Standard Operating Procedure


Errol Morris – Standard Operating Procedure (2008, 11.2MB, 2:00)

We don’t hide our love for Errol Morris – see here
and here – but there’s no need for us to apologize.
The man is a genius. His latest feature, Standard
Operating Procedure
, interviews Abu Ghraib prison
guards and tells the story behind the now-infamous
photographs of abuse from the prison, uncovered in
2003. Dubbed a “nonfiction horror film” by Morris,
this investigative film, much like A Thin Blue Line,
helped Morris once again dig deeper into a crime
file, this one just more contemporary.

When you see a picture, you don’t see outside the frame.

With the frightening pictures as a jumping off point,
Morris interviews those involved with the scandal to
get the whole story.
Can’t wait to see this one.

Bruno Moyni

Anne Marie
Anne Marie (2007, 11.6MB, 1:41 min)

Tong
Tong (2007, 12.5MB, 1:49 min)

Si quelqu

Paris 1983


Iris Piers – Paris 1983 (2005, 33.3MB, 2:39)

8mm film of her parents in Paris from 1983,
reedited by Iris Piers, who was in utero at the time.
Music by Vincent Delerm.
via [PAM]

Meshes of the Afternoon


Maya Deren – Meshes of the Afternoon (1943, 99.4MB, 13:30)

A fabulous old film about the subconscious and
the psychology of film noir,
Deren’s first major avant-garde work, a seminal piece,
made with her collaborator (and later husband)
Alexander (Hackenschmied) Hammid.
Originally a silent film without dialog,
music was composed for the piece
in 1959 by Deren’s third husband Teiji Ito.

Eyes on the Fair Use of the Prize


Eyes on the Fair Use of the Prize (2006, 20.9MB, 2:19)

Another important, striking piece from the
Media That Matters Film Festival 6.
The filmmaker, Jacob Caggiano, is a young man who I
believe is even younger than me, and according to him,
the whole short film came together at the last minute.
I think this is a beautiful effort.

Asparagus! (A Stalk-umentary)


Asparagus! (A Stalk-umentary) – (2006, 65.8MB, 6:05)

From the excellent Media That Matters, powered by Arts Engine,
a short film from the Media Matters Film Festival 6.
Submissions are soon due for the 8th annual online festival.
Since I saw much of 6 on the big screen last year,
I’m reposting some of the most striking pieces.
All pieces are made by youth or other independent producers,
all under eight minutes.
This stalkumentary is also a 72-minute documentary,
cut down here to reach a wider audience.
Stories like these make so much sense to me,
being from a similar area, similar background.
Poignantly done, this is a lovely piece.
I also happen to really like asparagus.

Resexed Pistols – Antonio Mendoza

Resexed Pistols
Resexed Pistols (2006, 6.4MB, 2:06 min)

“another remix of the sex pistols piece you posted a while ago..
i had been working on it awhile ago then i went on vacation… and when
i saw the valdez piece, i felt someone had been searching my harddrive.
then i saw the piece (which is great) and realized that they’re quite
different, even though they tread in the same arena… i don’t know why so many
of us have been attracted to redoing the same clip (remember jimpunk did
another remix), but here is my mine.”

from Antonio Mendoza – Mr. Tamale.

Aaron Valdez – Anarchy Delayed

Anarchy (Slight Delay)
Anarchy (Slight Delay) (2006, 17.8MB, 3:23 min.)

In which Aaron Valdez takes the Sex Pistols vid from
these very pages and..er..does stuff to it.
Explains Aaron:
‘This is the second entry in a study (or me messing around) with audio
and video delay. I did a Bob Dylan one way back. Nothing new but
interesting nonetheless. I made three tracks of video each offset by
6 frames then I cut out three frames alternating between those three
tracks. It

Sex Pistols – Anarchy in the UK

sex pistols
Anarchy in the UK (1976, 18MB, 3:32 min)

The Sex Pistols performing Anarchy in the UK in 1976
on the Granada TV show ‘So It Goes’.
From Bedazzled

PS In case you missed it first time round check this out too 🙂

Body of War


Body of War (2007, 16.8MB, 2:30)

Trailer for the forthcoming documentary about
paralyzed Iraqi veteran Tomas Young’s fight to tell
the truth about the war.
Sad and informative, not to be missed.
Produced by Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue,
original music by Eddie Vedder.

Mohammed Rafi – Jaan Pehechan Ho

jan pehechaan
Jaan Pehechan Ho (1966, 55.4MB, 5:33 min)

Clip from the 1966 film Gumnaam sung by
Bollywood legend Mohammed Rafi, which you might
recognise from the opening sequence of Ghost World.
There’s the full lyrics & several translations here.
From WFMU’s Beware of the Blog

Evolution of Communication from Adobe Systems

evolution_of_communication
Evolution of Communication (2006, 15MB, 6:50 min.)

