Far from Vietnam, far from the war

"Far From Vietnam", the film of Chris Marker, Jean-Luc Godard, Joris Ivens, Agnes Varda, William Klein, Claude Lelouch, and Alain Resnais, will be screened at Light Industry on Tuesday, October 28, at 8 pm. Light Industry is on 55 33rd Street, 3rd Floor, Brooklyn, New York, and tickets, available at door, are $6.

This film, from 1967, has seven parts, because of the idea of Chris Marker to make an anti-war story with different point of views to help the Vietnamese people. Organized under the aegis of SLON (Société pour le Lancement des OeuvresNouvelles) and overseen by Chris Marker as a protest of the US involvement in Vietnam, this legendary portmanteau, which features contributions by seven iconic artists, stands as watershed moment for political cinema as well as collective filmmaking. A melange of fictional and documentary elements shot across the U.S., France, Cuba, and Vietnam, it was a source of some controversy in its time, and remains a provocative and resonant essay on global conflict and life during wartime.

Alan Resnais: "'Far from Vietnam' is a film of question marks, of questions we ask ourselves as often perhaps as you. It's for that reason that we put them on the screen: after all, it is as natural for filmmakers to speak on a whitecanvas as in a cafe."

William Klein: "On the corner of 42nd Street and 8th Avenue in New York, a guy is recitinga poem consisting of the syllables na-palm. And no one knows what napalm is. It showed me how blind people become to something they hear referred to all day long. So, we decided to do something a little like Picasso confronted by the bombing of Guernica."

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Moving Image Source: "One of the most powerful documentary statements about the opposition to the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. In fact, I would cite Emile de Antonio's 1968 'In the Year of the Pig' and the collectively made 1972 'Winter Soldier' as its only real competitors."

Light Industry is a new venue for film and electronic art in Brooklyn, New York. Developed and overseen by Thomas Beard and Ed Halter, the project has begun as a series of weekly events at Industry City in Sunset Park, each organized by a different artist, critic, or curator. Conceptually, Light Industry draws equal inspiration from the long history of alternative artspaces in New York as well its storied tradition of cinematheques and other intrepid film exhibitors. Through a regular program of screenings, performances, and lectures, its goal is to explore new models for the presentation of time-based media and foster an ongoing dialogue amongst awide range of artists and audiences within the city.

Industry City, an industrial complex in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, is home to across-section of manufacturing, warehousing and light industry. As part of a regeneration program intended to diversify the use of its 6 million square feet of space to better reflect 21st century production, Industry City now includes workspace for artists. In addition to offering studios at competitive rates, Industry City also provides a limited number ofrent-stabilized studios for artists in need of low-cost rental space. This program was conceived in response to the lack of affordable workspace for artists in New York City and aims to establish a new paradigm for industrial redevelopment -- one that does not displace artists, workers, local residents or industry but instead builds a sustainable community in a context that integrates cultural and industrial production.

The restored vision of Edward S. Curtis

The anthropological Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival is coming up November 14th through 16th. At the opening night, they will screen a newly restored print of "In the land of the head hunters", by Edward S. Curtis (1914), along with live music by the Coast Orchestra. The entire program is on line here.


The New York premiere of the restored 35 mm print, will be on Friday, November 14th, at 7:00 pm, at the American Museum of Natural History. Found in a Chicago area dumpster in 1947, this silent-era melodrama, made by American photographer Edward S. Curtis and featuring performances by the Kwakwaka'wakw of British Columbia, has finally been restored with help of the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Set in a time when the First Nation peoples had not yet encountered Europeans, the film tells of Motana, the chief's son, who must overcome many challenges in the spirit and physical world to woo and win the lovely Naida, a young girl whose bewitching dancing has the power to save her from the evil Sorcerer. This film screens with live musical accompaniment by the Coast Orchestra, a Native American classical ensemble conducted by Timothy Long. After this, there will be a discussion with Chief Bill Cranmer and William Wasden, Jr. from the U'mista Cultural Centre.

The film restoration has been possible thanks to UCLA Film & Television Archive, in cooperation with the Field Museum. John Braham Score: Research Library, The Getty Research Institute. Performance Edition: David Gilbert, UCLA Music Library.

4th Contemporary Chinese Documentary Biennial

The Center for Media, Culture, and History presents the 4th Documentary Biennial "Reel China", in New York, October 17-18 and 24-25. The goal of this independent film festival is showing to the world the best contemporary Chinese documentaries. Conferences and screenings are ope to the public and free of charge.

