Short Cuts
September08, film September 7th, 2008
By Roger Beebe, September 2008
Flex Lives!
FLEX, the Florida Experimental Film/Video Festival, returns from its programming recess (after its stellar 10-week Cinema under the Stars summer series) with what looks to be an interesting oddity. They’ll be hosting an “Experimental Karaoke” night at Common Grounds on Sept. 9.
The program features two very different “experiments.” First, video artist Diana Arce will be traveling all the way from Germany to present a program of work she calls “Politaoke.” The concept is easy enough to understand: locals will get a chance to perform recent political speeches by Obama, Hillary Clinton, McCain and others. If you’ve ever aspired to public office, well, here’s your chance to work on your stump speech for a few minutes. The second half of the program is Buffy-oke, where contestants will get a chance to perform a scene from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The competition is sure to be fierce; hilarity may ensue. The show is only $3, which sounds like the best deal you’re likely to find for an evening’s entertainment. Special surprises plus a top-secret guest emcee are also in the works (at no extra charge).
The excitement will only let down for a few weeks before we get another round: a weekend centered around Bruce Bickford, the oddball animator behind Frank Zappa’s films. He’ll be coming in the weekend of Oct. 2, but full details weren’t available at press time. Events will include screenings of Bickford’s films, including the new 16mm print of his latest (non-Zappa) film, Prometheus Garden, as well as a showing of Monster Road, the doc that tells all that you could ever want to know about the life and methods of Herr Bickford. Check the FLEX Web site www.flexfest.org for full details.
And…
I’ve been remiss in not plugging the Hippodrome enough in these pages. The Hipp is really one of our great local treasures and our cultural lives would be impoverished without them. The programming there has been on a hot streak (especially with the terrible offerings filling the multiplex screens)—Reprise, The Fall, Tell No One and most recently, Gus Van Sant’s Punishment Park were all interesting films that we wouldn’t have gotten a chance to see if the Hipp hadn’t decided to bring them. I don’t have access to their long-term programming, but the first half of September is dedicated to a two-week run of Werner Herzog’s latest, an anti-March of the Penguins Antarctica doc called Encounters at the End of the World. Herzog’s been on a good run with his recent documentary work—Grizzly Man and The White Diamond were both interesting extensions of his decades-long obsession with the natural sublime, and Encounters seems to be in that tradition. I don’t have a preview screener of the film, but the reviews are stellar—better still than they were for Grizzly Man—so I surely won’t miss this one, and I hope you won’t either. While attendances at all the shows I’ve seen in recent weeks have been good, I’m sure the Hipp could use our support.
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Short Cuts
September08, film September 7th, 2008
By Roger Beebe, September 2008
Flex Lives!
FLEX, the Florida Experimental Film/Video Festival, returns from its programming recess (after its stellar 10-week Cinema under the Stars summer series) with what looks to be an interesting oddity. They’ll be hosting an “Experimental Karaoke” night at Common Grounds on Sept. 9.
The program features two very different “experiments.” First, video artist Diana Arce will be traveling all the way from Germany to present a program of work she calls “Politaoke.” The concept is easy enough to understand: locals will get a chance to perform recent political speeches by Obama, Hillary Clinton, McCain and others. If you’ve ever aspired to public office, well, here’s your chance to work on your stump speech for a few minutes. The second half of the program is Buffy-oke, where contestants will get a chance to perform a scene from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The competition is sure to be fierce; hilarity may ensue. The show is only $3, which sounds like the best deal you’re likely to find for an evening’s entertainment. Special surprises plus a top-secret guest emcee are also in the works (at no extra charge).
The excitement will only let down for a few weeks before we get another round: a weekend centered around Bruce Bickford, the oddball animator behind Frank Zappa’s films. He’ll be coming in the weekend of Oct. 2, but full details weren’t available at press time. Events will include screenings of Bickford’s films, including the new 16mm print of his latest (non-Zappa) film, Prometheus Garden, as well as a showing of Monster Road, the doc that tells all that you could ever want to know about the life and methods of Herr Bickford. Check the FLEX Web site www.flexfest.org for full details.
And…
I’ve been remiss in not plugging the Hippodrome enough in these pages. The Hipp is really one of our great local treasures and our cultural lives would be impoverished without them. The programming there has been on a hot streak (especially with the terrible offerings filling the multiplex screens)—Reprise, The Fall, Tell No One and most recently, Gus Van Sant’s Punishment Park were all interesting films that we wouldn’t have gotten a chance to see if the Hipp hadn’t decided to bring them. I don’t have access to their long-term programming, but the first half of September is dedicated to a two-week run of Werner Herzog’s latest, an anti-March of the Penguins Antarctica doc called Encounters at the End of the World. Herzog’s been on a good run with his recent documentary work—Grizzly Man and The White Diamond were both interesting extensions of his decades-long obsession with the natural sublime, and Encounters seems to be in that tradition. I don’t have a preview screener of the film, but the reviews are stellar—better still than they were for Grizzly Man—so I surely won’t miss this one, and I hope you won’t either. While attendances at all the shows I’ve seen in recent weeks have been good, I’m sure the Hipp could use our support.
