Deliver Us From Evil, 2006

When Amy Berg decided to hang out a shingle and produce feature documentaries two years ago, she wasn't quite sure what subject might both consume her interest and hit a nerve with audiences. When "Deliver Us From Evil" debuted at the Los Angeles Film Festival, it immediately won the Target Documentary Award and a $50,000 cash prize; the film was subsequently acquired by Lionsgate for theatrical release.

Moving from one parish to another in Northern California during the 1970s, Father Oliver O'Grady quickly won each congregation's trust and respect. Unbeknownst to them, O'Grady was a dangerously active pedophile that Church hierarchy, although aware of his predilection, had harbored for over 30 years, allowing him to abuse countless children. Juxtaposing an extended, deeply unsettling interview with O'Grady himself with the tragic stories of his victims, filmmaker Amy Berg bravely exposes the deep corruption of the Catholic Church and the troubled mind of the man it had sheltered.
Ms. Berg's film exposes the truth about sexual abuse in a compassionate and sensitive way. This film will make no one feel indifferent about what has been going on in the Catholic church for centuries.
You can buy Deliver Us from Evil.

Bulbs

by Kate Peters


Awards

Creative Futures 2005
Metro Imaging Student Bursary, Winner 2002

The Mermaid (Rusalka, 1997)

This story is about an old monk living with his apprentice near a river. The old man recalls from time to time the old days; how he betrayed his true love and therefore she drowned herself. It's said that a woman, who drowns herself because of lovesickness, will become a mermaid. Her only goal will be to trick young men with her charms and drag them down to the deeps.

The Mermaid is here identified with the mythological Slavic creature the Rusalka, which seeks vengence upon life by tempting and drowning the living.
Russian director Aleksandr Petrov has been nominated for several Oscars for Best Animated Short Film-- for The Cow and The Old Man and The Sea. Each features a style totally unlike any other studio, as Petrov's shorts are like little epic movies and moving tapestries combined. This short movie was painted on glass by using fingers and brushes. The artwork is like a painting that moves in a very fluid style.
You might be interested in Petrov's My Love.

E.S.U. 4

If you want to read E.S.U. 3, click here.

Ballet mécanique (1924)

Leger was the first of the Cubists to experiment with non-figurative abstraction, contrasting curvilinear forms against a rectilinear grid. In 1924 he made a 'film without scenario', Ballet Mecanique, in which he contrasted machines and inanimate objects with humans and their body parts. The film was premiered by Frederick Kiesler in Vienna on September 24 1924. The original version of Antheil's music ran almost 30 minutes, and a married print of film and music was not made until 2000 by sound engineer and composer Paul Lehrman.
This masterpiece is a landmark film in the development of montage, a cinematic tool that juxtiposes two or more images to infer related ideas or events. The film also explores many Cubist themes, among which the concept that all machines were taking human nature out of humanity.

Vienna Cityscapes

Daniel M. Kanemoto is an award-winning director based in New York City (or wherever else his projects happen to take him). His 1999 debut, A LETTER FROM THE WESTERN FRONT, won the Gold Medal for Best Animated Short at the Student Academy Awards. For the past decade, Dan’s diverse body of work (from national commercial campaigns to feature films) has been featured on Nickelodeon, MTV, the Discovery Channel, and film festivals around the world.

Finding Madame Tutli Putli (2007)

Glitterbead

Michael Mouris is an incredible artist, who made this pixilation featuring a glittery piece of art. The music “Spider Hangout” is by Dominic Bisignano.
I find it so mesmerizing.

The Beholder

by Jose A. Mercado

Exhibitions:

2008 Minna Gallery, 20×20 January group show

2008 Space Gallery SF, My Vice Group Show

2007 Versus Gallery, Revenge of the Empire group art show

2007 Foundation One Gallery GA, The Grind group art show

2007 Las Vegas NV, GM/Jada Toys Kulture Klash Custom art show

2007 Crewest Gallery, Top Of the Dome 4 group show

2007 Minna Gallery S.F., Fighting for dreams group show

2007 Agesong Gallery S.F., Heavy Hitters group show

2007 Los Angeles Crash Mansion, Panthaland group show

2007 Thinkspace Gallery, ISM Untitled Love Project

2007 OCCCA GALLERY, ISM Untitled Love Project

2007 MF Gallery NYC, Zombies Attack

2007 URB Gallery, Represent,Represent! Tempt One Art Benefit

2007 Crewest Gallery, Canceptual Art show V.2

2007 Lost Souls Cafe, Make Believe group art show

2007 Las Vegas NV, Hit The Deck skateboard show

2006 Crewest Gallery, Top of the dome 2 group show

2006 ISM White Elephant Show

2006 Orange County County Museum of Art, Little Squares Project

2006 Las Vegas Arts Factory, Malicious Vinyl Group Show

2006 Crux Gallery, The Red Show

2005 Fulcrum Records Gallery, Vinyl Show

2005 Crux Gallery, Door Show

2005 Crux Gallery, Group Show

2004 Self Help Graphics, Day of the Dead Celebration Group Show

2004 Coba, Mini Board Group Show

2003 Artistic Insomniacs, Group Show

Jesus Camp, 2006

“Jesus Camp” is the second film by the documentary team of Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady to explore the molding of young minds. The majority of the children in “Jesus Camp” are home-schooled by evangelical parents who teach them creationism and dismiss science.

It is a straightforward documentary, with no narrator or fancy cutting to present an opinion. The footage really does speak for itself. The film follows Becky Fischer, a Pentecostal children’s minister who runs the “Kids on Fire” summer camp in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota. Becky’s methods of reaching the children are powerful and at times, thought-provoking. But, some of her methods are a bit more radical.

The film also follows three children, Levi, Rachel, and Tory.

It is rather disturbing to see the children in this movie being instilled with thoughts and ideas that they do not have the full capacity to understand.
The film is being marketed as an even-handed, unbiased look at the Evangelical movement, but it lacks any obvious focus.
You can buy Jesus Camp.

New York 2007

by Christian Reister.
Publications:

Berlin Art Info // Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung // Berliner Morgenpost // Bunte // design report // Die Welt // HörZu // Jüdische Allgemeine Zeitung // Kreiszeitung Syke // Kunstzeitung // Prinz Berlin // Rheinische Merkur // scheinschlag // Tagesspiegel // taz // Tip // Vorwärts Magazin Zeitblende // Welt am Sonntag // Zitty.

The Danish Poet (2006)

Produced by Lise Fearnley and Marcy Page for Norway’s Mikrofilm and the National Film Board of Canada, The Danish Poet is the story of Kasper, a poet whose creative well has run dry, on a holiday to Norway to meet the famous writer, Sigrid Undset. As Kasper's quest for inspiration unfolds, it appears that a spell of bad weather, an angry dog, slippery barn planks, a careless postman, hungry goats and other seemingly unrelated factors might play important roles in the big scheme of things after all. Can we trace the chain of events that leads to our own birth? Is our existence just coincidence? Do little things matter?
Attached to the National Film Board of Canada, Kove also works as a designer, illustrator, animator and scriptwriter. Her previous film, Min bestemor strøk kongens skjorter (My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts), was also nominated for an Oscar in 2006. Kove works in an old-fashioned animation style, drawing the original figures and backgrounds in pencil and scanning in the images and adding colour using digital technology.

E.S.U. 3

If you want to read E.S.U. 2, click here.

Schwarzfahrer (1993)

Pepe Danquart's short film captures the dignity of a man confronted with a problem many of us may have faced in a foreign culture. A young black man is verbally harassed by an older woman on a streetcar, while the other passengers remain silent. He finally exacts his revenge.

Its beautiful cinematography, good subject matter, great characters, totally surprise and not only has it won the Academy Award (1993) for best live action short film, but it has also won more than 30 awards and screened at more than 60 film festivals including Berlin, Cannes, and Sundance!
When dealing with ignorance and intolerance, nothing makes more of a statement than the power of humor.

Megan Brain's Paper Sculpture

by Megan Brain

Memory (1964)

Osamu Tezuka was heavily involved with experimental animation and had won several international animation awards, including the Grand Prix for Jumping at the 1984 Zagreb International Festival, the Grand Prix for Broken Down Film at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival, and the CIFEJ award for Legend of the Forest at the 1988 Zagreb International Film Festival.

This short film is a privately produced animated film. It does not look like an anime, using photographs and cut-outs as well as hand-drawn animation. The story develops into a tale of destruction of human beings, turning the existence of the earth into a memory of the universe. It's an insightful look at the psychology of memory in the life of an individual and a culture. How will the initial reality change in the end?

Radio Science Funnies Inc.

Ryan Heshka has painted for BLAB!, Vanity Fair, Playboy, Wall Street Journal, Barrons, Popular Science, Dreamworks SKG, Fast Company, PC World, Smart Money, Esquire, Harper Collins, and Newsweek.

My Country, My Country (2006)

My Country, My Country was motivated by a sense of despair. Laura Poitras was determined to see the contradictions of the war in Iran from the perspective of the people living there. Filmmaker and crew are invited into the home and personal lives of Riyadh and his family. Poitras and her crew are granted behind-the-scenes access to the election preparations, too.

