[Frameworks] Millennium Film Workshop - past, present, and future

[Amanda Christie]

Hello fellow Frameworkers!

so, as many of you probably saw, there were a few heated threads about the state of MFW flying around.

I sat back and read those threads quietly without commenting, and I will admit, they kind of scared the shit out of me and made me quite nervous, knowing that I was about to be walking into a certain unknown.  

You see, last spring, I received an invitation to screen my films at MFW.  The arts board in NB, where I'm from, has a residency funding program for any residency of at least 30 days, and so MFW also invited me to come for a 30 day residency.  I used that letter of invitation from MFW to apply for funding to cover my cost of living for one month in Brooklyn (apartment, studio, food, transportation, etc).  I knew that MFW was on a tight budget (from having seen their "Take a Turn for Millennium" campaign), so this seemed like this was a win-win situation... The invitation they gave me, enabled me to get funding to spend a month in NYC, and the funding I got, enabled them to have me as an artist in residence at no cost to them... win-win for both of us!.... 

However, after all of this was in place... that was when a lot of the intensely heated email threads about MFW on Frameworks started flying around... and I sat back reading them... wondering... what am I walking into?  

I contacted MFW and was told that yes indeed, they had lost their space, equipment was in storage, new bylaws were being drawn, a board election was coming soon, and the director was stepping down.... but the history of artist run centres and cooperatives is always filled with tales of crisis and transition like this (it's more a question of "when" rather than "if") ... who knows how this will all turn out... so here I am, at MFW for the month,  and I want to make the best of this for myself, but I also want to contribute something to them during this transitional phase, and that's why I'm sharing this with you all.

Transition happens.  

Artist run centres and co-ops are like human bodies... organizations are like organisms.  As they age, sometimes there are illnesses, and injuries... sometimes they die... sometimes they go through a crisis, and pull through and survive.  I think that MFW is definitely in a crisis point right now.  Will it die, or will it survive?  I don't know.  It could go either way.  Certainly some people from the Frameworks listserv are ready to put nails in the coffin.  I would like to check it's vital signs first.  

So, as a part of my residency while I am here... (I arrived a few days ago)... I will be working on my own films and screening some of my work... but I will also be performing a "listening tour".... (consulting and arts-administration-as-relational-aesthetic-performance-art if you will).... 

For my listening tour... I would like to meet with as many people from the NYC experimental film community as possible... members and non-members of Millennium... supporters and dissenters alike.... filmmakers and organizations... I want to sit down, face to face... and listen to stories about the past of MFW and it's present.  I want to research the NYC film ecology... where is there collaboration?  where is there tension?  where is there redundancy?  what are the needs of the community?  I will take this feedback, and synthesize it consolidate it into two things:  1)  a formal report on the current state of MFW with a list of recommendations and a strategic plan for moving forward into the new millennium... 2) a Millennium Film Notebook: an artbook or zine filled with the notes, maps, timelines, lists, diagrams, and charts that I make during this trip and my meetings.

So yes.. I've landed in a  very strange situation, but I am hopeful and optimistic.  

I know some of you have very strong opinions... if you are in NYC and willing to sit down with me face to face... let me know.  I would like to listen to all you have to say about MFW.
I have an end date... I leave the city on Nov. 29... but between now and then... let me know if you would like to meet up.
Here is more formal info on my residency and events at MFW: http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=126cc2ed910664cb82b20c193&id=46e8a8d9c9&e=abee01711e

also, as a part of the residency, I'm screening my super 8, 16mm, and expanded cinema performances at Spectacle Theatre this Wednesday Nov. 4... and I'm also screening a work in progress version of Spectres of Shortwave at Brooklyn Fire Proof on Nov. 19.

Let me know if any of you want to meet up while I am in town... (even if you don't want to talk about MFW... it would still be great to just meet some fellow filmmakers while I'm in the city).


Times of transition are sometimes the most exciting times... 
the possibility of failure and demise... 
but also so many other possibilities of transformation, growth, renewal, and new directions... 
the possibilities are endless.



Amanda Dawn Christie
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506-871-2062
www.amandadawnchristie.ca
amanda at amandadawnchristie.ca
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