Ann Arbor Film Festival 2009

A dance film viewed twice (once forward, once backward) in five minutes. The film was shot at single frame exposures as well as 8, 16, 24 and 36 frames per second. Music by Ed Cobb. Dance and vocal by Toni Basil (Antonia Christina Basilotta).

"By my standards, Miss Clarke's picture, an eerie close-up of the metropolitan bridges, is extraordinary. A film that captures the bizarre magic of man-made spans with the movement of a lightning clap and with the same terrible beauty." - Howard Thompson, The New York Times

The recent departure of the legendary Bruce Conner (1933-2008), continues to have a profound impact of both sorrow and glory. Tributes and retrospectives have been held around the world to reflect on his extraordinary life and visionary cinema. Conner’s signature aesthetics have transcended beyond his name, becoming an integral part of art and film culture. A self-proclaimed thief of commercial, political, and apocalyptic imagery, Conner subverts both the medium’s iconic imagery and its ideology. The first of two programs exhibits the thematic progression of Conner’s relationship to the film medium itself, messages embedded into the American subconscious, life, death, and metaphysical transformation. Preceded by: Pat Oleszko Gulliblur’s Travels: A Space Oddity Oleszko makes a blast from the Pats into a galaxy of curious proportions. In a performantz excerpt assisted by an assordid band of U of M rock ‘n’ roilers, logic is rapidly dis-mythed. Gulliblurr Swiftly takes on epic bewilderment with his inflated sense of self but then, you can’t tie a good man down. [Contains mature content and strobing images. Viewer discretion advised.] Films in screening order: A Movie The White Rose Breakaway Vivian Ten Second Film Marilyn Times Five Report Crossroads

Conner’s inventive technique and conceptual density using assemblage, montage, and tour-de-force editing has made him the originator of many movements. When asked if he was the father of MTV, he replied with, “I demand a DNA test.” or “Don’t blame me!” The second of two programs celebrates Conner’s perfect unity and displacement of sound and picture, ranging from Conner’s recent re-edit of REPORT #3, the birth of punk with DEVO’s “Mongoloid” to the nostalgic reflection on his boyhood in Kansas, accompanied by the sentimental score of Sibelius’ “Valse Triste.” [Contains mature content and strobing images. Viewer discretion advised.] Sponsored by: Nooka Films in screening order: Cosmic Ray A Movie Report #3 Mongoloid America is Waiting Mea Culpa Take the 5:10 to Dreamland Valse Triste Looking for Mushrooms (Long Version) Easter Morning

As one of the premier distributors of avant-garde and experimental motion picture films, Canyon Cinema’s collection contains more than 3,000 film titles for rent and for sale from more than 325 filmmakers around the world. Based in San Francisco, Canyon Cinema was founded in 1962 and incorporated in 1967. This year we celebrate over 40 years of Canyon’s mission to distribute, exhibit and preserve motion picture films as an art form. Sponsored by: Kodak Motion Picture Film Films in screening order: Kaleidoscope and Colour Flight (Len Lye) Composition in Blue (Oskar Fischinger) Ellipses (Frédérique Devaux) The Crossing (Timoleon Wilkins) Bridges Go Round (Shirley Clarke) BOUQUETS 21-30 (Rose Lowder) Kosmos (Thorston Fleisch) The Argonaut (Alexis Bravos) Ruby Skin (Eve Heller) You Be Mother (Sarah Pucill) The Girl Chewing Gum (John Smith)

A meditation on the the origins of behavior and of transformation, the viewer is submerged in the silver sea of the psyche. The milky blindness of the visual cataract surges into a mythic foaming surf, a dormant birthplace for a new way of sensing and knowing. Facing departure and seeking metamorphosis, this film sensually dips its filmic toes into the synesthetic undertows of the unknown.

Structured around the mesmerizing talents of 2007 Manitoba /Saskatchewan Auctioneer Champion, Tim Dowler, this film tries to create images as dazzlingly abstract, absurd and adrenalizing as the incredible language of auctioneering itself. It is the filmmakers hope that the film will induce near-bovine levels of dumbfoundedness in all those who gaze upon it.

A canine separated from his favorite chew toy, goes on a fantastic and frustrating journey to get it back.

Frank and Ava Gardner "star" in a chainsaw safety film, and love the rodeo. But now, ten years later... Romance is like a chainsaw: a very dangerous beast indeed.