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Dallas Video Festival Releases Full List of Features, Docs, And Special Programs

The Dallas Video Festival has released a full list of feature films, docs, shorts, and special programs for this year's event. And it looks like a doozy.
By Peter Simek |
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Yesterday we told you about the Dallas Video Festival‘s new digital experiment with the facade of the Omni Hotel, and its fundraising experiment with using Kickstarter to raise some extra funds. Today, more news: the Video Fest has announced the full slate of films for its 25th anniversary installment (pending last minute programming additions, of course). It’s going to take a while to parse through the lineup, and we’ll offer a full preview with reviews of many of the films as we get closer to the kick-off, but for now here are some highlights:

– “Expanded Cinema” at the Omni Hotel, which will kick off at 8:30 p.m. on September 26, the night before opening night. Here is a list of participating artist: Kari Altmann, Frank Campagna, Tim Capper, Rebecca Carter, Jeff Gibbons, Andrea Goldman, Mona Kasra, Kyle Kondas, Phil Lamb, Shane Mecklenburger, Mike Morris, Ted Setina, Carolyn Sortor, and Jenny Vogel. Viewing locations will be posted to videofest.org

The Playroom: Julia Dyer’s John Hawkes-starring drama about families, love, memory, and transgression was shot in Dallas and made 16 years after Dyer’s previews film, Late Bloomers. For the back story about the long road Dyer’s movie took from page to screen, check out this interview with Filmmaker Magazine.

— As part of The Program, Vid Fest’s video art program, as well as the Omni exhibition, Gene Youngblood will be in attendance at the fest and will be giving a lecture. For a taste, go here.

— Artists/performers Nadav Assor, Andrew Blanton, Danielle Georgiou, Julie McKendrick, and Michael A. Morris will perform “live cinematic works” in the Dallas Museum of Art’s Fleischner Courtyard, which I suppose means reinterpreting the language of cinema — dimensionality, perspective, mise en scene, montage, etc. — in a live, staged setting. Color me curious.

— Voices of Change will perform an original score to accompany the silent film Man With a Movie Camera, which was just bumped up to number eight on the Sight and Sound poll of all time greatest cinema.

— Some interesting Texas-related highlights: Mark Birnbaum will present his latest documentary, Swingman, about a Fort Worth fire fighter battling back after being paralyzed, and Trash Dance, filmmaker Andrew Garrison’s documentary about Allison Orr’s efforts to turn the workers and machinery of the Austin sanitation department into a massive choreographed dance performance.

Now I want to stop and call attention to the fact that all I’ve really done here is pull out the first five programs listed on the Video Festival’s release. That’s how dense and quality this year’s event is shaping up. Again, we’ll be back with a closer look at individual films, but it already looks like Video Fest is ready to assert itself once again as the best local movie/media festival.

Here’s the full release:

VideoFest Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary

Sept. 27-30, 2012 at Dallas Museum of Art

Dallas, TX – The Video Association of Dallas celebrates the 25th anniversary of its VideoFest Sept. 27-30, 2012 at its original home, the Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 N. Harwood St. in downtown Dallas. VideoFest (videofest.org) is now the oldest and largest video festival in the United States and continues to garner critical and popular acclaim.

VideoFest: Cutting-Edge Art

Merging art and technology since 1987, VideoFest has specialized in independent, alternative, and non-commercial media, presenting hard-to-find works rarely seen on television, in movie theaters, or elsewhere, despite their artistic excellence and cultural and social relevance. Even in a Web 4.0 environment where everything is seemingly available on the Internet, the VideoFest provides curatorial guidance, a critical voice in the wilderness navigating the vast and diverse landscape of media, helping to interpret its cultural and artistic significance. The event provides a communal environment for real-time, face-to-face dialogue between makers and audiences.

In its 25 year history, VideoFest has used many forms of technology to show its programs; ¾ inch, 8 mm, Hi8, VHS, Beta, Beta SP, 1 inch, d1, d2, d5, HD, HDTV, HDCam, CD-Rom, DVD, websites, and YouTube. An interactive room provided early access to interactive video games and CD-Roms. Patrons of the early VideoFest also were introduced to high-definition TV and to virtual reality from representatives from NASA.

