In an effort to get back to our experimental roots. We at the Cinemaker Co-op and the Austin School of Film plan to highlight the avant-garde work of our students and instructors as well as other artists across Austin.
Today's post comes from ASoF student and staff member Faiza Karcheni. Faiza was a TA for the Avant-Garde class and created her film Runt as an exploration of her interest in examining and "almost making a mockery of the acceptable rituals humans perform in every day life." In her film, she describes how, "you see this gritty scratched black and white film rolling with a man dressed in all black performing some sort of ritual and it somehow injects fear or confusion into the viewer without any knowledge or dialogue as to what the man is doing and why. It’s interesting to think about, how images as simple as these set in the right mood can completely transform someone’s thought process from good to evil."
Faiza's film was inspired by her interest in the weird subcultures,taboos,and religions that exist in society and a major influence on the aesthetic of film is the occult. It is thought provoking and evocative of a powerful mood and tone. She likes working with Super 8, because she finds the cameras to be inexpensive, portable, and to have a lot of room for experimentation,"with Super 8, although you know what you are shooting, you don’t really know prior to processing how it will look. In the eyes of a conventional filmmakers what is viewed as a terrible mistake, is embraced in the eyes of an Avant-Garde filmmaker." Faiza's film will be screened this Saturday August 28 at 8:30pm along with other ASoF student work at the Friendly But Starving III Avant-Garde and Experimental Film Screening. The public is invited to attend, check out www.austinfilmschool.org for more information.
Our next posting of student work comes from Noah Bisset. Noah is a sophomore at the Griffin School, and has been taking classes at ASoF for several years. He created the work below as a part of our avant-garde and experimental film class.
In his thought provoking film, $15HR Noah tried to express his fears and anxieties about becoming an office worker, "I don't think I could stand working a desk job for the rest of my life. I showed life working in a cubicle and life in an insane asylum, both of which are equally frightening to me." Noah's film challenges the audience and takes them on an interesting and haunting journey.
Noah says that, "One of the reasons I like avant-garde film making is shooting on Super-8 film, which is more of an experience than point-and-shoot cameras. Avant-garde cinema interests me because it's so artistic and different, unlike most mainstream films coming out today, which seem to be mostly repackaged jokes accompanied by uninteresting footage." $15HR is an original and well crafted film, and could never be considered uninteresting. We're grateful to Noah for sharing his work and proud to have him be a part of ASoF.
This is the inaugural posting of the Avant-Garde in Austin blog! We're so excited to have the chance to showcase the amazing work our students, instructors, and local artists are creating.
Our first posting is a short film by Roger Gordon, a student at ASoF. Roger's film Moving is visually dramatic, thought provoking, and very much reminiscent of one of the early pioneers of avant-garde cinema, Maya Deren. We're proud of Roger and we're looking forward to seeing more of his experimental work.
Roger created Moving for the avant-garde/experimental film class and was interested in recreating the dream experience. He says that most of his dreams are related to moving and changing residence, as a child his family moved quite frequently and he attended eleven schools from grades K-12. Roger continues that pattern in his adult life, "I've moved at a rate that might be considered more normal for a young adult, but seven years ago I married a woman, I like to describe as a "tumbleweed"; she continually needs to change her surroundings. My adult moves, as a result, have become more dramatic, involving multiple states and countries."
He goes on further to explain that, "though I have a moderate desire for adventure, and an aversion to routine, I've long craved stability in a home and tribe of friends concentrated near me. In the dream, I plead to my mother to protect me from these anxiety causing moves, but she directs me to my wife who is now the inspiration, and in the end, I plead to myself, the one truly empowered to accomplish stillness in both location and mind.".
Though his sensibilities lie more toward traditional narrative Roger says he is not done exploring his avant-garde side.
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