Working alone in Iraq over eight months, Poitras creates an extraordinarily intimate portrait of Iraqis living under U.S. occupation. Her principal focus is Dr. Riyadh, an Iraqi medical doctor, father of six and Sunni political candidate. My Country, My Country is, in fact, an impartial documentary depicting the controversial 2005 Iraqi national elections. The documentary follows the agonizing predicament of one man caught in the tragic contradictions of the U.S. occupation of Iraq and its effort to spread democracy in the Middle East.
Still the tale told here is not so much a political one as it is a human one, which is why this film rates a wide audience.
You can buy My Country, My Country.

Hommage

by Heidi Spicker.

You can buy her books: BANGKOK, Im Garten, Concrete. She's also coauthor of Asia City Strangers.

Dog (2002)

A moving tale from Suzie Templeton about a young boy who, grieving for his dead mother, seeks reassurance from his father.
This film is about a relationship between a father and son. To protect each other they bravely hold their agony inside, where it festers.

Suzie will intrigue you with this darkly comic film. Dog captures frail, complex emotions that teeter on the edge of darkness, like when the father rubs his temples or like the lifeless swing of his arm after he flicks off the bedroom light.
Everything about this animation is wonderfully subtle and delicate. The puppets are beautifully crafted and the music is just right!
Winner of the 2002 BAFTA for best short animation and of the Grand Prix at the Ottawa Student Animation Festival

Esu 2

If you want to read the previous E.S.U. strip, click here.

Censored (2005)

Censored is a Video Performance by Gruppo Sinestetico.

The distinction between a government censor and a private one is not always clear. Many private entities receive governmental support through funding and other means. With such support often comes some degree of governmental oversight or control.

Art is supposed to be the expression of feelings, the visual representation of what the artist is feeling or trying to show. All people need to have the freedom to express opinions and feelings to the extent that is acceptable, but who is to say what is acceptable? The public should have a choice in deciding whether to view the resulting content. Censorship is always a very blunt tool.
Today, some artists can only choose to censor themselves if they really want to be free.
Art represents a person’s identity. In such cases self-censure is the only identity left to artists.

William Wegman's photography

William Wegman has created a series of compositions involving dogs, primarily his own Weimaraners in various costumes and poses.
Wegman's photos are well-respected in the art world, they are kept in permanent collections of the Hammer Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. His photos and videos have also been a popular success and have appeared in books, advertisements, films, as well as on television programs like Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live. In 2006, Wegman's work was featured in a retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Norton Museum of Art, and the Addison Gallery. The 2007 solo exhibition Funny/ Strange runs at the Wexner Center for the Arts from September 28 through December 10.
His books: Cinderella (Fay's Fairy Tales), Dress Up Batty, Everyday Problems, Farm Days, Mother Goose, Polaroids.
His dvds: William Wegman's Alphabet Soup, Fay's Twelve Days of Christmas, ARTPIX Notebooks: William Wegman Video Works 1970-1999, The Hardly Boys in Hardly Gold, Selected Video Works 1970-78, Dog Baseball 1986

Man and Whale (校長先生とクジラ, 2007)

Greenpeace commissioned Yamamura to make Man and Whale (校長先生とクジラ) as a part of their campaign to end Japanese whaling. Koji Yamamura has only 2 minutes to get his message across and he does so with great subtlety and his usual attention to detail.
Today, only one country in the world continues to conduct whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary: Japan.There was a time in Japan during the food shortage hardships of the postwar period when whale meat was taken as a valuable source of protein. We are alive today thanks in a very real sense to this gift, so should we not reach out in gratitude to whales now and seek a path of peaceful coexistence?
You can buy Koji Yamamura dvd.

Chiron

This is a page from Chiron, a self-published comic by Filippo Messina.

Sicko (2006)

Michael Moore interviews medics and investigators from private health insurance companies who admit denying legitimate claims for the most spurious technical reasons. According to Moore, it’s a scandal that can be traced back to Richard Nixon.
Health care isn't healthcare; bureaucracy, the labyrinth of paperwork and all legal language about pre-existing conditions and denial of service make having coverage as much of a challenge as lacking it.

To prepare for the film, Moore used the Internet to solicit health-care horror stories, not just from the 47 million Americans who don’t have insurance but from those who do. So he travels around to a bunch of countries that already have socialized medicine to see how they work and shows us how France, England, Canada and Cuba actually help sick people instead of letting them wither and die for lack of health insurance.

I don't know if we can accept Michael Moore's selected anecdotes as "proof", but the movie is very funny: only Moore can talk about political issues and make you laugh until you cry !
You can buy Sicko.