VideoFest: Groundbreaking Firsts

From its beginnings, VideoFest has showcased the work of Texas artists in its juried Texas Show as well as films by minority populations who at the time did not have their own venues for their work. It was the first non-profit in Dallas to use a website and, of course, create an iPhone app. ITunes enables the Fest to easily showcase programs now.

It also has celebrated the work of TV pioneers such as Ernie Kovacs by presenting an award in his honor. Documentary filmmakers are celebrated via the Albert Maysles Award.

Even the VideoFest’s posters and intros are works of art provided by local artists.

We have shared our wisdom about media literacy and animation at workshops for students as well as showcased the work of students.

 

EXPANDED CINEMA Expands the Festival to Wed. Sept. 26

EXPANDED CINEMA

Special start time: 8:30 pm Wed., Sept. 26; best viewing area maps will be on videofest.org

The biggest canvas in Dallas – the four curved walls outside the Omni Hotel – will feature new video artworks from media artists Kari Altmann, Frank Campagna, Tim Capper, Rebecca Carter, Jeff Gibbons, Andrea Goldman, Mona Kasra, Kyle Kondas, Phil Lamb, Shane Mecklenburger, Mike Morris, Ted Setina, Carolyn Sortor, and Jenny Vogel. Curated by Carolyn Sortor, Bart Weiss, and Mike Morris; indispensible additional assistance by Pat Anderson/Matthews Southwest, Mark Abuzzahab/KXT 91.7 FM, and Ben Britt/bbGun Interactive; and thanks to the Omni Hotel and the City of Dallas. The program will kick off at 8:30 pm with audio simulcast on KXT 91.7 FM and will continue to screen from sundown to sunup for the duration of the VideoFest 25 until Sept. 30.

 

Highlights of VideoFest 25

This year the VideoFest is proud to feature new work from the icons of the Dallas film community: Mark Birnbaum, Julia Dyer, Alan Govenar and Cynthia and Allen Mondell have created important, ground-breaking work for decades and have been an influence for a new generation of filmmakers.

· The Texas Show, a juried compilation of short films and videos by Texas artists

· Panels for filmmakers

· The Program, curated visual art videos and installations, includes work by Robert Frank, and a lecture from Gene Youngblood, author of “Expanded Cinema” at the DMA. Dee Mitchell and Bart Weiss curate The Program.

· Animation Workshop for kids ages 8-16

· VideoFest 25 jewelry designed by Brad Oldham

 

Opening Night FilmsANN RICHARDS’ TEXAS

Thursday, Sept 27, 2012 7 pm, filmmaker, Keith Patterson, in attendance

Horchow Auditorium at the Dallas Museum of Art

ANN RICHARDS’ TEXAS (AnnRichardsMovie.com) is a new feature length documentary about the late Texas Governor Ann Richards (1933 -2006). One of the most beloved Democratic politicians of her day, Richards, who served from 1991-1995 was the last statewide Democrat elected statewide in the land of George W. Bush and Rick Perry. Richards was known as a no-nonsense politician who fought against special interests and was never afraid to speak her mind. In 1994 she lost her re-election bid to George W. Bush. Not your typical politician, Richards was good friends with Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and involved over her life with all of the major civil rights movements.

 

THE PLAYROOM

Thursday, Sept 27, 2012 9:15 pm, filmmaker, Julia Dyer, in attendance

Horchow Auditorium at the Dallas Museum of Art

In 1970s American suburbia, Maggie and her younger siblings spend the night telling each other stories in the attic. Downstairs, their parents put on airs and entertain guests over the course of a gin-soaked evening. The more they drink, the faster the artificial civility of the gathering deteriorates, and for the first time, the family is forced to confront the truth behind the betrayals and disappointments of their lives. 

By grounding her film in authentic, honest emotion, filmmaker Julia Dyer (LATE BLOOMERS) presents a portrait of family life that rings utterly true. This is not simply a nostalgic melodrama, but rather a serious examination of family life that will surely resonate with audiences. Dyer perfectly captures the poignancy of childhood and the inevitable moment when a child comes to realize that her parents are flawed individuals. Showcasing standout performances from John Hawkes, Molly Parker, and a cast of talented young actors, this is a candid and challenging look at the reality behind the façade of a seemingly perfect American family.

