Short film programme: Touch, Dance, Loss of Mind
Tuesday 28th of May, 7pm in the Richard Hoggart Building cinema
Join us on Tuesday 28th of May at 7pm (films start at 7:15 pm) in the Richard Hoggart Building cinema for an hour-long selection of short films dealing with tactile relationships, dancing and performance, and loss of mind, which are used by all of these filmmakers to some extent to transgress and experiment with the cinematic medium. The selection is relatively random in terms of era, themes and lengths, though takes from a range of well-known directors like Martin Scorsese and David Lynch, to lesser-known independent artists and filmmakers like Teo Hernandez and Takashi Ito.
The total run time is 59 minutes so the programme should finish by around 8:15 pm. (CW: flashing images, some gore). The programme is as follows:
The Big Shave (1967, Martin Scorsese). 6 minutes. One of Scorsese’s earliest short films made during the height of many filmic resistances to the Vietnam War, in which a clean bathroom is covered in blood when a man uses it to shave his face.
L’Eau de la Seine (1983, Teo Hernandez). 11 minutes. Mexican avant-garde filmmaker Teo Hernandez illustrates a material and sensory relationship between the camera and the water of the Seine.
The Furies (1934, Slavko Vorkapich). 3 minutes. The surreal and haunting opening sequence from Serbian director Vorkapich’s film Crimes Without Passion (1934).
Absurd Encounter with Fear (1967, David Lynch). 2 minutes. One of David Lynch’s first encounters with cinematic forms, Midwestern rural settings and the everyday absurd.
Deep Sleep (2014, Basma Alsharif). 13 minutes. A short experimental film from Palestinian artist Basma Alsharif using light, color and sound waves which move the images through Malta, Athens and Gaza.
Breakaway (1967, Bruce Conner). 6 minutes. A radical proto-music video which taunts the spectator, depicting singer Toni Basil dancing in a black void as Bruce Conner breaks away from form.
Ghost (1982, Takashi Ito). 5 minutes. Japanese experimental filmmaker Takashi Ito personifies light, time and movement into a ghost visiting an apartment.
Personal Statement (1994, Maria Klonaris, Katerina Thomadaki). 8 minutes. Greek feminist avant-garde duo Klonaris and Thomadaki “stage photographic treatments of the original medical document”, as feminine hands touch a flat form
Jordan’s Dance (1977, Derek Jarman) 5 minutes. An early Super-8 from queer English filmmaker Derek Jarman which montages punk icon Jordan Mooney as she dances and inspired his film Jubilee (1978).