This is the schedule of events:

Friday, October 17:

1:00 pm - Opening Program. Welcome by Faye Ginsburg and Angela Zito

1:15 pm - Introduction by Zhang Zhen. "Bing Ai", by Feng Yan. 2007. 114 minutes. English subtitles. With the completion of the Three Gorges Dam, 1.13 million people along the Yangtze River will have been dislocated. The majority of them are farmers. BING AI features one woman farmer who refuses to move away from her village. The film follows her seven-year struggle with officials who pressure her to relocate, while a strong devotion to her land compels her to remain in the place she calls home.

3:30 - 4:00 pm - Q & A with scholar and critic CUI Weiping.

4:00 – 6:00 pm - Roundtable on Documentary in China Today with Jonathan Kahana (Cinema Studies), LU Xinyu (Fudan University, Shanghai), Angela Zito (CRM). Moderated by Zhang Zhen (Cinema Studies), joined by several visiting filmmakers.

6:00 pm - Opening Reception.

Saturday, October 18:

10:00 am - Introduction by Angela Zito. "Growing Up (Chengzhang)", by Li Youjie. 2007. 11 minutes. English subtitles. This witty short allows elementary, middle and high school students to share their dreams with the camera. The director describes the “hatching” process of schooling thus: “When I was small, I watched chicks hatching, excited to see tiny lives, to see them grow up slowly, mature and come into themselves. When did I myself hatch? Or, I might ask, how will I hatch someday?”

"We Are the Children of Communism (Women shi gongchan zhuyi shengluehao)", by Cui Zi’en. 2007. 94 minutes. English subtitles. The Yuanhai Migrants Children’s School closes for unknown reasons. The students manage to continue class first in a ruined factory and in the street. Then, even these makeshift classrooms disappear. In one semester, attendance drops from 720 to 16 as they learn in a minibus and in a teacher’s tiny home. Intimately shot, the film reflects the pressures that new city migrants face, and illuminates the children’s struggle.

Noon - 12:30 pm - Q & A with filmmaker Cui Zi’en.

12:30 - 1:30 pm - Break for lunch.

1:30 pm - "My Dear (Qin ai de)", by Gu Yaping. 2007. 82 minutes. English subtitles. The film records its maker’s search for herself through her relationships with several other similar urban women artists--their struggles in and out of marriage, their confusion in the face of conflicts between their ideals and realities, as well as their tense friendships which go through moments of mutual caring, understanding and discord.

3:00 - 3:30 pm - Q & A with filmmaker Gu Yaping.

3:30 - 3:45 pm - Break.

3:45 pm - "Though I Am Gone (Wo sui si qu)", by Hu Jie. 2007. 68 minutes. English subtitles. In August 1966, the Red Guards’ violent phase of 'The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution’ spread from the educational sector to all other social circles. Within this month of ‘Red August’, Beijing alone saw 1,774 people killed. Bian Zhongyun, Vice Principal of the prestigious Beijing Normal University Girls Secondary School, was the first victim beaten to death during this month of terror. The film draws upon photographs of Bian's death taken by her husband, Wang Jingyao, eyewitness accounts from courageous interviewees and broadcast footage from the period.

5:00 - 6:00 pm - Roundtable with filmmaker Hu Jie, joined by Zhu Rikun (curator and critic) and Rebecca Karl (EAS/History).

Friday, October 24:

10:00 am - Introduction by Angela Zito. "Have Meal When You Have To (Gai chifan, chifan)", by Gao Yanfei & Wu Yifei. 2007. 69 minutes. English subtitles. In Lianzhuang, a community in the southern city of Hangzhou, there are two distinct groups of people: students who come from all over the country to take prep classes in art for the art-major of the National College Entrance Examination and those who service them. This other group includes elderly people who equally come from all kinds of regions and backgrounds and who work as models for the students.

11:15 am - "That Winter, This Summer (Nanian dongitan, jinnian xiatian)", by Yang Huazhou. 2007. 88 minutes. English subtitles. Wang Anjiang—an ethnic Miao peasant—beggared himself and his family collecting ancient Miao folksongs. During that 34-year period, his wife died because they had no money for her treatment, and his eldest son poisoned himself to death because they could not afford his tuition. Everyone blames Wang but he persists, finally managing to collect twelve volumes of folk songs ranging from “Nüwa mending the fallen sky” to those about everyday lives of the Miao people. He wants to publish these collections. After a heavy snow, the old man becomes sick. Three years later, his younger son has a family of his own and drinks less, his grandson can now walk, and Wang is even older and quieter. But he keeps repeating: “I must think of a way to publish the book…” In the end, father and son carry the folk song collection to a prospective publishing company in the city.