 

VIDEOFEST: Special programs

GENE YOUNGBLOOD

Part of The Program

Gene Youngblood presentation: There exists in America today an alternative media environment that surpasses the wildest utopian dreams of 20th Century media activism. It presents the possibility of the communication revolution that is essential if we are to create on the same scale as we can destroy. It enables the ultimate act of civil disobedience: leaving the culture without leaving the country. It holds the possibility of radical re-socialization on an international scale and is a mortal threat to social control, as we know it. This lecture is about what is at stake in the epic struggle for control of the Internet, and what we must do to release its revolutionary potential.

 

iPAD MAGIC WITH BRANDON OLDENBURG AND ROB ZIEBELL

Two artists creating new work for the iPad will show examples of their work and explore the artistic possibilities of this new medium

 

ITERATIONS On Thursday night from 8pm to 9:30pm, there will be an evening of live cinematic works performed in the Fleischner Courtyard. Each of these works transforms the event of cinematic projection into a live situation that expands off the screen and into the space while exchanging the prerecorded index for actions performed in real-time. Artists include Nadav Assor, Andrew Blanton, Danielle Georgiou, Julie McKendrick, and Michael A. Morris.

 

MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA (1929)

Jack Waldenmaier composed an original score for Voices of Change to perform live accompaniment with the film

An experimental 1929 silent documentary film by Russian director Dziga Vertov, edited by his wife Elizaveta Svilova: A cameraman travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness. MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA was recently sited as the 8th best film of all film by the BFI. It predates the style of MTV.

 

MESS WITH TEXAS

Collaboration with Contemporary Art Museum-Houston and Aurora Picture Show and Texas Archive of the Moving Image

In the spirit of cinematic intervention, CAMH and Aurora Picture Show asked Texas artists Kelly Sears, Mark and Angela Walley, Scott Stark, Alec Jhangiani, and Alex Luster to delve into the vast collection of Texas-related movies, newsreels, and homemade films collected by the Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) and create entirely new works from the footage. These new re-workings are creative intersections of past and present, exploring varying senses of place and home and bringing new life to cinematic memories.

 

ROBERT FRANK

Part of The Program

Sat, Sept 29 at noon in the Horchow Auditorium. Curator Marian Luntz in attendance

PULL MY DAISY (1959), is considered the beginning of the New American Cinema, an important avant-garde film with the words dreamed up and narrated by Kerouac. The other is his series of self-studies, CONVERSATIONS IN VERMONT (1969). Frank follows his two children to boarding school and asks them to articulate his failings as a man and a parent.

 

THIS IS YOUR LIFE: Regular People

The TV series “This Is Your Life,” hosted by Ralph Edwards, paid tribute to notable people and aired on NBC from 1952 to 1961. Not only movie and television stars received the “This Is Your Life” treatment—war heroes, country doctors, educators, religious leaders, humanitarians, and ordinary people also found themselves the subjects of biographical journeys featuring reunions with long-lost friends and relatives. Among those “regular” people were three courageous women, all survivors of the Holocaust, the horrors of which were still fresh at the time. This program features 2 of those episodes. This was the first time that holocaust was presented in American popular media.

 

STOP-MOTION ANIMATION WORKSHOP

Keith Alcorn

Workshop: Saturday, Sept 29 11 am – 1 pm; Screening: 1:30 pm Stop-Motion Animation Workshop, a Children’s Media Workshop, is a co-production of the Video Association of Dallas (VAD) and Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) in conjunction with the Dallas VideoFest 25. A 2-hour stop-motion animation workshop for 7 teams of 3 or 4 participants, ages 8-16. During the 2-hour workshop, students will learn to write, shoot, edit and produce a 1- or 2-minute shorts featuring “Video Head.” The workshop will culminate in a screening of the workshop-produced work in the DMA.

