characters
suddenly change into ink spots while a bombardment of drawn or painted
meteorites explodes on what might be the 'earth'; one looks at somebody
pouring coffee into a full cup which then overflows into an endlessly dark
and ink-like trail; at which point you say to yourself that what is going
on here, in this black and upsetting film, has the logic of a nightmare”
(Dominique Noguez).

*Looks Familiar*, Kayla Parker, 1989, 16mm, color/sound, 3 mins.

“Playful choreography between the 16mm Bolex clockwork camera, the subjects
it sees, and the looks it receives in response to its gaze: frames of
kittens and cats, the flickering face of a Hallowe’en pumpkin, spooky
ghosts, a dead badger, a faux fur stole, and flowers in people’s gardens,
are edited, engraved and hand-tinted to a rhythmic psychedelic intensity,
accompanied by improvised music recorded live to the projected film at
Spacex art gallery in Exeter” (KP).

*Shoot the Actor*, Mark Abramson, 1967, 16mm, b&w/sound, 18 mins.

“The film begins in the cluttered apartment of an unemployed actor, We
become familiar with his way of life and routine. As he carries out his
daily tasks, he becomes aware of an unknown threat. We watch as a stranger
follows him and makes his presence known in increasingly disturbing ways.
The more the actor tries to elude the danger, the more persistent the
stranger becomes. As the film progresses, we become involved in the
horror-fantasy that is his constant companion. The stranger silently
confronts him in the subway and in the streets; becomes a terrifying
opponent in a fencing match and eventually traps him in this apartment…”
(Film-makers Coop).

*Swollen Stigma*, Sarah Pucill, 1998, 16mm, color/sound, 21 mins.

“SWOLLEN STIGMA nourishes the fantasy of its protagonist’s inner life and
proposes a lesbian imaginary which takes leap into risk and displacement.
The film opens with an entranced seated woman working her fingers through a
single strand of hair and proceeds to explore her lived imaginary in which
desire and fear interlace. She re-visions different moments in time which
are haunted by an absent lover. Like a playful fairy princess, this lover
appears upside down in an armchair, hanging legs-down from the ceiling,
playing dead on the floor, or eating roses; her body continuously permeates
the woman’s reality. The film’s shifting points of view jump between the
protagonist, fantasy spaces and her lover, making an internal world leak
into what is external with the fluidity of blood into water” (SP).

*Once Upon a Time*, Larry Jordan, 1974, 16mm, color/sound, 12 mins.

“In many ways a more searching, and certainly a more complex film than OUR
LADY OF THE SPHERE. We are first presented a cobweb castle, filled with the
haunting doubts of the young protagonist. Spirits appear on the screen and
are heard on the soundtrack. Gradually a female guide emerges and escorts
the young man into an antechamber to another (and possibly higher) world”
(LJ). “Pulsating lights, undulating objects, combined with a rich and full
color sense” (Donald Miller, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

** Magic Lantern is supported by the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and the
Malcolm S. Forbes Center for Culture and Media Studies at Brown University.
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