“Adobe Systems commissioned eMotion studios to create a film depicting the ‘Evolution of Communication’.
Various luminaries such as Doug Englebart (inventor of the mouse) and Martin Cooper
(inventor of the cell phone) helped tell the story of how communication has changed
and transformed over the past two decades. The film supported Adobe’s CEO Bruce Chizen
in a recent keynote address.
The production follows the arc of human communication from the moment when we are able
to discern shapes and sounds to the point of complex interactions as adults. The story
leads to a hint of where we are heading in the future, and to Adobe’s commitment to
facilitate personal and human communication and connection.”

From eMotion studios

What Would Jesus Buy?

Trailer for ,
a documentary about Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping,
produced by Morgan Spurlock.
I’m not convinced that Spurlock is the man to spread a good message,
but I sure would go to any church where Rev. Billy showed up.
DRIVE THE DEMONS OUT OF THOSE CASH REGISTERS!!

3 Beautiful Lumières

Squirrel
Squirrel (2007, 6.8MB, 47 secs)

[ by Andreas Haugstrup Pedersen ]

bubbles
Bubble machine (2007, 8.93MB, 57 secs)

[ by Brittany Shoot ]

hubertus
the hubertus hunt 2007 (2007, 4.92MB, 41 secs)

[ by Sam Renseiw ]

Andreas & Brittany’s Lumièree project has been brilliant in so many respects.
Firstly, it has engaged a load of people in making stuff.
Secondly, it has been a huge kick in the arse in terms of reflecting on what one
is doing when one is making video. It has sharpened all our eyes.
(And, curiously, speaking personally, my ears too. I think a lot harder about what
I want sound to do having now forsworn it on 25 or so occasions)
Lastly, there’s been some really great work come out of it.
Here’s one each from Andreas and Brittany and one from the frontrunner
in the productivity stakes (but not simply that – what an eye!) Sam Renseiw.

The assassination of John F. Kennedy

kennedy assassination
Kennedy Assassination (1963, 300k, 28 sec.)

“The assassination of John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the
United States, took place on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas,
at 12:30 p.m. CST (18:30 UTC).
John F. Kennedy was fatally wounded by gunshots while riding with his wife
Jacqueline in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza.
The assassination is still the subject of widespread speculation and has spawned
numerous conspiracy theories.”
– from wikipedia.

Close-up, extract from the Zapruder Film.

The Ties That Bind – Su Friedrich

Friedrich
Su Friedrich – The Ties That Bind (1984, 14.2MB, 4:03)

From the classic avant-garde filmmaker; a found-footage,
personal and historical documentary reflection on wartime
and Friedrich’s mother’s coming of age in Nazi Germany,
presented here during yet another period of unrest
in our uncertain world.

Jaygo Bloom – O:.O:.O:.

ooo
O:.O:.O:.(2007, 47.3MB, 59 sec loop)

Quite extraordinary dance video from Jaygo Bloom.
What I love about it is the wonderfully insouciant way
it both references and evokes early modernism
(Calder is cited as a source/inspiration by Bloom) but is also
(and could not be other than) utterly contemporary.
Great! So great it makes me totally jealous!

Camera: Patrick Jamieson and Anna Druka
Music: Hammerschmidt

Philip Thomas plays Morton Feldman’s Vertical Thoughts 4

Vertical Thoughts 4
Vertical Thoughts 4 (2002, 7.7MB, 3:22 min.)

All we composers really have to work with is time and sound
– and sometimes I’m not even sure about sound.

Morton Feldman.

The pianist is Philip Thomas.
Found in Misha David’s excellent collection of
new music performance videos.
While you’re there check out the rest of his site -he has some
great photographic work archived there too.

The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema

The Pervert
The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema -Trailer (2007, 8.97MB, 1:06 min.)

Slavoj Žižek, philosophy’s PT Barnum, struts his stuff
con shed-loads of brio in this Sophie Fiennes directed opus.
Doesn’t seem to be much genuinely new (the terrible fate of
the celebrity academic being to be lionised for what we already
know
they’re going to do/say) but still vastly entertaining.

Smolarski/Langager – <em>Robert Roth's 'Health Proxy'</em>

Robert Roth
Readings from ‘Health Proxy’ (2007, 32.7MB, 8:19 min.)

So..declaration of interest..Robert Roth is a friend of mine & I get mentioned in the book.
Nonetheless, if he was my worst enemy, I’d still say watch this, then .
Health Proxy is pretty much sui generis..the only comparisons I can think of being those fragmentary, diaristic things in the Japanese tradition:The Pillow Book or Essays in Idleness.
Of course Kenko & Sei Shonagon never wrote about baseball or AIDS,
nor were they animated by the massively warm oppositional & radical spirit we find here.
The video is a nice job too – not only is it elegantly made, but Langager and Smolarski
pass the documentary acid test of honouring their subject matter whilst still creating
something with a palpable sense of their authorship.