 

VideoFest: Videos by Category – FEATURES, TEXAS SHOW and ANIMATION

 

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

 

ANN RICHARDS’ TEXAS

Texas Premiere

Keith Patterson and Jack Lofton

ANN RICHARDS’ TEXAS is a new feature length documentary about the late Texas Governor Ann Richards (1933 -2006) one of the most beloved Democratic politicians of her day. Richards, who served from 1991-1995 was the last statewide Democrat elected statewide in the land of George W. Bush and Rick Perry. Richards was known as a no-nonsense politician who fought against special interests and was never afraid to speak her mind. In 1994 she lost her re-election bid to George W. Bush. Not your typical politician, Richards was good friends with Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and involved over her life with all of the major civil rights movements.

 

AS GOES JANESVILLE

Texas Premiere

Brad Lichtenstein

First General Motors shuts down their century-old plant in Janesville, Wisconsin (Paul Ryans’ hometown). The state blows up in political turmoil over the future of unions. We follow workers and town leaders trying to reinvent their town and lives amid an economic and political crisis that grips their community and the entire nation.

 

THE BEAT HOTEL

Alan Govenar

Texas premiere

THE BEAT HOTEL, goes deep into the legacy of the American Beats in Paris during the heady years between 1957 and 1963, when Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky and Gregory Corso fled the obscenity trials in the United States surrounding the publication of Ginsberg’s poem Howl. They took refuge in a cheap no-name hotel they had heard about at 9, Rue Git le Coeur and were soon joined by William Burroughs, Ian Somerville, Brion Gysin, and others from England and elsewhere in Europe, seeking out the “freedom” that the Latin Quarter of Paris might provide. Created by Dallas Renaissance man, Alan Govenar

 

ETHEL

Texas Premiere

Rory Kennedy

Sponsored by HBO

ETHEL is a feature length documentary about the remarkable life of Ethel Kennedy, told by those who know Ethel best: her family. Directed by her Emmy-Award winning daughter, Rory Kennedy, the film features candid interviews with Ethel and seven of her children. The film is a personal portrait of Ethel’s political awakening, the life she shared with Robert F. Kennedy, and the years following his death when she raised their eleven children on her own. Intimate, funny, and deeply moving, Ethel offers a rare look inside a political dynasty strengthened by family bonds, a compassion for others, and a wisdom forged from both hardship and triumph.

 

GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM

US premiere

Rick McPhee

This is an Australian reality show that confronts the issues of immigration in a profound way. In this episode, six ordinary Australians move in with Burmese refugees in Malaysia and are confronted by the harsh realities of their daily struggle to survive. As they forge emotional bonds, the Australians are shocked to learn the Burmese are in constant fear of arrest. During a midnight immigration raid, it becomes clear why. This program points to the possibility of the reality film genre

 

GRUEN PLANET

US premiere

Presented by Zapruder’s Other Films

This is an Australian TV show about advertising: Each week two of the advertising industry’s finest agencies are pitted against each other. Gruen Transfer briefs focus on the impossible. For GRUEN PLANET, we are selling the impossible based on real-world scenarios.

 

JOFFREY MAVERICS OF AMERICAN DANCE

Texas premiere

Bob Hercules

The 2012 film chronicles the legendary Joffrey Ballet from its humble beginnings touring the country in a borrowed station wagon to becoming one of the world’s most exciting and prominent ballet companies. Narrated by Tony® and Emmy® Award winner Mandy Patinkin, the documentary takes a look at this groundbreaking cultural treasure, known as the first truly American dance company

 

THE LIGHT BULB CONSPIRACY

Cosima Dannoritzer

This is the story of companies who engineered their products to fail. Planned Obsolescence is the deliberate shortening of product life spans to guarantee consumer demand.

As a magazine for advertisers succinctly puts it: The article that refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business – and a tragedy for the modern growth society which relies on an ever-accelerating cycle of production, consumption and throwing away.

 

THE LIGHT BULB CONSPIRACY combines investigative research and rare archive footage to trace the untold story of Planned Obsolescence, from its beginnings in the 1920s with a secret cartel, set up expressly to limit the life span of light bulbs, to present-day stories involving cutting edge electronics (such as the iPod) and the growing spirit of resistance amongst ordinary consumers.

