Description: "A disused gas station offers a curious imperative: "Save" A riddle posed in the form of architecture: what is there to save? One more installment in the history of Americans pointing their cameras at gas stations; an attempt to figure out something about where we've been, where we're headed, and what's been left behind."
EL DORADO (Brian Coffey, USA, 2006, 16mm)
IN AGOSTO (James Macgillivray, Italy/Canada, 2006, 16mm)
Description: "In Agosto is a Rome film. The title describes the state in which it was filmed. It's every sense of August and Rome that comprise the subject of the film, including "chiuso per ferie". I found out later that the camera I used to film it only works in extremely hot weather. If I want to use it in the winter, I have to put it in a 200 degree oven for a half hour beforehand. In Agosto is dedicated to for and from Vivian Lee."
TIE Review: "Macgillivray's formal training as an architect is immediately evident in his film that focuses on the glorious architectural splendor of Rome. The film begins with the filmmaker presenting two visions of the metropolis: the historical, and the contemporary. Paying homage to chronology, the film takes us from ancient Rome, via the ruins of the Colesseum, to Renaissance Rome, via Berninni's colonnade, to present-day Rome, which is depicted through a host of unassuming street scenes dotted with the local inhabitants. Surprisingly, the artist omits postmodern Rome, exemplified in Richard Meier's controversial new chapel.
"With the perfunctory contextualizing out of the way, Macgillivray's voice begins to emerge as the work unfolds. Formally, the articulation of the images at times seems capricious, and at other times it is clear that well thought out connections are being presented. The pacing in In Augusto transforms throughout the film. There is a clear arc from quiet more contemplative images of classical Roman architecture, to more chaotic visions that have an expressive feel.
"The film's real triumph lies in the heavily repeated image of different doorways in the city. The artist takes the subject beyond a mere compositional device to something with more profound implications. In a series of superimpositions, the doorway is transformed into a portal that allows us to view different events that appear to be taking place simultaneously. The result is magical.
"At the end of the film, it is clear that Macgillivray has guided us through a series of portals: a temporal one, beautifully provided by the historical legacy of the Roman architecture, a seasonal one, clearly marked by the doorway framed between the short nights of summer and the attenuated shadows of autumn, and a metaphysical one, most convincingly expressed in the artist's time-based medium." -Noah Manos, TIE
MARKET STREET (Tomonari Nishikawa, USA, 2005, 16mm)
TIE Review: "In a classic modernist mode, Market Street constructs a portrait of a place through a collection of fragments. At its core, the film employs a number of structural strategies that give it a well-crafted sensibility. The work isolates iconographic likeness, where buildings are piled on buildings, signage on signage, flora on flora. The effect is visually entrancing, and formally rigorous. Mishikawa's exploration continues with a deconstructionists approach to presenting his imagery. Whole images are broken into pairs, then quadrants. Images are scrolled left to right, then rotated clockwise and counterclockwise. Mishikawa then abandons a rectangular format all together, and triangular formations emerge. The high contrast film stock imbues the work with a stark elegance mirrored in the artist's primary focus on architectural elements." -Noah Manos, TIE
MA:SPACE/TIME IN THE GARDEN OF RYOAN-JI (Takahiko IImura, Japan, 1989, 16mm)
Description: The early sixteenth-century Japanese garden in the Zen temple of Ryoan-ji, in Kyoto, is considered a masterpiece of the karesansui or "dry landscape" style...In this film, the viewer is invited to experience the garden as an embodiment of ma, a Japanese concept that conveys both time and space...The aesthetic of the film is the message, it has the quality of an experimental film, a conceptual film-an artwork in itself. Good balance of music/visuals/titles. If not as compelling for some viewers as for others, still rated as very effective.