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with Daniel Hui At the juncture of the personal and the political, the individual and the collective, the particular and the universal. A woman begins to come to terms with society after having withdrawn into her own world to mourn her late husband. The film splinters away to document the characters surrounding her – people from different classes, including the director’s own family. An investigation of the landscapes in which we live, work, and play, this is Singapore seen through the prisms of family, class and race.
Sunday, Apr 19 - 7:30pm Still Matters: A Screening of Archival and Found Footage Re-Appropriation with Lei Lei, Daniel Traub, and Xin Zhao In 2009, the Beijing-based archivist and artist Thomas Sauvin salvaged over half a million discarded negatives from a recycling plant on the outskirts of the city. Sauvin processed, archived, and curated selections of these photographs in a project called Beijing Silvermine. The images were taken between 1985 and 2005, a period of tremendous social and economic change in mainland China, as well as the height of consumer film photography in the region. From 2011 to 2012, a collaboration between Sauvin and the Chinese animator Lei Lei led to the creation of Recycled, an experimental video work that animates over 3000 of the Beijing Silvermine photos, reconstructing anonymous memories of place and personal history in China over a 20 year timespan. Taking Recycled as a point of departure, this screening will include a selection of works from experimental filmmakers and artists who explore innovative formal approaches in their reconstructions of place and memory on moving image. The concept behind this program was partially inspired by RECYCLED CINEMA, an earlier screening program held in Boston that was developed and curated by the new Boston-based film initiative Crows & Sparrows in collaboration with the Balagan Film Series.

Still Matters: A Screening of Archival and Found Footage Re-Appropriation

with Lei Lei, Daniel Traub, and Xin Zhao In 2009, the Beijing-based archivist and artist Thomas Sauvin salvaged over half a million discarded negatives from a recycling plant on the outskirts of the city. Sauvin processed, archived, and curated selections of these photographs in a project called Beijing Silvermine. The images were taken between 1985 and 2005, a period of tremendous social and economic change in mainland China, as well as the height of consumer film photography in the region. From 2011 to 2012, a collaboration between Sauvin and the Chinese animator Lei Lei led to the creation of Recycled, an experimental video work that animates over 3000 of the Beijing Silvermine photos, reconstructing anonymous memories of place and personal history in China over a 20 year timespan. Taking Recycled as a point of departure, this screening will include a selection of works from experimental filmmakers and artists who explore innovative formal approaches in their reconstructions of place and memory on moving image. The concept behind this program was partially inspired by RECYCLED CINEMA, an earlier screening program held in Boston that was developed and curated by the new Boston-based film initiative Crows & Sparrows in collaboration with the Balagan Film Series.
Sunday, Apr 19 - 7:30pm Bloody Marys with Scott Carrier with Scott Carrier and Jonathan Goldstein Peabody Award-winning journalist Scott Carrier has been all over. His work, both written and spoken, has taken him around the globe and back, each time with a new story of the road. Recently, he has taken a step into new territory, the world of podcasts. With Home of the Brave, Scott provides a weekly story "from the archives, the road, and the end of the world." Join UnionDocs for a discussion, and a Bloody Mary, with Scott.

Bloody Marys with Scott Carrier

with Scott Carrier and Jonathan Goldstein Peabody Award-winning journalist Scott Carrier has been all over. His work, both written and spoken, has taken him around the globe and back, each time with a new story of the road. Recently, he has taken a step into new territory, the world of podcasts. With Home of the Brave, Scott provides a weekly story "from the archives, the road, and the end of the world." Join UnionDocs for a discussion, and a Bloody Mary, with Scott.

What You Get is What You See: Two Turntables, An Image Macro, and a Bear Named Mr. Truffles