This film travels to France, Germany, Spain and the US to find witnesses of a business practice which has become the basis of the modern economy, and brings back disquieting pictures from Africa where discarded electronics are piling up in huge cemeteries for electronic waste.

 

THE MAYOR

Jared Scheib

Senior love lives abound in THE MAYOR, the true story of an 88-year-old tail-chaser, an adoring widow, and a raunchy gossip queen living it up in a retirement home in Texas.

This is the hometown screening for the film so you can meet some of the stars.

 

OMA AND BELLA

Texas premiere

Alexa Karolinski

OMA AND BELLA is an intimate portrait of two elderly Jewish women in Berlin with humor, powerful stories, and a deep fondness for good food. As the documentary follows them through their daily lives, a portrait emerges of two Holocaust survivors who stayed in Germany. They answer questions of heritage, memory and identity, ultimately, through the re-creation of the sumptuous foods from their childhood. This film, made by Oma’s granddaughter, follows them as they struggle to retain a part of their past while being very much engaged in the present.

 

PLIMPTON! Starring George Plimpton as Himself

Texas premiere

Tom Bean, Luke Poling

PLIMPTON! tells the story of writer, editor, amateur sportsman and friend to many, George Plimpton. Using Plimpton’s own narration – along with thoughts and stories from friends, family and contemporaries – the film is a joyful celebration of a life lived fully, richly, strangely, and, at times, a life that is hard to believe was actually lived by just one man.

 

SALLY GROSS – THE PLEASURE OF STILLNESS

Albert Maysles and Kristen Nutile

SALLY GROSS – THE PLEASURE OF STILLNESS is a 60-minute documentary about the critically acclaimed New York-based modern dancer and choreographer, Sally Gross. Called “the most poetic of minimalist modern-dance choreographers” by New York Times dance critic, Jennifer Dunning, Sally has been dancing for more than fifty years. Now in her seventies, Sally continues to perform every year. SALLY GROSS – THE PLEASURE OF STILLNESS is an intimate film about the life and times of this remarkable and charismatic true New York artist who continues to create experimental work with an unwavering and gentle determination. 
It is a pleasure to see new work from Al Maysles.

SCARLET ROAD

Texas premiere

Catherine Scott

SCARLET ROAD follows the extraordinary work of Australian sex worker, Rachel Wotton. Impassioned about freedom of sexual expression and the rights of sex workers, she specializes in a long over-looked clientele—people with disability.

 

THE STAGES OF EDWARD ALBEE

World premiere

James Dowell and John Kolomvakis

THE STAGES OF EDWARD ALBEE examines the life and work of a writer who many consider the leading playwright of our times. In this very personal account of Albee James Dowell paints his portrait while the dramatist is being interviewed.

With the completion of THE STAGES OF EDWARD ALBEE, a 19-year project, Dowell and Kolomvakis’ A NEW YORK TRIPTYCH, has also reached its completion. The project examines the cultural life of the 20th and 21st Century in documentary films that offer an inside view of three notable artist in different media: the great playwright in THE STAGES OF EDWARD ALBEE, the poet, novelist and collage artist Charles Henri Ford in SLEEP IN A NEST OF FLAMES and the a Pulitzer-prize winning composer and diarist in NED ROREM: WORDS & MUSIC.

THE STAGES OF EDWARD ALBEE will have its world premiere Saturday, September 29, 2012 as part of the Dallas Video Festival at the Dallas Museum of Art’s Horchow Auditorium. On October 13, 2012, SLEEP IN A NEST OF FLAMES will be presented in partnership with the DMA with NED ROREM: WORDS & MUSIC at the DMA.

