Matt Damon hates Miami, bro.
January 29, 2009
December 02, 2008
October 20, 2008
Big Skills at LACMA
Stephanie Hutin and Florencio Zavala, of Big Skills, are launching a Campaign of Cheer for The Loneliest Gallery, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Cheer up the loneliest gallery.
It needs you.
It needs all of us.
Nobody wants to be lonely.
-The Loneliest Gallery Cheer Committee
October 17, 2008
J LEP TO PLAY AT FAMILY BOOKSTORE
Experimental-comedy performance group Jennifer the Leopard will play at filmmaker Michel Gondry's book-signing at Family book store on Wednesday October 22. Gondry will be signing copies of his new books We Won the War but Not the Battle and You'll Like this Film Because You're in it from 7:30-8:30 and J Lep goes on at 8:30 to play a short set.
For more information, please visit:
http://familylosangeles.com/events/index.html
October 01, 2008
Stop & Go at the Echo Park Film Center
Sunday October 5, 2008, 7:00 pm
At the Echo Park Film Center
1200 Alvarado Street (at Sunset, northeast corner)
Los Angeles Filmforum presents
Stop & Go, an evening of Stop Motion animation curated by Sarah Klein
With Sarah Klein in person!
Get caught up in the latest in stop motion animation with a various of toys, clays, cut-outs, natural artifacts, drawings, paintings, back drops, animals, humans, and places!
“Established filmmakers and visual artists use stop-motion techniques to tell stories, examine visual phenomena, and make political statements in this collection of short videos. The animators breathe life into magazine cutouts, homemade drawings, everyday objects, and even the body itself. The result is a selection of videos that are humorous, poignant, and marvelous.” ~ Sarah Klein, Curator
The Stop & Go program features twenty-two pieces from artists across the country (San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Miami, and Vermont) and around the world (Croatia, Brittan, and Japan). Featured artists in the program include Ignacio Alcantara, Tommy Becker, Lilli Carré, Pete Davies, Samara Halperin, Meredith Holch, Sean Horchy, Stephanie Hutin, Andrew Kelleher, Lana Kim, Sarah Klein, Mike Leavitt, Michael McHam, Laurie O’Brian, Saelee Oh, Mel Prest, Clare Rojas, Judith Selby, SAF Cakovec Studio, Jen Stark, Melinda Stone, Claudia Tennyson, Aeneas Wilder, Sherri Wood, and Andrew Jeffery Wright.
“Oakland-based video artist, illustrator, and animator Sarah Klein brings it all back home with this evening of stop-motion shorts created and produced by an international group of artists and filmmakers, each of whom mold the medium to their individual stories and ideas. Micro-narratives, political commentary, and visual observations all transform via the old-fashioned, time-consuming, stop-and-go treatment.” ~ Connie Hwong, Flavorpill
“Nowadays, young filmmakers use software like Stop Motion Pro and MonkeyJam to simulate the organic, roughshod techniques of Harry Hausen, Will Vinton, or Art Clokey, but stop-motion is still not for clockwatchers. It’s for those who can lose themselves in the wrinkle of an eyelid or the shift of a pencil mark, the type of person who might see beauty in the slow rise of naturally leavened bread. No surprise, then, that the curator of the “Stop & Go” animation exhibition is local ‘bread artist’ Sarah Klein.” ~Silke Tudor, SF Weekly
Entire Program = 1hour, 20 minutes
Tonight’s films include:
Camoknit (2008, 18 min) by Claudia Tennyson
This darkly humorous view of knitting unravels the obsessive qualities and enormous popularity of the craft, which seems to coincide with the climate of fear generated by the ‘war on terror.’
[left] For the Birds (2004, 5:50 min) by Lilli Carré.
A high-wire act of sleepy time bears, black birds, and senior folk.
Tumbleweed Town (1999, 16mm, 8 min) by Samara Halperin. Music by Corner Tour. Find true love with Todd the Tonka cowboy on his hitchhiking adventures through the Texas desert.
