Film Comment poll

Quentin Turnour Quentin.Turnour at nfsa.gov.au
Sun Jul 18 05:53:54 EDT 2010


Kind thanks to Martin and others who've made contact suggestions regarding 
Japanese experimental cinema. I've been a little aware of Lightcone; the 
dynamic fellow-Austrralian programmer/distributor team at Other Film in 
Brisbane have I believed worked with them. I'll pass on other contacts. 

I'm also aware of the work of Japanese experimental film-makers in Lux and 
also Canyon in the US: Lux seems to distribute the work of Iimura 
Takahiro, Ogata Atsushi and Harada Goh; Canyon distributes Iimura and some 
of Takabishi Noriko and Kano Shiho's work. 

Fine filmmakers, but unless I've missed some names, that small list just 
seems to confirm the narrowness of access and experience Markus complained 
about. It doesn't seem to me to be comprehensive access to the Japanese 
experimental tradition, compared to the distribution offered by both of 
North American and UK film-makers. 

From the little I've experienced, Japanese experimental cinema seems to me 
to be just as rich a tradition of that of, say, Austria. So not to seem 
Anglo-centric, something like the model of Sixpack Film  distribution in 
Vienna (http://www.sixpackfilm.com/?lang=en&p=info) - outwardly focused - 
yet still so grounded and particular in and to the local screen culture - 
would help put it on par with its Euro-US peers. Sixpack have played a key 
role in distributing the work of some of the key European names in the 
Film Comment poll.

An example I was thinking of was the Artist's Film and Video Study and 
Research collection at St Martin's Collage in London; not so much an 
exhibitor, but perhaps the leading such collection in the UK for 
researching experimental cinema practice and history. They have been 
trying to 'internationalise' their collection; the curators there know and 
deeply appreciate Japanese experimental cinema, but have mentioned that 
attempts to build a links to build a collection of some key Japanese works 
have been very difficult.


Quentin Turnour, Programmer, 
Access, Research and Development
National Film and Sound Archive, Australia
McCoy Circuit, Acton, 
ACT, 2601 AUSTRALIA
phone: +61 2 6248 2054  |  fax: + 61 2 6249 8159
www.nfsa.gov.au


The National Film and Sound Archive collects, preserves and provides 
access to Australia's historic and contemporary moving image and recorded 
sound culture. 






Martin Vieillot <eigagogo at free.fr> 
Sent by: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
15/07/2010 10:14 PM
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Subject
Re: Film Comment poll






Following Jasper's suggestion & still related to the UK, seems the "Great 
Britain Sasakawa Foundation" may be of some help  (http://www.gbsf.org.uk/
) as they helped setting up a Takashi Ito 75min screening last april in 
Birmingham (http://www.flatpackfestival.org/event/takashi-ito) 





----- Mail Original -----
De: "Jasper Sharp" <jasper_sharp at hotmail.com>
À: "kinejapan" <kinejapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Envoyé: Mercredi 14 Juillet 2010 13h55:22 GMT +01:00 Amsterdam / Berlin / 
Berne / Rome / Stockholm / Vienne
Objet: RE: Film Comment poll

And following on from Martin's suggestion, there's a number of Japanese 
experimental artists represented by Lux in London - http://lux.org.uk/. 