 

SWINGMAN

World premiere

Mark Birnbaum

SWINGMAN is the story of a Fort Worth firefighter who, against all odds, overcomes a paralyzing injury. Fort Worth Firefighter Marshall Allen always said when the Grim Reaper came calling; they would find claw marks on the wall where he fought him to the end. A man of his word, Capt. Allen fought back and won. After twice being returned to an adoption agency, Capt. Allen was abused in the foster care system only to be adopted by an abusive family. His severe depression remained undiagnosed despite building rage and hopelessness while he became a Golden Gloves boxer, the first black firefighter in Salt Lake County, Utah, a powerlifting champion and a rising star in the FWFD until a freak accident left him paralyzed. No one knew for certain what had happened but everyone was certain he would be okay. He was Capt. Allen. He was Superman. What no one could have believed was that he would never walk again. And no one could have believed how he would thrive. The accident left him physically paralyzed and emotionally cured. It left him a quadriplegic in a wheelchair only to discover the first blood relative he would ever know.

TALES OF MASKED MEN

Texas premiere

CARLOS AVILA

TALES OF MASKED MEN, a new documentary about the colorful, fascinating and mysterious world of lucha libre — Mexican wrestling — will be the season opener for VOCES, Latino Public Broadcasting’s arts and culture series on PBS.

 

TRASH DANCE

Dallas Premiere

Andrew Garrison

Sometimes inspiration can be found in unexpected places. Choreographer Allison Orr finds beauty and grace in garbage trucks, and in the men and women who pick up our trash. Filmmaker Andrew Garrison follows Orr as she joins city sanitation workers on their daily routes to listen, learn, and ultimately to convince them to collaborate in a unique dance performance.

 

VEINS IN THE GULF

Texas premiere

Elizabeth Coffman and Ted Hardin

Veins in the Gulf is a documentary that traces the environmental crisis of southern Louisiana, the political decision-making challenges surrounding coastal flooding, and rapidly disappearing bayou culture. We witness the community trying to solve its environmental crisis and relentlessly searching for strategies to restore the coastline.

 

THE WILDNESS

Texas premiere

Wu Tsang

Rooted in the tropical underground of Los Angeles nightlife, THE WILDNESS is a documentary portrait of the Silver Platter, a historic bar in the MacArthur Park area that has been home for Latin/LBGT immigrant communities since 1963. With a magical-realist flourish, the bar itself becomes a character, narrating what happens when a group of young artists create a weekly performance art/dance party (organized by director Wu Tsang and DJs NGUZUNGUZU & Total Freedom) called Wildness, which explodes into creativity and conflict. What does “safe space” mean, and who needs it? And how does it differ among us? At the Silver Platter, the search for answers to these questions creates coalitions across generations.

 

WONDER WOMEN! THE UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICAN SUPERHEROINES

Kristy Guevara-Flanagan

WONDER WOMEN!, a feature documentary, explores the concept of heroic women from the birth of the superhero in the 1940s to the TV and big screen action blockbusters of today. Heroic role models are important in childhood development, yet there is a dearth of these for girls. Wonder Woman provides a rare example of a female heroine who doesn’t require rescue, determines her own missions, and possesses uniquely feminine values.

 

NARRATIVE FEATURES

 

THE PLAYROOM

Julia Dyer

In 1970s American suburbia, Maggie and her younger siblings spend the night telling each other stories in the attic. Downstairs, their parents put on airs and entertain guests over the course of a gin-soaked evening. The more they drink, the faster the artificial civility of the gathering deteriorates, and for the first time, the family is forced to confront the truth behind the betrayals and disappointments of their lives. 

By grounding her film in authentic, honest emotion, filmmaker Julia Dyer (LATE BLOOMERS) presents a portrait of family life that rings utterly true. This is not simply a nostalgic melodrama, but rather a serious examination of family life that will surely resonate with audiences. Dyer perfectly captures the poignancy of childhood and the inevitable moment when a child comes to realize that her parents are flawed individuals. Showcasing standout performances from John Hawkes, Molly Parker, and a cast of talented young actors, this is a candid and challenging look at the reality behind the façade of a seemingly perfect American family.

 

RED FLAG

Alex Karpovsky

Alex Karpovsky’s hilarious road trip comedy RED FLAG makes the case for his mainstream potential. Whether truly narcissistic or an eloquent portrait of narcissism, Alex Karpovsky’s RED FLAG is an utterly hilarious ode to the modern struggles of the micro-budget American filmmaker. While the prolific Karpovsky, has starred in Andrew Bujalski’s BEESWAX and Lena Dunham’s TINY FURNITURE — and more recently he appears in Dunham’s “Girls” — his trajectory behind the camera predates those notable turns. RED FLAG merges his skills as actor and filmmaker better than anything preceding it by telling a quasi-autobiographical story.

