‘The streets are full of admirable craftsmen, but so few practical dreamers.’ – Man Ray
Mike Hoolboom, one of Canada’s finest and most prolific experimental filmmakers and writers is here for a two day visit: To launch his new book PRACTICAL DREAMERS: CONVERSATIONS WITH MOVIE ARTISTS and to introduce the works of John Price and Jayce Salloum in our CINEMA LOUNGE series. Taking its title from Man Ray, Practical Dreamers comprises 27 conversations between the author (a respected veteran filmmaker himself) and Canadian fringe film and video artists (including Kent Monkman, Daniel Barrow, Jeff Erbach, Donigan Cumming, Steve Reinke, Peter Mettler amongst many). Hoolboom explores the subject of how and why they put their thoughts and dreams into moving pictures.
Books will be available for sale after the screening which features films from artists included in the book including Jeff Erbach’s UNDER CHAD VALLEY and Daniel Barrow’s BLACK HEART DESIRE. Mike also recently published a new book on Steve Reinke, THE STEVE MACHINE, (who attended the WNDX FESTIVAL in 2007). Mike’s new website can be found at www.mikehoolboom.com
Film Screening:
UNDER CHAD VALLEY
Dir. Jeff Erbach | Canada | 8:30 mins. | 1998 |
There used to be an underground reserved for movies like this, with its wordless butchers and allmeat décor. Photographed with all the luxury of a big car feel, this beautiful jewel of a film threatens at every moment to burst out into the story of my life, before retreating back into its secret codes.
BLACK HEART’S DESIRE
Dir. Daniel Barrow | Canada | 5 mins. | 1995 |
“In my thesis year I asked everyone I knew to draw a picture of me picking a rose from a bush, especially those with naïve rendering skills. This was in the early 90s and the burgeoning of “tard art.” I animated these drawings in Black Hearts Desire.” (Daniel Barrow)
LIVE TO TELL
Dir. Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay | Canada | 6 min. |
2002
This artist had two perfect years and has been working to relearn the stroke ever since. Here he channels Madonna into a multi-screen surveillance video, casually janitor dancing in between a capella turns.The singing is so beautiful, so calculatingly offhand, so heartfelt in an emo, shoegazy sort of way, that even Madonna didn’t have the heart to sue him.
SEA IN THE BLOOD
Dir. Richard Fung | Canada | 26 min. | 2001
The unlikeliest diary maker of the fringe returns with a movie that raised the stakes for video art in this country. Not only is this the most personal work the artist has ever convened, it is also his most urgent, lyrical and lush.
