Experimental cinema/Narrative cinema 2008!

Happy 2008!  For the new year, I plan to begin editing my next video, but before I can get started, I'd like to outline some of my observations about experimental cinema & narrative cinema.  It's a bit difficult to block out some of the media, that is so heavily reliant on narrative cinema/documentaries, and I think that I have a different perspective on cinema in general.  I hope that this discussion promotes more understanding. 

1. yin and yang
You guys in narrative cinema can be the yang, okay!  You be the sun, and experimental cinema will be the moon!  We are two sides of the same coin.  Experimental cinema is NOT the other cinema.  We are the other half of cinema!  When some of the writers in the media ask, "Where are all the art films?  Where are the audiences for art cinema?  Where are the next "Antonioni"s?  Where are all the women who make films?"  We can answer, "Over here!  In the yin!  Experimental cinema!!!"

2.  form and content
Your top ten lists?  Go ahead with placing the mystery of cinema into a concise numerical form if it makes you happy.  Seriously, I love awesome writers, and I do not care how you label yourselves.  But let's look a bit closer.  Your IndieWire list for example, that's all narrative cinema.  Cinema differentiated ONLY by CONTENT.  Experimental cinema radically changes FORM.  Experimental cinema has exquisitely evolved into a complex system of formats!  Here are a few highlights:

live video performance, enhanced by the invention of new softwares, i.e. Module8 and Jitter, used by artists such as Luke Dubois, Chika, Nisi Jacobs, Andy Graydon, and Zach Layton.

applied materials:  hand painting, collage, sewing on the film strip, polarized light experiments used by Courtney Hoskins, Jennifer Reeves, Lewis Klahr . . .

animation:  Martha Colburn, Tim Reardon, Xander Marrow

single frame films:  Joel Schlemowitz

pioneering video inventions:  Cori Archangel, Ken Jacobs

experimentation with film loops and non-camera filmmaking:  Bruce McClure, Luis Recorder, and Sandra Gibson

I'm getting tired now . . . :)

3.  non-commercial (free!) and commercial

Of course, experimental cinema, YouTube, and the blogosphere are non-commercial.  It's an assumption that when we make experimental film/video works, they will be non-commercial.  Isn't non-commercial art radical, right now in NY, where the cost of living is exorbitant?  When I make a film, I do it for the sake of doing it.  That's quite different than making a film and hoping Miramax picks it up, you know.  I think that the proliferation of non-commercial cinema is more radical than any thematic subject on your top ten list.  (IMHO :)

4.  "non-narrative" and narrative

To say that an experimental video is "non-narrative" is like saying that Henry Ford's invention of the T-model automobile was a non-horse & carriage buggy!  Or it's like saying that Rimbaud wrote non-novels.  Grouping all short films together is misunderstanding cinema.

5.  inaccessible and accessible

I can tell you that experimental cinema will not come to you, you have to come to it.  I don't want to hear that people don't care about the avant-garde, or that it's too hard, or that no one will pay you to write about experimental cinema, or that it's difficult for the general movie audience to see experimental cinema.  If you are a cinephile, you have to find a way to inform yourself!  (All other people need not worry about it.  :)  If you live in NY, San Francisco, London, Paris, Barcelona, etc. you do not have any excuses.  If you do not live in a major city, try UbuWeb, YouTube, and this blog for names & links to new experimental works.  We all have to work it, including me!

6.  feminine and masculine

Enough with how there are so few women making films in Hollywood!  Women form a large percentage of experimental cinema!!!  You know, the innovative, non-commercial, right-brained, intuitive, poetic, and very free of hierarchies form of cinema. Hello?

Oh, I think that I've said enough now.  I love how you inspire and provoke me.  Listen or don't listen.  It's time for me to make another video now . . .

As Rumi once said,

"When the ocean surges, don't let me just hear it.  Let it splash inside my chest!"

xoxo

J

 

Comments

[Paula]

Hi Jen! Happy 2008! Thank you so much for the decadence you sent our way for the holidays--it is wonderful. I can't remember if I told you how much I enjoyed Kittypie--I really loved it and would like to meet the star. Also, do you know the experimental film collective/organisation in London called Lux? An old friend with whom I've lost touch had a film screened there in the spring--and I didn't even know she was making films (again)!

[jmac]

Hey Paula! Happy New Year! I'm so glad that you liked the gift, and Godiva really knows their hot choclate! :) Thank you so much for the Jens CD and for the beautiful ring. I really love it!

Yes, I totally know about Lux, and I would really like to visit them one day. Who is your filmmaker friend?

I'm home sick today, but I will give you guys a call soon.

Best wishes and new beginnings for 2008!

[Thom]

Just wanted to drop by to write how much I appreciate the purposeful writing in your recent posts here, J. This post and the word vs. image posts feel confrontational but they're persuasive. You've given film bloggers all the reasons we need to seek out, evaluate, and write about experimental cinema much more in the coming months. I hope the blogosphere responds. Happy new year, get well soon (sorry to hear about your illness), and long live experimental cinema!

[jmac]

T., Thank you! I'm sorry if the posts are becoming confrontational. This is not my purpose in life! :) I hope that the blogosphere will be understanding that there is an enormously loud discussion on all cinema but experimental cinema. It's so frustrating for me. By asking these questions, I have worked things out for myself. I think I understand why things are the way they are now, and I will not be taking things so personally in the future. (I really love my friends' films, my films, and poetic writing, and sometimes it feels so personally insulting when these works are unacknowledged or marginalized even on blogs.) So these journal posts are more for me than anyone else.

Happy beautiful writing in 2008! I'm so glad that we are here on the blogosphere!

[Scott Macaulay]

Hi Jennifer,

Nice post, and thanks for posting your comment on the Filmmaker blog. I'm leaving a comment here because while I, as an admin, can read your comment over there, for some reason Blogger is not actually posting your comment through. Not sure why...

Best,

Scott

[jmac]

Thanks, Scott! Let's keep in touch. :)

[Rupert]

Fantastic.
I thought you'd be interested to know about a project called Semanal - a whole bunch of videobloggers and video artists from around the word publishing videos weekly in 2008. The amazing thing is the variety of people and types of films - from personal journals to abstract & experimental works to commercial 'shows'. All under one roof, co-existing easily. It's one of the things I've noticed about the massive variety of internet video producers who gather under the banner of web video and video blogging. The wonder of their distribution methods and direct connection to their audience means that commercial and non-commercial filmmakers rally together. Sure, there are always spats about commercialism, but for the most part, this community has always embraced its Yin/Yang nature.

[Rupert]

I should have posted a URL for that project, I guess - sorry - http://semanal.ning.com/

[jmac]

Hey Rupert,

I agree with you totally that the internet is relatively free of hierarchy, and I think that the various communities of artists have sprung online as a response to a very commercial film/art world. The Semanal project looks awesome, and I am so happy that you have mentioned it! I look forward to seeing your videos. :)

[avisualfeel]

When it comes to experimental, you definitely have to seek. Thank you for affirming that in your post. Your remark definitely has resonance!