1:45 pm - "Wuding River (Wu Ding He)", by Li Xiaofeng & Jia Kai. 2007. 103 minutes. English subtitles. In northern Shann'xi province, the poorest region in China, many tricycle drivers left their farmland to make a living in the small city. They pin all hopes on their kids, believing their lives will change when the kids enter university. In one family, four years pass and the eldest child finally graduates, only to find there's no job waiting for her. But the family has already begun another round of battle for college competition. Instinctively, like hens, the whole family turns energy toward hatching another new hope: the younger child.

3:30 pm - "Golden Lotus—The Legacy of Bound Feet (Zhong Guo Jin Lian)", by Joanne Cheng. 2006. 59 minutes. English subtitles. The filmmaker searches the banks of the northern Yellow River and in remote villages in southwest Yunnan for the last women with bound feet, China's thousand year-old tradition of erotic beauty, mutilation and female survival. Told through the first-person narrative of the filmmaker, who was raised by her bound-foot grandmother, the film captures otherwise lost voices and the haunting memories of twelve bound-feet Chinese women aged 78 to 106, including that of the 90 year-old paper cut folk artist, Yang Huixiu. Their combination of strength and delicacy raises questions about the status of women in societies once, and still, dominated by men.

7:00 pm - Special Feature. Introduction by Zhang Zhen. "Taishi Village (Taishi Cun)", by Ai Xaoming. 2005. 120 minutes. English subtitles. Shot over twenty days in the autumn of 2005, AI Xiaoming’s film follows the escalating violence surrounding a political dispute over an election in a village in Guangzhou. Disgusted at the corruption shown by local officials in one land theft after another, the population and its government finally deadlocked over the contested recall—and we are left wondering just who are the people threatening, and in some cases literally attacking, the village organizers and their lawyers.

Saturday, October 25:

10:00 am - Introduction by Zhang Zhen. "The Road (Lu)", by Jia Ding. 2006. 56 minutes. English Subtitles. Hou-yin-dou Village is located in Mizhi County, Shaanxi Province in the middle of the Loess Plateau of central China. A new road is desperately needed to improve the living and economic conditions of the villagers. Ms. Ji Qiaoling, a poverty alleviation official sent from the county government, starts fund-raising. She tries everything: pooling funds from local villagers, applying for support at the unresponsive county bureau of transportation, and finally turning to ask a local “big bill” (da kuan)—an illiterate rich mine-owner originally from the village. The rich guy does not give a clear answer. Ji Qiaoling and her fellow officials decide to host a theatrical performance in the village and invite the mine-owner back to his hometown. The performance starts, the rich guy is back, the banquet is on, and Ji is already slightly drunk, yet the “big bill” still holds back his promise…

11:00 am - "Torch Troupes (Huo Ba Ju Tuan)", by Xu Xin. 2006. 110 minutes. English subtitles. “Torch Troupes” got their name during the Cultural Revolution, when traditional Sichuan Opera was prohibited in public and troupes could only tour remote rural areas, performing underground at night by torchlight. In 2001, six national Sichuan Opera companies were integrated into one that rarely performs. Today, the informal show troupes created by Sichuan Opera actors dismissed by national companies in the 1990s have become the new struggling “torch troupes.” Three or four of them continue to perform in tea-houses scattered in the old neighborhoods of Chengdu. With the ageing audience and teahouse venues disappearing, some actors switch to “dance shows” or turn to running small businesses. Li Baoting, a master of Sichuan opera, began his career at eight but now mingles with showgirls in popular and cheap bars. On the other hand, actor Wang Bin refuses to give up, going on with his troupe in a temporary tent in this big city where everybody seems to be in a rush.

1:45 pm - Introduction by Richard Allen and Angela Zito. "Faith (Xin Xin)", by Wei Xueqi. 2008. 98 minutes. English subtitles. Director Bai is the person-in-charge of the local church. There are five services in Yiminhe but only one is legal. Every day, Director Bai has to rush to different services, so she wants to build a big church to hold them all. After two years of effort, approval is secured. The documentary begins as construction commences, with insufficient funds raised by local Christians. Eventually costing over one million RMB, the construction has trapped Director Bai in a web of huge debt. The contractor refuses to hand over the church, Bai continues to fund-raise, and the Christians still use their original venues.

3:30 pm - "Idle People in Society (Xianzhe)", by Zhang Weijie. 2006. 79 minutes. English subtitles. This documentary presents the life of four street performing singers from various walks of life: Old Fang, an unemployed worker; Old Zhao, an unemployed migrant peasant worker; Shi Jing, a widow from Shandong Province; and Little Ding, another unemployed man who tries to support his child in college. They work hard, but without acknowledgement from family members and society. Amidst challenges and setbacks, they use singing in the streets to seek dignity, explain history and reality, vent their happiness and sadness, and pray for a better tomorrow.