with Kenyatta Cheese A spectator of spectators, Kenyatta Cheese will show how Internet meme and pop culture communities actively defy the traditional narrative of spectator passivity and reveal an experience that is communal, participatory, and emotional. Kenyatta will argue that the audience has always desired participation and that this desire was only rendered passive in order to fit the needs of large scale, industrialized commerce. He then suggests that we change the discourse around the creative process towards a model of networked participation that embraces varying levels of effort and expertise.
Friday, Apr 10 - 7:30pm The Story of Telling with Tirtza Even and Iva Radivojevic Communicating social and political realities in visual media: the inevitable, yet nuanced, failure of the act of representation.Tirtza Even’s presentation, “The Story of Telling,” will review her efforts to communicate social and political realities in visual media. Even’s linear and interactive video work have consistently been engaged with representing the encounter with a variety of groups and individuals, typically ones whose lives embody complex or decentralized social/political settings (in Palestine, Turkey, the U.S and Germany, among other locations). At the same time (and perhaps especially) the work could also be described as an exploration of the inevitable, yet nuanced, failure of this very act of representation. Even’s most recent projects include Land Mine (A feature length documentary, 2014, work-in progress); Natural Life (a feature length documentary on incarcerated youth, 2014), and Once a Wall, or Ripple Remains (a multi-channel video / 3-D animation reflecting on personal encounters in Palestine, 2009.

The Story of Telling

with Tirtza Even and Iva Radivojevic Communicating social and political realities in visual media: the inevitable, yet nuanced, failure of the act of representation.Tirtza Even’s presentation, “The Story of Telling,” will review her efforts to communicate social and political realities in visual media. Even’s linear and interactive video work have consistently been engaged with representing the encounter with a variety of groups and individuals, typically ones whose lives embody complex or decentralized social/political settings (in Palestine, Turkey, the U.S and Germany, among other locations). At the same time (and perhaps especially) the work could also be described as an exploration of the inevitable, yet nuanced, failure of this very act of representation. Even’s most recent projects include Land Mine (A feature length documentary, 2014, work-in progress); Natural Life (a feature length documentary on incarcerated youth, 2014), and Once a Wall, or Ripple Remains (a multi-channel video / 3-D animation reflecting on personal encounters in Palestine, 2009.

Terrible Resonance: A Live Podcast about Subversive Sound, Earthquakes, Ghosts, Outer Space, Sonic Weaponry, and Whales (Late Show)

With Jeff Emtman and Joe Morgan Terrible Resonance is a journey from 0-20hz, telling stories from the well-studied rumbles of Earth’s crust, songs of whales and elephants, and resonant points in the human body to the areas of the unknown that lead to wild speculation: hauntings, the “brown” note, spontaneous orgasm and not-so-secret weapons programs from the Pentagon. The show runs roughly 90 minutes and includes a live infrasound demonstration from Brooklyn-based musician Joe Morgan. Earplugs will be provided. Children and service animals should use extra precaution during this portion of the show.
Sunday, Mar 22 - 7:30pm Terrible Resonance: A Live Podcast about Subversive Sound, Earthquakes, Ghosts, Outer Space, Sonic Weaponry, and Whales With Jeff Emtman and Joe Morgan There is a murky and uncertain world of sound below the bassiest bass we can hear. Despite the physical limitations of our ears, these rumbles, called “infrasounds” affect us, in wildly different ways--sometimes beautiful, sometimes terrifying. Terrible Resonance is a journey from 0-20hz, telling stories from the well-studied rumbles of Earth’s crust, songs of whales and elephants, and resonant points in the human body to the areas of the unknown that lead to wild speculation: hauntings, the “brown” note, spontaneous orgasm and not-so-secret weapons programs from the Pentagon. The show runs roughly 90 minutes and includes a live infrasound demonstration from Brooklyn-based musician Joe Morgan. Earplugs will be provided. Children and service animals should use extra precaution during this portion of the show.

Terrible Resonance: A Live Podcast about Subversive Sound, Earthquakes, Ghosts, Outer Space, Sonic Weaponry, and Whales

