Film Comment poll

[Quentin Turnour]

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> 
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09/07/2010 11:51 AM
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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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