László Moholy-Nagy

moholy_nagy
Lichtspiel Schwarz, Weiss, Grau (clip) (1932, 12MB, 1:39 min.)

“Lichtspiel Schwarz, Weiss, Grau”, a doc concerning Moholy-Nagy’s kinetic sculpture,
the Light Space-Modulator. Moholy-Nagy believed the motion picture played a significant
role as both art & investigative tool.
‘Painting, photography, and film are parts of one problem although their techniques
may be entirely different. They belong to the same realm; that is, to visual expression,
where cross-fertilizations are possible.’

László Moholy-Nagy

Edward Hopper at the National Gallery of Art

edward_hooper
Edward Hopper at NGA (2007, 37MB, 3:36 min.)

In conjunction with the exhibition Edward Hopper, the National Gallery of Art
has released a new video podcast about the artist and his work and influence.
Narrated by actor and art collector Steve Martin.

Captain Beefheart / Don Van Vliet

I'm Gonna to Booglarize You Baby
‘I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby’ (197?, 42 MB, 4:57 min.)

Lick My Decals Off, Baby

I’m as astonished & excited today when I listen to the music of Captain Beefheart
as I was in 1970, when someone loaned me a copy of ‘Strictly Personal’ &
shivers ran up & down my 13 year old spine.
He was, & is, one of a kind & today music’s loss is visual art’s gain.

Mark E Smith Reads the Football Results

Mark E Smith
Mark E Smith Reads the Football Results (2005, 12.7MB, 7:14 min.)

God-like genius & professional curmudgeon Mark E Smith
of The Fall reads the football (OK – soccer to
about two thirds of you) results on the BBC in 2005.
The full glory of this possibly only totally comprehensible to
Brits of a certain age but stay with it – the last third is
a hoot.

Primo Levi – Return to Auschwitz

Primo Levi
Return to Auschwitz – clip (1982, 1.95MB, 18 secs)

A tiny fragment today, but oh what a fragment.
An extract from an Italian television documentary
about a visit to the site of the Auschwitz extermination camp,
where he had previously been incarcerated for a year,
by the great Italian writer Primo Levi, who died 20 years ago this last April.
Levi wrote the indispensable memoir of the Holocaust,
‘If This is a Man’ ( in the US called ‘Survival in Auschwitz’).
Apparently this documentary used to be available on the net in its entirety.
If anyone can point us to a copy we’ll post the whole thing.
This tiny clip is nonetheless a key one. NEVER AGAIN!

More Scritti Politti

Boom There She Was
Boom There She Was (1988, 19.6MB, 4:12 min)

Hypnotize
Hypnotize (1985, 7.91MB, 3:26 min)

More stuff, both wonderful & ineffably strange, from the great Scritti Politti.
I defy you not to be utterly exhilirated ( at the same time as hating yourself a little bit)
by premise & execution both of BTSWand
what is going on with the see-saw stuff at the end of the
Hypnotize vid!?
Video makers of the world, the race is on to rehabilitate & assimilate this move
into our vocabulary..

A Fluxus Re-enactment: A Walk Into the Sea

A Walk Into the Sea
A Walk Into the Sea (2006, 21.3MB, 3:55 min.)

Re-enactment by Zach Layton of Ben Vautier’s 1963
performance a walk into the sea.
Great!

Tevye – glimpse of a lost world

Tevye
Tevye – clip (1939, 32.1MB, 1:27 min)

Prior to WW2 there were between 10 & 13 million speakers
of Yiddish. Today there are probably less than 2 million.
Here is an image of a lost world, the flowering of Yiddish culture
in the years of the twentieth century before the Holocaust.
This is a clip from the 1939 film Tevye by Maurice Schwartz based on
the work of the great Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem
The film has recently been restored and is available for .

Vlog History 1: Changed My Life

vlog_history1
VlogHistory1 (2007, 15.5MB, 4:07 min.)

from the excellent Richard Show.

They’re back!

The Postman walks with a spring in his step –They’re back!
The little girl with freckles & pigtails tumbles joyfully headlong
down the street –They’re back!
Even Fr. Pinault seems to twinkle ever so slightly..
Now, old Cottard stumbles cantankerously into the boulangerie.
-I don’t understand why everyone’s so damned cheerful today-
-Why, M’sieu, haven’t you heard? They’re back!
The FluxFilms are back on UbuWeb!

#7
#7 (1966, 5.7MB, 34 sec.)

George Maciunas: ‘Ten Feet’

#25
#25 (1966, 3.5MB, 21 sec.)

George Landow/Owen Land: ‘The Evil Faerie’ (although
Landow/Land denies authorship – it has been suggested
this piece was actually made by John Cavanaugh)

#26
#26 (1965, 7.8MB, 47 sec.)

Paul Sharits: ‘Sears Catalogue 1-3′