Jørgen Leth – 66 Scenes from America (1981, 9.9MB, 4:16)

Pretty self-explanatory: Andy eats a burger.
Scene from controversial Danish filmmaker
Jørgen Leth’s 1981 composite film, 66 Scenes from America.

History of the Demonstrations (2012, 211MB, 15:53 min)

Cuka (2011, 35MB, 4:11 min)

A Statement by Luaty Beirão (2012, 34MB, 7:05 min)

Three connected movies, which connect in a very direct way with the world about us.
For the last couple of years, simultaneously with the ‘Arab spring’ there have been
a number of similar movements around the world where ordinary folk have stood up for
the right to free speech and the right to a decent life, mostly both.
This happened on a small scale in the Southern African country of Angola where the inheritors
of the magnificent struggle against imperialism in the 70s seem to have forgotten their roots,
perhaps lulled by power and the good life it can bring to a few. A small but dogged and effective
campaign for democracy and against corruption, poverty and police state begaviour sprang up amongst
young people there.
The first video is a documentary relating the beginning, growth of this movement and subsequent
attempted government repression.
( You can find some more info , from Human Rights Watch, here)
Our second video is a track by the Angolan rapper Luaty Beirão, better known as Ikonoklasta
which is a tremendously entertaining bit of agit-prop against the regime.
It clearly struck home because the Angolan security forces have attempted to frame Beirão by
secreting a substantial amount of cocaine in a bicycle wheel in his possession on a flight
from Angola to Portugal.
The third video is Luaty Beirão’s statement upon and account of these events.
Watch the videos and draw you own conclusions – I do not for a moment believe Beirão is guilty
of anything except bravery and standing up to oppression.

We’ll leave you with these videos for the summer a reminder there’s art and there’s life and there’s
not a lot of space between.

We’re going to take a break until mid September-ish when we’ll be back with mostly
art videos but anything else that amuses, inspires or outrages us.
If you have stuff you think we’d like, send us links – we look at everything we’re sent.
It remains only to wish you all a nice and relaxing summer if you can manage it.

Margarida Paiva – Untitled Stories (2007, 15.6MB, 2:49)

Excerpt from Margarida Paiva’s 11 minute Untitled Stories,
a video from 2007 about everyday stories, told through a broken
female monologue about memories.
Expertly layered and totally gorgeous.

Vera Brunner-Sung – untitled (2006, 2.5MB, 1:10)

Vera Brunner-Sung – Longshore (2004, 9.9MB, 4:34)

Two short films from Vera Brunner-Sung, made respectively
on 16mm and super 8, both exploring boundaries of privacy
and community, the understanding of memory and place.

Behold the Light (at Night) (2008, 87MB, 6:27 min)

We initially posted this in 2008 when we encountered Dan Osborne’s work
for the first time.
Recently he seems to be actively rejecting some of his earlier work so I hope
he doesn’t mind us reposting this. In my view he’s a very talented artist
with a quite singular vision.
We said then:

There’s something pleasantly reminiscent of Linklater’s Slacker
in this piece from Dan Osborne.
I don’t mean to suggest it’s derivative; I don’t think it is, or only
in the completely unescapable way of coming-after. This piece
has it’s own identity, which at first I wasn’t sure whether it was
completely random, but then little bits of structuring begin to
assert themselves. In particular I like the fades which occur
immediately prior to anything substantive happening.
A lot of it looks very good too – there’s no doubt the man
has an eye – the 3-D glasses sequence, the fire women,
the musical instruments procession (although am I alone in
finding something slighty snotty about the shot of the bemused onlookers?).
That little cavil aside this is interesting stuff & I look forward to seeing
how Osborne’s work develops.

The Delicate Museum – What Everyone Else Was Talking About (2006, 13MB, 1:21)

The Delicate Museum – A Suggestive Manifesto (2006, 9.7MB, 1:32)

Two more breaths of fresh air from 2006 and The Delicate Museum,
also known as Duncan, formerly of 29fragiledays.
Said before, I’ll say it again: such beauty in the small things.

Margaret (2008, 54.3MB, 5:44 min)

“This is a reoccurring dream. I shot this a few days back in Peg’s
wonderfully spacious apt. The music is originally by Michael Szpakowski
and was remixed by me for the video.”
Puzzling and mysterious video by Brian Gibson.

iua met I (2005, 60MB, 6:43 min.)

inside us all, winners of the 2005 diesel music VJ competition.

Bob’s Big Date (2008, 7 MB, 50 sec.)

“These are the adventures of a psychopath named Bob. Bob is not
a nice man; not even a little bit. This show is the video equivalent
of a Sunday comic strip.
Here Bob goes out on a date with Betty, perhaps the first woman
other than his mother to truly understand and appreciate him.”
From The AV Club.

Death Animations (2007, 22 MB, 2:58 min.)

“‘Death Animations’ by Brody Condon.
Closely linked to his past process of modification of existing computer games,
as well as performative events with medieval re-enactment and fantasy live
action role playing subcultures, the work is a re-creation in medieval fantasy
costume of Bruce Nauman