Media Arts Preview: The Original Tron, Experimental Work & More
This week's line-up of films and videos around town includes a dazzling array of experimental work from the past, from two Catherine Deneuve masterpieces, and the rarely screened avant-garde masterpiece Hart of London.
Thursday, March 3
LA-based experimental filmmaker William E. Jones will present a selection of his work, including the acclaimed 1998 video The Fall of Communism as Seen in Gay Pornography and several new pieces, which the filmmaker describes as "digital files." Overall, the program "combines a variety of pieces that use reappropriation to excavate lost historical narratives and negotiate the intersections between visibility, eroticism and control." The show is part of USC's Cinematheque 108 series, and takes place in SCA 108 in the School of Cinematic Arts at USC.
Friday, March 4
LACMA presents a delicious weekend series titled Beautiful Dreamer: The Early Films of Catherine Deneuve. Tonight's show kicks off with Belle de Jour, directed by Luis Buñuel, at 7:30, and the horrific Repulsion, directed by Roman Polanski, at 9:20, and continues next weekend as well. However, one of the highlights is a preview screening of Potiche, which stars Deneuve in a comedy by François Ozon at 7:30. Deneuve will speak after the screening.
Saturday, March 5
The original TRON, dubbed "a machine to dazzle and delight us" by Roger Ebert, screens tonight at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, with a panel discussion with writer-director Steven Lisberger and members of the visual effects team.Sunday, March 6
Filmforum will present the extraordinary film Hart of London by Jack Chambers tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Echo Park Film Center. The 79-minute experimental film is based on a real event in which a deer was captured and killed in London, Ontario. Chambers reworks the material, though, and it becomes a broader commentary on contemporary culture, both scathing and elegiac.
Tuesday, March 8
REDCAT presents The Birdwoman and Her Dreams: Animated Works by Nancy Andrewsat 8:30 p.m. The work is characterized as "a hybrid form that combines research with storytelling, documentary, puppetry and vaudeville."
Thursday, March 10
LA-based artists and filmmakers Sharon Lockhart and Charlie White are provocatively paired in a screening at USC tonight that includes Lockhart's Podworka and White's American Minor. Both films are contemplative studies that use framing and duration as modes for contemplative reflection. The screening is titled Suburban/Structure: Films by Sharon Lockhart and Charlie White and starts at 7:00 p.m. in the School of Cinematic Arts, room 108.