Montclair State University, Film Program
Visiting Filmmakers Coordinator: Roberta Friedman 973-655-7282
TUESDAYS from 7:00 – 10:00 pm
Location: University Hall, Rm 1040 (unless otherwise noted)
open to all – admission free
January 26, 2010 – BLACK MARIA FILM FESTIVAL– John Columbus, filmmaker and Director of Black Maria Film Festival.
John Columbus, Director and Founder of the Black Maria Film Festival and independent filmmaker will present an eclectic program of short films from the film festival as well as of his own. In this program he will screen his personal film “Corona” a memoir about growing up in New Jersey and struggling with teenage angst.
The program will also include a screening of selected works from the recent 28th Annual Black Maria Film Festival season and an open discussion around submitting work to and getting recognition in film festivals. The short works from the Black Maria to be shown and informally discussed will be one of two animated films, a slice-of-life documentary and a wondrous and atypical poetic dance film titled “Nora”.
Pola Rapaport has been involved in the film industry as a writer, sound editor, director and producer for over 20 years. She will be screening her most recent work: Hair: Let the Sun Shine In (2007), a celebration of the revolutionary hippie musical Hair, and excerpts from some of her other films. Rapaport’s work spans the boundaries between fiction and documentary. Her films include Writer of O, a docudrama about the secretive author of the erotic novel Story of O (2005); Family Secret, the story of the discovery of her long-lost secret Romanian brother (2000), have been screened at world-wide festivals.
Wolfgang Held. Held has worked as a director of photography for narrative feature films and documentaries since the mid-90s. Most recently, he traveled the country filming the mockumentary Brüno with Sacha Baron Cohen. In 2008, his work on Carrier earned him an Emmy for Best Cinematography. His other credits include Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004), Mad Hot Ballroom (2005).
THE HEMPSTERS PLANT THE SEED
Hempsters Plant the Seed tells the story of radical ideas expressed in personal and passionate ways. A hyper-paced ride with a sizzling soundtrack, this motion picture puts hemp at the heart of just about every grassroots issue in America today. Featured players include Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Ralph Nader and Woody Harrelson. More than a political study of cannabis, Hempsters is a rousing portrait of our country’s most spirited and sensible free-thinkers
George Griffin is an independent, experimental animator. He became a pivotal figure of New York’s experimental film scene in the 1970s with his self-reflexive, irreverent and personal films that challenge traditional notions and methods of animation. And since the 70s, his work has been screened around the world, pushing the boundaries of experimental media and animation practice.
Jon Kilick is one of the most prominent New York independent film producers. Since 1988, he has produced 36 films, including thirteen by director Spike Lee. His recent credits include The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Julian Schnabel, 2007), Babel (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2006), Broken Flowers (Jim Jarmusch, 2005), and Tim Robbin’s Dead Man Walking (1995), among others.
February 28, 2010 – SUNDAY MONTCLAIR UNDERDOG FILM FESTIVAL: OSCAR Nominated Short Films.
A marathon of documentary and animated shorts nominated for this year’s academy awards in their respective categories – $10.00 admission for one session. $15.00 for both sessions. Free for students and faculty with valid i.d. Sponsored by the Montclair Arts Council and The Film Program, Dept of Art & Design at MSU.
NOTE: this screening will take place from 10am- 4pm in UNIVERSITY HALL Rm 1070
Presenting : Dark Matter
In conjunction with Chinese Festival of the Arts and Humanities 2010Billy Shebar will be presenting “DARK MATTER”, a film based on the true story of a Chinese physics student. The film starts Liu Xing as a humble but brilliant Chinese student at an American university. It describes his bumpy transition into American life with the help of a wealthy university patron (played by Meryl Streep).
In conjunction with Chinese Festival of the Arts and Humanities 2010This series of short films by young Chinese filmmakers and video artists will be introduced by poet, performance artist, and filmmaker Ellen Zweig. Also included in the program are a number of videos made by American and European visitors to China.
Mr. Fletcher won this year’s Academy Award© for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. He is a writer-director who has penned numerous screenplays and directed short films. Magic Markers, a short film Geoffrey wrote, directed, shot and edited, received accolades from numerous organizations including the Directors Guild of America and the Sundance Film Festival. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009) was presented by executive producers Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry and released by Lions Gate in November of 2009. Precious won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Awards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
Andy Bichlbaum appears representing The Yes Men, a ‘culture jamming’ activist group. Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno are two guys who just can’t take “no” for an answer. They have an unusual hobby: posing as top executives of corporations they hate. Armed with nothing but thrift-store suits, the Yes Men lie their way into business conferences and parody their corporate targets in ever more extreme ways – basically doing everything that they can to wake up their audiences to the danger of letting greed run our world. Andy will screen excerpts from their latest films and discuss their interventions.
ADAM TOW , Director, Producer, DP, Editor
Presenting: Autumn Gem
In conjunction with Chinese Festival of the Arts and Humanities 2010The filmmakers will present AUTUMN GEM, and will discuss the significance of the historical material as well as their own careers in filmmaking. This film explores the extraordinary life of the Chinese revolutionary heroine and women’s right activist Qiu Jin (1875-1907). At a time when women’s lives were often marked by foot binding, arranged marriages, and denial of education, she envisioned a future where women would free themselves from the confines of tradition and emerge as strong and active citizens of a new and modern nation. Produced in HD video, this biographical documentary offers a fresh perspective on women in China and a remarkable chapter in the history of modern China
In conjunction with Chinese Festival of the Arts and Humanities 2010AJ Keltin will introduce Second Life and how it works.
“RMB City”
The artist Cao Fei lives in Second Life as China Tracy; this evening she will take us on a tour of RMP City and discuss her experience in this virtual world.
“RMB City” was realized as a public platform for creativity. The project explores the potential of an online art community, seeking to create the conditions for an expansive discourse about art, urbanism, economy, imagination and freedom. Also being screened will be several short films by Cao Fei.
April 20, 2010 – TBD
Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder, individually and in collaboration, use the basic materials of cinema to examine light, space, and time. Their work in the field of “expanded cinema” incorporates the character of light, inventive image-making techniques, multiple projection, and live performance to produce ‘film’ experiences. Gibson and Recoder have exhibited their collaborative installation/performance pieces since 2000. Their work has been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), P.S.1 MoMA (New York), The Kitchen (New York), ICA (London), Barbican Art Gallery (London), Peter Kilchmann Gallery (Zurich), Viennale (Vienna), KW (Berlin), Hartware Medien Kunstverein, (Dortmund), TENT (Rotterdam), Palais des Beaux-Arts (Brussels, La Casa Encendida (Madrid, Museu do Chiado (Portugal, The RIXC (Latvia), and Image Forum (Tokyo).
May 4, 2010 – TBD