Best 

Jasper 

Midnight Eye: The Latest and Best in Japanese Cinema 
www.midnighteye.com 

More details about me on http://jaspersharp.com/ 




> Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:56:54 +0200 
> From: eigagogo at free.fr 
> To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 
> Subject: Re: Film Comment poll 
> 
> Dear Quentin, 
> 
> If it can help ... you can contact LightCone which got a small but 
interesting catalogue on japanese artists: 
http://www.lightcone.org/catalogue/liste.php. 
> 
> 
> It's not as great as IF, but at least they answer emails and provide 
complete info to help seting up screenings. Seems they don't have much 
ressources (analysis/biography) though. 
> 
> 
> Martin 
> 
> 
> ----- Mail Original ----- 
> De: "Quentin Turnour" <Quentin.Turnour at nfsa.gov.au> 
> À: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 
> Envoyé: Mardi 13 Juillet 2010 05h50:50 GMT +01:00 Amsterdam / Berlin / 
Berne / Rome / Stockholm / Vienne 
> Objet: Re: Film Comment poll 
> 
> 
> Co-incidentally screening Japanese experimental cinema to English 
language audiences came up as a topic when I was meeting a number of 
artist film and video /experimental programmers on a recent trip to the 
UK. 
> 
> Like me, they were programmers who knew something - or more - about 
Japanese experimental cinema tradition and current practice and would be 
more than keen to present Japanese work their programming. Most are 
professionals who are sensitive to getting the screening technically and 
aesthetically right and willing to pay what it costs (although not always 
in a position to fund film-maker's trip to present the work, which is an 
issue for some practitioners). 
> 
> However I heard persistent frustration with the non-responsiviness of 
approaches to distributors. I'm afraid Image Forum was a particular 
target. Mutual language issues are acknowledge, as is the need to do the 
leg work of getting to Japan regularly and building the contacts and some 
of the mutual respect that a few members of this listserv have been able 
to cultivate over the years. And there are a few great and beautiful 
exceptions amongst Japanese distributors who are very keen to help. 
> 
> But compared to Korea and Thailand (for example), where from experience 
distributors and film-makers are often very keen to get their work out, 
regular programming Japanese experimental cinema is much harder because of 
what seems like a lack of enthusiasm at the other end. It's a familiar cry 
from programmers not just in this sector, but from all of us wanting to 
promote Japanese cinema: "If only they would answer their emails..!". 
> 
> Quentin Turnour, Programmer, 
> Access, Research and Development 
> National Film and Sound Archive, Australia 
> McCoy Circuit, Acton, 
> ACT, 2601 AUSTRALIA 
> phone: +61 2 6248 2054 | fax: + 61 2 6249 8159 
> www.nfsa.gov.au 
> 
> The National Film and Sound Archive collects, preserves and provides 
access to Australia's historic and contemporary moving image and recorded 
sound culture. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Martin Vieillot <eigagogo at free.fr> 
> Sent by: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 
> 
> 09/07/2010 11:51 AM 
> Please respond to 
> KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 
> 
> To KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 
> 
> cc 
> 
> Subject Re: Film Comment poll 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks Markus for the info... pretty interesting list! 
> 
> For those who doesn't know anything about asian avant-garde, would it be 
possible to get few names from others interesting "non-english speaking" 
japanese artists? Only saw Daichi Saito works, and infos are rather 
difficult to get (except maybe for Image Forum releases, and only when 
they are willing to collaborate in spreading knowledge about theirs 
works..) 
> 
> >From a more general point of view, is there a "critic gap" between 
experimental film & experimental animated film fields? It's pretty 
surprising not to see Virgil Widrich's Fast Film quoted in this list!!! 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Mail Original ----- 
> De: "Markus Nornes" <amnornes at umich.edu> 
> À: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 
> Envoyé: Jeudi 8 Juillet 2010 22h32:18 GMT +01:00 Amsterdam / Berlin / 
Berne / Rome / Stockholm / Vienne 
> Objet: Film Comment poll 
> 
> Polls are strange things. If you know anything about Asian avant-garde, 
you know this is a somewhat twisted list. First of all, not a single 
Japanese experimental filmmaker listed in the best of the last decade or 
the "top 50 filmmakers." I can't decide if I'm surprised or not. 
> 
> On the other hand, there are three Japanese filmmakers listed as 
"filmmakers for the 21st century": Kano Shiho, Saito Daichi (#3!), and 
Nishikawa Tomonari (#1!!). All three are quite good, but the reasons these 
three above all others are selected is obvious. Kano somehow found some 
serious fans among the Canadian experimental crowd some years back and 
spread out from there. Saito and Nishikawa are living in North America 
and, more importantly, speak English. Kano can't really speak English, so 
she needed her programmer friends; this might explain why she was selected 
over so many other Japanese filmmakers who are at least as good or 
probably better. I also got to meet Saito and Nishikawa at Ann Arbor FF 
this year; they seem honestly interested in helping to get more Asian 
avant-garde work into the North American conversation—but I have to say it 
was rather shocking how little they actually knew about what was going on 
there (I noticed that elsewhere on the FC announcement Saito was listed as 
Canadian, and actually it's pretty appropriate whatever his nationality 
actually is.) 
> 
> Lincoln Center is apparently showing a selection of a lot of this work. 
> 
> Markus 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> May/June 2010 
> 
> AVANT-GARDE POLL 
> 
> In the past decade, the making and showing of experimental film 
worldwide has gone from strength to strength, so much so that it can be 
categorically said that avant-garde cinema is as vital now as it has ever 
been. This addendum to our Jan/Feb end-of-decade wrap-up serves to 
acknowledge just some of the experimental film achievements of the 21st 
century’s first 10 years. The rankings on the three lists below were 
obtained through the tabulation of the number of mentions a given film or 
filmmaker received in poll responses from a 46-strong group of critics, 
programmers, and teachers. 
> 
> 
> 
> BEST AVANT-GARDE FILMS & VIDEO 2000-2009 
> 
> 1. At Sea Peter Hutton, U.S., 2007 (18) 
> 2. Pitcher of Colored Light Robert Beavers, U.S./Switz., 2007 (16) 
> 3. ( ) Morgan Fisher, U.S., 2003 (15) 
> tie Ah Liberty! Ben Rivers, U.K., 2008 (15) 
> tie Observando el Cielo Jeanne Liotta, U.S., 2007 (15) 
> tie Star Spangled to Death Ken Jacobs, U.S., 2004 (15) 
> 7. Ten Skies James Benning, U.S., 2004 (14) 
> 8. The Fourth Watch Janie Geiser, U.S., 2000 (13) 
> tie The Heart of the World Guy Maddin, Canada, 2000 (13) 
> tie RR James Benning, U.S., 2007 (13) 
> 11. Black and White Trypps Number Three Ben Russell, U.S., 2007 (12) 
> tie The Decay of Fiction Pat O’Neill, U.S., 2002 (12) 
> tie The God of Day Had Gone Down Upon Him Stan Brakhage, U.S., 2000 (12) 