4:50 - 5:50 pm - Roundtable with Hao Jian (scholar and critic), Cui Weiping (Scholar and critic), and Xudong Zhang (EAS). Moderated by Angela Zito.

6:00 - 7:00 pm - Closing reception.

Sound preservation grants program 2009

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) Program for the Preservation of Classical Music Historical Recordings was founded by Al Schlachtmeyer and the ARSC Board of Directors to encourage and support the preservation of historically significant soundrecordings of Western Art Music by individuals and organizations. This program is separate from the ARSC Research Grants Program, which supports scholarship and publication in the fields of sound recording research and audio preservation.

The ARSC Program for the Preservation of Classical Music Historical Recordings will consider funding:

- Projects involving preservation, in any valid and reasonable fashion, such as providing a collection with proper climate control, moving a collection to facilities with proper storage conditions, re-sleeving a collection of discs, setting up a volunteer project to organize and inventory a stored collection, rescuing recordings from danger, copying recordings from endangered or unstable media, etc.

- Projects promoting public access to recordings.

- Projects involving commercial as well as private, instantaneous recordings.

- Projects involving collections anywhere in the world (non-U.S. applicants are encouraged to apply).

The program is administered by an ARSC Grants Committee including the chairman, a member of the ARSC Technical Committee, a member of the ARSC Associated Audio Archives Committee, and an expert on classical music. Grant amounts generally range from $2,000 to $10,000. Grant projects should be completed within 24 months. The deadline for receipt of applications is December 15, 2008. Written notification of decisions on projects will be made approximately three months after the submission deadline. Send completed applications to: Richard Warren Jr., ARSC Grants Program, Historical Sound Recordings, Yale Music Library, P.O. Box 208240, New Haven, CT 06520-8240, USA. Grant applications must be received by December 15, 2008.

For further details, guidelines, and application instructions, visit this link. Questions about the Preservation Grants Program should be directed to Mr. Warren at his email contact. The Association for Recorded Sound Collections is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and study of sound recordings -- in all genres of music and speech, in all formats, and from all periods. ARSC is unique in bringing together private individuals and institutional professionals --everyone with a serious interest in recorded sound.

Almudena Carracedo receives the Documentary Emmy Award

The film "Made in L.A." has won the Documentary Emmy Award, and its Spanish director, Almudena Carracedo, has written this in the film's blog:

"We are thrilled beyond words to report that Made in L.A., which started as such a small grassroots project, has just won an Emmy award! The film received the Emmy at the 29th Annual News and Documentary Emmy® Awards in the category of Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story-Long Form at a ceremony on Monday night (September 22nd) in New York. 'Made in L.A.' has been a six-year journey, and we couldn't be happier to have received this honor. Robert and I were both there to accept the award and it was exciting and very moving... Acceptance speeches provide a unique opportunity to say 'thank you', since this film could not have been made without the care, support and encouragement of literally hundreds of people. And so we took the moment to thank our families, our friends, our amazing crew, the organizations that believed in us (including NALIP and our fiscal sponsor Women Make Movies), and the hundreds of individuals that have supported this film throughout its journey. Special thanks must also go to our Executive Producers Simon Kilmurry, Cara Mertes and Sally Jo Fifer, and to Cynthia Lopez, Annelise Wunderlich and the amazing teams at American Documentary P.O.V. and ITVS that took such care and devotion in bringing 'Made in L.A.' to a national audience. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to PBS and to our funders ITVS, POV, the Sundance Documentary Fund, Latino Public Broadcasting, CPB, Pacific Pioneer Fund, Unitarian Universalist Fund for a Just Society, Diane Middleton Foundation, Puffin Foundation, Agape Foundation, and nearly 300 individual donors. Finally, we thank our outreach partners for helping us to spread the word and make an impact!

Above all, we owe the deepest, most personal thanks to the people in the film and to the three amazing women in 'Made in L.A.', Lupe, Maria and Maura, who opened their lives to us and allowed us to capture and portray their stories in 'Made in L.A.'. As we said in front of more than 1,200 attendees on Monday night, we dedicate this award to them, because it was their fight for their rights and personal dignity that taught us the true meaning of courage and perseverance".

"Made in L.A." is Carracedo’s first feature documentary. The 70-minute film follows the story of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles garment sweatshops as they embark on a three-year odyssey to win basic labor protections from a trendy clothing retailer.