 

HABIBI

Pablo Godoy-Estel

Habibi Rasak Kharban’ (DARLING, SOMETHING’S WRONG WITH YOUR HEAD) is a dramatic feature that tells the story of a forbidden love in Gaza. The film is a modern re-telling of the famous ancient Sufi parable “Majnun Layla.”

 

MEANWHILE

Hal Hartley

The latest from iconoclast writer director Hal Hartley

MEANWHILE concerns Joe Fulton, a man who can do anything from fixing your sink to arranging international financing for a construction project. He produces online advertising and he’s written a big fat novel. He’s also a pretty good drummer. But success eludes him.

 

THE TEXAS SHOW

The Texas Show is a juried collection of short Texas-made films. The Texas Show is always the last program at the VideoFest and will be the only program with no other videos running simultaneously in the DMA. A DVD of this year’s Texas Show and all previous Texas Shows are for sale.

This year’s jury for the Texas Show includes Alec Jhangiani, Mona Karsa, and Alicia Chang.

 

ANGEL

Andrew Nelson

Dallas-based former World Champion boxer Angelica “Angel” Martinez reflects back on her life, and how her past is constantly influencing her present.

 

DO OVER

David Fabelo

High school sophomore Adam knows that for there to be any hope for his date with the lovely Sarah, he needs to make a good first impression. Despite flowers in hand and a solid opening line things still manage to veer off course. But a simple request just might give him another chance…and another…and another.

 

 

FOURTH & ORCHARD

Jordan Price

FOURTH & ORCHARD is the story of Adam, a disturbed boy coping with his new younger stepbrother, Conner, with whom he is forced to share his room, his house, and his family. But Adam begins to see the innocence and life-loving soul inside of Conner that he lost. Through their growing relationship, we catch a glimpse of Adam’s torment – what has made him such a violent kid, and what will continue to tear him apart. With Conner, there is a chance for healing, but the vulnerability brings danger

 

THE GATHERING SQUALL

Hannah Fidell

On the precipice of adulthood, 14-year-old Lisellen Uhlmann is without a man in her life; her father is distant and boys in school ignore her. When Duncan Baits invites her to hang out with his friends, everything changes, and in an instant everything goes drastically wrong. The film is based on Joyce Carol Oates’s short story of the same name, with the author’s permission.

 

HELLION

Kat Candler

Little 7-year-old, Petey falls prey to his older brothers’ hellion ways.

MASQ’D HOPE

Robbie Curtis

Disgruntled protestors raise awareness throughout the community of the social economic issues we face. Their lack of self-control inevitable leads to their demise; they are no longer welcomed by the city. This is an inside view moments leading up to the eviction of Occupy Dallas encampment.

 

MENTIROSO

Will Shipley

A coming-of-age story about a young boy who gets in over his head when he mentions that he can get a nude photograph of Maricela, the most beautiful girl in town.

 

A NEIGHBORLY DINNER

Kight Haberer

As a couple sits down to have dinner, their neighbors’ sex life can be heard through the wall of their apartment bringing to light their own relationship problems.

 

THE ROMANTIC SELF-EXILES

Morehshin Allahyari

To build a land; an imaginary home. To push the limits of real and unreal, memory and imagination, locality and universality, self-censorship and self- exile, time and space. To put together my most vivid memories on flat planes or 3D cubes. Inside and outside the empty rooms, rooms without bodies, rooms left behind. To construct the remembered, missed, identical objects. Things I care for, love the most, miss the most…. To put together every five sense of my body into one (sight) through text and animation. A reflection and presentation of emotional attachments. Collective and personal.

 

ANIMATION

(NOTES ON) BIOLOGY

Ornana Films

An animated account of an organism adapting to its environment.

 

AND/OR

Emily Hubley

An artist struggles to navigate the territory between despair and epiphany, and calls upon inner and outer muses. In the course of his debate, subtle metamorphoses and color mirror the poetic discussion that oscillates whimsically between characters – with music by Yo La Tengo and the voices of Kevin Corrigan, Emily Hubley and Tiprin Mandalay.

