September Newsletter

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Flaherty Fellows

Bugs and Beasts Before the Law a new experimental film installation by Bambitchell, the artistic collaboration of Sharlene Bamboat and Alexis Mitchell (Flaherty Fellow 2015). The work explores the history and legacy of the “animal trials” that took place in medieval Europe, in which animals—and other non-humans, such as insects and inanimate objects—were put on trial for various crimes and offenses, ranging from trespassing and thievery, to assault and murder. This history of colonial law-making forged political and sometimes profane relationships between humans and animals. Bambitchell's new essayistic work reimagines common perceptions of legal history and, in doing so, produces a world where past and present, fiction and non-fiction, human and animal fuse. Screens September 14 - November 2 at Mercer Union (Toronto, Canada).

North American Premiere of Those That, at a Distance, Resemble Another - first feature film by Jessica Sarah Rinland (Flaherty Fellow 2018) at Wavelengths, Toronto International Film Festival. "Artist-filmmaker Jessica Sarah Rinland's sumptuous, hypnotic new work tracks the production of a lab-engineered elephant tusk, in a reflection on conservation, fabrication, and authenticity." TIFF. Screens on September 8 & 10.

Following its world premiere at the 21st Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival in the International Competition, Christina Phoebe's (Flaherty Fellow 2018) first feature-length film Amygdaliá will be screening at the Athens International Film Festival, September 18-29 in Athens, Greece. Amygdaliá is a cinematic postcard moving through memories of women seen as foreigners in an off-limits mediterranean landscape. A performance film reflecting on borders both around us and within us.

Flaherty Filmmakers

Barbara Hammer: Boundless (Flaherty Filmmaker 2005, 1993) at the National Gallery of Art Washington on September 7, 8 & 22. For more than half a century, artist and filmmaker Barbara Hammer (1939 – 2019) created works unique in sensibility, subject matter, and influence. Exploring lesbian identity, politics, and personal narrative, and delving into visceral manifestations of pleasure, pain, aging, and infirmity, Hammer used the camera as an extension of her body to discover ways of communicating experience. Her purposeful engagement with audiences fostered and influenced many generations of filmmakers, and her groundbreaking work shaped contemporary film culture in multiple ways. This series includes examples of films and videos that Hammer made in shorter formats, although her oeuvre also embraced feature-length and performance works. With special thanks to Florrie Burke, and to Carmel Curtis and Joan Hawkins who organized the first iteration of Barbara Hammer: Boundless at Indiana University. The series includes new prints courtesy of the Academy Film Archive, as well as restorations by Electronic Arts Intermix and the Academy through the National Film Preservation Foundation and the Film Foundation.

Images that Breathe: Radical Memory in Times of Amnesia. Curator Almudena Escobar López (2018 Flaherty NYC Programmer), presents a program of works by belit sağ (Flaherty NYC 2018) that includes her latest video essay work, found footage short videos and some examples from her time as a member of the video-activist collective VideA during the early 2000s in Turkey. The screening will take place at UnionDocs(Brooklyn, NY) on September 8 and will be followed by a conversation between belit and Almudena.

Akosua Adoma Owusu’s (Flaherty Filmmaker 2010) work Pelourinho: They Don’t Really Care About Us (2019) made with support from Goethe-Institut, in Salvador, Bahia will have its New York premiere in the Projections section of the 57th New York Film Festival. Curated by Aily Nash (independent curator) and Dennis Lim (FSLC Director of Programming). Screens October 5 & 6 at Film at Lincoln Center (NYFF), Tickets go on sale on September 8.

Premiere of the video installation Everything is round by filmmaker Madelon Hooykaas(Flaherty NYC Filmmaker 2018), and Louis Andriessen, composer at the Centraal Museum, Utrecht (The Netherlands). Preview September 5 and private opening September 7. In 'Everything is Round', explores the relationship between the city of Utrecht, the nature it contains, and the surrounding universe. Both artists grew up in Utrecht; with this installation, they are revisiting the city of their childhood years. Exhibition runs through January 19, 2020.

Michelle Handelman's (Flaherty NYC Filmmaker 2016) documentary BloodSisters (1995) will be featured in the Films4Fags Series curated by Bradford Nordeen. From pushy bottoms to macho femmes, BloodSisters is an A-Z documentary guide that takes an in-depth look at the San Francisco leather-dyke scene during the mid-nineties, shattering assumptions about gender and lesbian sexuality. Screens September 14 at the Tom of Finland Foundation (Los Angeles, CA).

Call for Entries

The MacDowell Colony seeks applications for the Winter Spring 2020 Residency Season. MacDowell provides time, space, and an inspiring environment to artists of exceptional talent. A MacDowell Fellowship consists of exclusive use of a studio, accommodations, and three prepared meals a day for two weeks to two months. There are no residency fees. Artists are responsible for materials and travel expenses: financial assistance is available to artists in residence based on need. MacDowell encourages applications from artists representing the widest possible range of perspectives and demographics. The sole criterion for acceptance is artistic excellence.

Deadline: September 15.

Squeaky Wheel's Workspace Residency. Squeaky Wheel seeks applications from artists and researchers (curators, writers, archivists, scholars) for a short-term residency exploring time-based media & emergent technologies. The residency connects applicants with resources, equipment, and time to support the creation of new work or continue ongoing projects. Residency Dates: March 7–21, 2020. Support: $950, accommodations, travel support. Deadline: October 5