Map of a New World - Films From the Flaherty Film Seminar at Tacoma Film Festival (Tacoma, WA). Six animated and documentary films taken from various editions of the Flaherty Film Seminar. The filmmakers include David Ehrlich (1988 Seminar), Rox Lee(2019 Seminar), Shambhavi Kaul (2019 Seminar), Lourdes Portillo (1992 Seminar), Ben Rivers (2012 Seminar) and Cauleen Smith (1992 & 2018 Seminars). The screening will be held on October 5.
1. ACADEMY LEADER VARIATIONS
US | 1987 | 5 min | Various
Animators from around the world present their fanciful versions of the “academy leader”, the piece of filmstock at the beginning of each reel of a movie that counts down the seconds 8-7-6-5-4-3-2.
2. ABCD
Philippines | 1985 | 6 min | Rox Lee
ABCD is both a showcase of Rox Lee’s technical vocabulary and a rundown of his key concerns: the environment, urbanization, and human rights.
3. HIJACKED
US | 2017 | 15 min | Shambhavi Kaul
Airplane space is inhabited by characters for whom ‘escape’, one of the promises of airplane technology, proves elusive.
4. CHRONICLES OF A LYING SPIRIT (BY KELLY GABRON)
US | 1992 | 7 min | Cauleen Smith
“Chronicles of a Lying Spirit (by Kelly Gabron) is less a depiction of ‘reality’ than an exploration of the implications of the mediation of Black history by film, television, magazines and newspapers. Using her alter ego, Kelly Gabron, Smith fabricates a personal history of her emergence as an artist from white-male-dominated American history (and American film history).” -Scott MacDonald
5. COLUMBUS ON TRIAL
US | 1992 | 18 min | Lourdes Portillo
In this political satire featuring the comedy trio Culture Clash, sharp dialogue, physical comedy, and state of the art video techniques are used to dramatize a mock trial of Columbus in a present-day courtroom. With a “Spanish-by-way-of-Mexico” judge presiding, Columbus on Trial hits on the complexities of Latino identity in America while slicing into the kitschy consumer icons and buzzwords that stand for racial and ethnic identity in contemporary society. Claiming among his achievements bringing the horse, the wheel, and Julio Iglesias to the New World, Columbus fights for his symbolic life as the “discoverer” of America.
6. THE CREATION AS WE SAW IT
United Kingdom | 2012 | 13 min | Ben Rivers
Three mythical stories from the island nation of Vanuatu, South Pacific, concerning the origin of humans, why pigs walk on all fours, and why a volcano sits where it does.