 

CONSUMING SPIRITS

Chris Sullivan

CONSUMING SPIRITS is an independent feature animation, chronicling the lives of three characters who live in a rust belt town called Magguson, and work at its local newspaper The Daily Suggester.

 

FLAWED

Andrea Dorfman

FLAWED is an impressive animated work from Canadian artist Andrea Dorfman; a work that is at once twee but serious, heart-warming yet heart-breaking, in which she examines the conflicted feelings that arise when she strikes up a romance with a plastic surgeon. Through an intensely confessional narrative, she discovers that secret to getting the boy to accept her is to learn to accept herself.

 

NANNA’S FUN CHEST compilation

Keith Alcorn

What would a 25th VideoFest be without Nanna?

From the Academy-Award nominated filmmaker, Keith Alcorn, an Interweb series filled with all manner of chesty fun; this is NANNA’S FUN CHEST—where “Fun” is its middle name!

 

ONE-MINUTE PUBERTY

Alexander Gellner

Alexander Gellner animated this psychedelic video about a man experiencing the many stages of life in a single minute.

 

PRINCESSE

Frédérick Tremblay

A man brings a second woman to his home…

 

SWIMMING POOL

Alexandra Hetmerova

SWIMMING POOL is a playful animation about two strangers who, instead of shying away from each another, take a risk to embrace a magical moment that leads to an amusing and truly fantastic discovery.

 

SYNCHRONIZE

Elise The

SYNCHRONIZE is a tribute to the powerful effect movies can have on our imagination. This short film takes the viewer through the dream of a video store clerk whose vision is formed by the movies he sees and hears.

 

WHITE OUT

Jeff Scher

Snow is particularly joyful in how it transforms everything it covers. Jeff creates animation for The New York Times.

 

PLYMPTOONS Compilation

Bill Plympton

 

– THE FLYING HOUSE

Winsor McCay’s last animated film, the 1921 classic THE FLYING HOUSE – DREAM OF THE RAREBIT FIEND follows a woman’s dream about escaping foreclosure, taking to the skies with her husband – using their own house as a vehicle.

 

– GUARD DOG GLOBAL JAM

Plympton’s outlandish experiment to remake his Oscar nominated short, GUARD DOG, as a global jam session is nearing completion. Dozens of animators contributed a few seconds each to recreate his original short shot-by-shot in their personal styles. Bill shared this exclusive clip with us to show its progress. The mix of styles, techniques and skill levels is delightful, and the animator who animated the dog barking at the squirrel is the wildest piece of animation you’ll see today.

 

– INGRID PITT: BEYOND THE FOREST

with Perry Chen and Kevin Sean Michaels

This acclaimed animation short depicts the miraculous escape of Jewish girl Ingrid Pitt at age 8 from a concentration camp, in a cross-generational collaboration between Oscar-nominee Bill Plympton and 10-yr-old 1st-time animator Perry Chen.

 

– SUMMER BUMMER

A man about to go swimming imagines what horrors could be lurking deep in in the waters of his backyard pool.

– WAITING FOR HER SAILOR

Waiting for her sailor to return home, a woman on a cliff watches closely as a ship approaches.

 

ABOUT VIDEO ASSOCIATION OF DALLAS

The mission of the Video Association is to promote an understanding of video as a creative medium and cultural force in our society, and to support and advance the work of Texas artists working in video and the electronic arts. The Video Association of Dallas (VAD) is a 501(c)(3) organization incorporated on April 25, 1989. It began in 1986 as a weekend event, “Video As A Creative Medium”, presented at the Dallas Museum of Art by independent curators Barton Weiss and John Held. That first event, which included two nights of video by selected local and national video artists, was a great popular success, which led to the founding of the Dallas Video Festival (DVF) in 1987. Video Association of Dallas also presents the 24 Hour Video Race, the Texas Show Tour, North Texas College Film Festival, Texas Independent Film Network screenings, Texas Fllmmakers Production Fund workshops, Three Star Cinema, and other programs throughout the year.

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