> tie An Injury to One Travis Wilkerson, U.S., 2002 (12) 
> tie Kolkata Mark LaPore, US/India, 2005 (12) 
> tie 13 Lakes James Benning, U.S., 2004 (12) 
> 17. The General Returns from One Place to Another Michael Robinson, 
U.S., 2006 (11) 
> tie Song and Solitude Nathaniel Dorsky, U.S., 2006 (11) 
> 19. False Aging Lewis Klahr, U.S., 2008 (10) 
> tie The Glass System Mark LaPore, U.S., 2000 (10) 
> tie Instructions for a Light and Sound Machine Peter Tscherkassky, 
Austria, 2005 (10) 
> tie A Letter to Uncle Boonmee Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand, 2009 
(10) 
> tie She Puppet Peggy Ahwesh, U.S., 2001 (10) 
> tie Skagafjördur Peter Hutton, U.S./Iceland, 2004 (10) 
> 25. As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty 
Jonas Mekas, U.S., 2000 (9) 
> tie The Great Art of Knowing David Gatten, U.S., 2004 (9) 
> tie The Ground Robert Beavers, U.S., 1993-2001 (9) 
> tie The Hedge Theater Robert Beavers, U.S./Switzerland, 2002 (9) 
> tie Poetry and Truth Peter Kubelka, Austria, 2003 (9) 
> tie Sarabande Nathaniel Dorsky, U.S., 2008 (9) 
> tie The Visitation Nathaniel Dorsky, U.S., 2002 (9) 
> tie When It Was Blue Jennifer Reeves, U.S./Iceland, 2008 (9) 
> 33. Arbor Vitae Nathaniel Dorsky, U.S., 2000 (8) 
> tie In Comparison Harun Farocki, Germany/Austria, 2009 (8) 
> tie It’s Not My Memory of It – Three Recollected Documents The 
Speculative Archive, U.S., 2003 (8) 
> tie Meditations on Revolution, Part V: Foreign City Robert Fenz, U.S., 
2003 (8) 
> tie Nest of Tens Miranda July, U.S., 2000 (8) 
> tie O’er the Land Deborah Stratman, U.S., 2009 (8) 
> tie Psalm III: Night of the Meek Phil Solomon, U.S., 2002 (8) 
> tie Winter Nathaniel Dorsky, U.S., 2008 (8) 
> 41. California Trilogy: Los, Sogobi, El Valley Centro James Benning, 
U.S., 2000-01 (7) 
> tie *Corpus Callosum Michael Snow, Canada, 2002 (7) 
> tie Dream Work (for Man Ray) Peter Tscherkassky, Austria, 2001 (7) 
> tie Horizontal Boundaries Pat O’Neill, U.S., 2008 (7) 
> tie Let Each One Go Where He May Ben Russell, U.S./Suriname, 2009 (7) 
> tie Still Raining, Still Dreaming Phil Solomon, U.S., 2009 (7) 
> tie The Two Minutes to Zero Trilogy Lewis Klahr, U.S., 2003-04 (7) 
> tie What the Water Said, nos. 4-6 David Gatten, U.S., 2007 (7) 
> 
> 
> TOP 50 FILMMAKERS 
> 
> 1. Nathaniel Dorsky (54) 
> 2. James Benning (49) 
> 3. Ken Jacobs (45) 
> 4. Lewis Klahr (41) 
> 5. Stan Brakhage (37) 
> tie Phil Solomon (37) 
> 7. Robert Beavers (35) 
> 8. David Gatten (32) 
> tie Peter Hutton (32) 
> 10. Michael Robinson (30) 
> 11. Ernie Gehr (29) 
> tie Ben Russell (29) 
> 13. Mark LaPore (27) 