Mammoth Cave (2005, 2:28 min) by Stephanie Hutin.
A fantasy of toys, glitter, paper pieces and natural objects illustrate the music of Holopaw.
[right] Squeak, Chirp, Honk (2006, 1 min) by Saelee Oh & Lana Kim.
A friendly look at one of life’s little troubles from a mouse’s perspective.
The Courtship of the Birdman (2006, 1:34 min) by Pete Davies.
Sound by Andrew Lynn & Angie Moore.
A timeless tale of love and loss re-told in a saga of epic proportion.
Sewing for Jesus (2005, 2:20 min) by Sherri Wood & Ignacio Alcantara.
The construction of a quilt honoring the missing American and Iraqi citizens who died in the Iraq War.
Howdy Hats (1968, 0:30 min) by Judith Selby.
A meet and greet of chapeau on the green.
Picture Perfect (2006, 7:46 min) by Meredith Holch.
Old postcards and Vermont Life magazines are used to examine the rapidly changing character of life and landscape in rural Northern Vermont.
Poop or Fleur (2003, 1:28 min) by Melinda Stone.
A series of still photographs shot in order and contact printed onto 35 mm film become a guessing game of sorts. Audience participation is requested to help identify what is what.
Dog Judo – Noise Box (2007, 1:15 min) by Andrew Kelleher.
Rexley and Roy, two everyday dogs, both live for judo but have very different ideas on what it is.
[left] Papermation (2007, 1 min) by Jen Stark. Sound by Eddie Alonso.
A stop-motion piece of regurgitating rainbows and mysterious organic structures using intricate paper-cutouts.
Black Cat (2006, 2:28 min) by SAF Cakovec Studio.
A darkly funny animation of some characters and their mishaps.
American Bandits (2004, 2:25 min) by Philippe Vendrolini.
A wild ride where altered and animated police risk life-and-limb in pursuit of manic deer.
Pulling Down the Sky to Give You the Sun (2005, 1:45 min) by Tommy Becker.
A celestial piece that combines raw performance, music, and costume.
The Making of the Kozik Action Figure (2006, 1:28 min) by Mike Leavitt.
Another action figure in Mike’s ever-expanding Art Army.
Alarm Clock (2004, 2:15 min) by Sean Horchy.
Time makes it’s own music.
Untitled #90 (2002, 1:27 min) by Aeneas Wilder.
Using only red tape and four architectural posts, Aeneas Wilder creates an inspired series of configurations based on addition and subtraction.
Arithmetic (2006, 4:47 min) by Laurie O’Brien. Sound by Michael McHam.
An adaptation of In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan with puppetry, paper cutout animation, found sound, and homemade instruments.
Wanderlust (2008, 5:10 min) by Sarah Klein.
Daily routine motivates the modern day woman to take a trip around the world.
Ich Bin Ein Manipulator (2003, 4:30 min) by Clare Rojas & Andrew Jeffrey Wright.
Altered, collaged and manipulated images from fashion magazines create an entirely different story.
Immigrant Song (2008, 2:25 min) by Mel Prest.
This sequence chronicles the creation of a painting from spelled-out lyrics.
On Sarah Klein:
Sarah Klein uses hand-drawn animation to create humorous and often dark narratives on domestic life and related themes. Klein has widely presented her work both nationally and internationally in a variety of settings including exhibitions, performance, and screenings.
September 18, 2008
Pitzer Cinematheque Series: Kate Dollenmayer
Tonight Kate Dollenmayer will impress and amaze all of the Media Studies students at the Claremont Colleges. 
August 09, 2008
Animator of the Day
Benjamin Brownstein, a former student at the California State Summer School for the arts, has just alerted me to one of this films online. How wonderful!
Ben, might I suggest taking a look at the work of one of my all time favorite animators, Seth Scriver.
August 04, 2008
California State Summer School for the Arts, Animation
Here is an image from the exhibition we put on last week with the work of this years' flock of talented young animation students.