> 14. Ben Rivers (24) 
> 15. Janie Geiser (23) 
> tie Jeanne Liotta (23) 
> 17. Luther Price (21) 
> 18. Jennifer Reeves (20) 
> 19. Pat O’Neill (19) 
> 20. Apichatpong Weerasethakul (18) 
> 21. Peggy Ahwesh (17) 
> tie Stephanie Barber (17) 
> tie Vincent Grenier (17) 
> tie Jim Jennings (17) 
> tie Peter Tscherkassky (17) 
> tie Fred Worden (17) 
> 27. Guy Maddin (16) 
> tie Bruce McClure (16) 
> tie Julie Murray (16) 
> 30. Morgan Fisher (15) 
> 31. Scott Stark (14) 
> tie Deborah Stratman (14) 
> tie Travis Wilkerson (14) 
> 34. Harun Farocki (13) 
> tie Jonas Mekas (13) 
> 36. Bruce Conner (12) 
> tie Robert Fenz (12) 
> tie Michael Snow (12) 
> tie Leslie Thornton (12) 
> 40. Heinz Emigholz (11) 
> tie Miranda July (11) 
> 42. Eve Heller (10) 
> tie Michele Smith (10) 
> tie The Speculative Archive (10) 
> 45. Jacqueline Goss (9) 
> tie Nicky Hamlyn (9) 
> tie Peter Kubelka (9) 
> tie Sharon Lockhart (9) 
> tie Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet (9) 
> tie Jim Trainor (9) 
> 
> 
> 25 FILMMAKERS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY 
> (emerging artists beyond the top 50) 
> 
> 1. Tomonari Nishikawa (23) 
> 2. Jim Finn (15) 
> 3. Daichi Saito (13) 
> 4. Luis Recoder & Sandra Gibson (11) 
> tie Alexandra Cuesta (11) 
> tie Kevin J. Everson (11) 
> tie Laida Lertxundi (11) 
> 8. Shiho Kano (10) 
> tie Vanessa O’Neill (10) 
> 10. Paul Chan (9) 
> tie Paul Clipson (9) 
> tie Emily Richardson (9) 
> tie Sylvia Schedelbauer (9) 
> 14. Minyong Jang (8) 
> tie Hannes Schüpbach (8) 
> tie Fern Silva (8) 
> tie Gretchen Skogerson (8) 
> tie Ryan Trecartin (8) 
> tie Soon Mi Yoo (8) 
> 20. Bobby Abate (7) 
> tie Chris Kennedy (7) 
> tie Andrew Lampert (7) 
> tie Matt McCormick (7) 
> tie Rebecca Meyers (7) 
> tie Jonathan Schwartz (7) 
> 
> 
> Poll participants: Acquarello, Steve Anker, Thomas Beard, Ariella 
Ben-Dov, Amy Beste, Robin Blaetz, Nicole Brenez, Autumn Campbell, Fred 
Camper, Abigail Child, David Dinnell, Patrick Friel, David Gatten, 
Jacqueline Goss, Ed Halter, Alexander Horwath, Kristin M. Jones, Chris 
Kennedy, Nellie Killian, Lewis Klahr, Irina Leimbacher, Scott MacDonald, 
Matt McCormick, Mark McElhatten, Kevin McGarry, Don McMahon, Olaf Möller, 
Oona Mosna, Pablo de Ocampo, Susan Oxtoby, Andréa Picard, Tony Pipolo, 
Steve Polta, J.R. Rigsby, Jeremy Rossen, Lynne Sachs, Keith Sanborn, 
Michael Sicinski, Josh Siegel, P. Adams Sitney, Gavin Smith, Phil Solomon, 
Scott Stark, Chris Stults, Jim Supanick, Genevieve Yue 
> 
> © 2010 by the Film Society of Lincoln Center 
> 


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