With Jeff Emtman and Joe Morgan There is a murky and uncertain world of sound below the bassiest bass we can hear. Despite the physical limitations of our ears, these rumbles, called “infrasounds” affect us, in wildly different ways--sometimes beautiful, sometimes terrifying. Terrible Resonance is a journey from 0-20hz, telling stories from the well-studied rumbles of Earth’s crust, songs of whales and elephants, and resonant points in the human body to the areas of the unknown that lead to wild speculation: hauntings, the “brown” note, spontaneous orgasm and not-so-secret weapons programs from the Pentagon. The show runs roughly 90 minutes and includes a live infrasound demonstration from Brooklyn-based musician Joe Morgan. Earplugs will be provided. Children and service animals should use extra precaution during this portion of the show.
Saturday, Mar 21 - 7:30pm A Cocktail of Mistakes, or a Mistake of Cocktails: The (Notorious) Legend of Robert Beck Memorial Cinema in 2 or 3 Easy Lessons With Bradley Eros and Brian Frye. Every Tuesday night for more than a hex of years, the RBMC illuminated the snowy-white screen of the Collective Unconscious on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Initiated by Brian Frye & immediately joined by Bradley Eros, both shared the core curating frenzy of this no-budget operation, managing to produce over 300 programs and exhibiting more than a thousand artists. When Frye left, it relocated & regrouped, mutating into Roberta Beck Mercurial Cinema at Participant Inc’s gallery just around the corner, for a year, with a team of at least six, but primarily & irrepressibly Eros & Joel Schlemowitz. It later became a restless, nomadic cinema, mushrooming & mutating in myriad incarnations, most notoriously at Issue Project Room on the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, both indoors and out. Lastly, it explored more artworld and musical contexts, transforming the field of experimental film, as both quixotic and quicksilver.

A Cocktail of Mistakes, or a Mistake of Cocktails: The (Notorious) Legend of Robert Beck Memorial Cinema in 2 or 3 Easy Lessons

With Bradley Eros and Brian Frye. Every Tuesday night for more than a hex of years, the RBMC illuminated the snowy-white screen of the Collective Unconscious on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Initiated by Brian Frye & immediately joined by Bradley Eros, both shared the core curating frenzy of this no-budget operation, managing to produce over 300 programs and exhibiting more than a thousand artists. When Frye left, it relocated & regrouped, mutating into Roberta Beck Mercurial Cinema at Participant Inc’s gallery just around the corner, for a year, with a team of at least six, but primarily & irrepressibly Eros & Joel Schlemowitz. It later became a restless, nomadic cinema, mushrooming & mutating in myriad incarnations, most notoriously at Issue Project Room on the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, both indoors and out. Lastly, it explored more artworld and musical contexts, transforming the field of experimental film, as both quixotic and quicksilver.

Field Niggas and Antonyms of Beauty

Director Khalik Allah joined in conversation by Omar Mullick. Set entirely at night, Field Niggas takes us to the corner of 125th Street and Lexington Avenue in Harlem and introduces us to its faces. Not just avoiding but repudiating condescension, Khalik Allah’s camera, a longtime, welcome presence in the neighborhood, spotlights his subjects in stunningly composed, dignified portraits that are hypnotically woven with street images. The non-synch audio track consists of conversations with and among those faces: dreams, regrets, arguments, affection, observations, opinions. Field Niggas is a mesmerizing viewing experience, that finds its rhythm using field hollers. The title draws from Malcolm X’s “Message to the Grass Roots” speech, in which he targets the power balance that creates a dangerous wedge between the “house slaves” and the “field slaves.” Khalik Allah’s singular, trenchant film serves as an ardent call to rise above social constructs.
Friday, Mar 6 - 7:30pm The Klansmen, the Journalist, and the Artist With artist Deanna Bowen, curator Liz Park and Regan Good. On the occasion of the exhibition Traces in the Dark presented at the Institute of Contemporary Art, the University of Pennsylvania, UnionDocs presents an artist presentation, screening and conversation with the Toronto-based artist Deanna Bowen. She presents the findings from her meticulous research on Canadian and American Ku Klux Klan activities in performance, prints, bookwork, and collage at ICA in a group exhibition about the things that lie in the margins of recorded history. Through this body of work, Bowen advances her argument that iconic images of civil rights protest ironically occlude the Klan's activities, and, in response, she shines light on the invisible perpetrators. At UnionDocs, she discusses her research and screens her 2012 short film Paul Good at Notasulga, based on an original audio recording from 1964 of the late civil rights journalist Paul Good's coverage of a violent incident. Liz Park, Whitney-Lauder Curatorial Fellow at ICA and the curator of the exhibition, will moderate a conversation about the burden and privileges of being the keeper of an archive and of being the storyteller with Bowen and the late journalist's daughter Regan Good.

The Klansmen, the Journalist, and the Artist

With artist Deanna Bowen, curator Liz Park and Regan Good. On the occasion of the exhibition Traces in the Dark presented at the Institute of Contemporary Art, the University of Pennsylvania, UnionDocs presents an artist presentation, screening and conversation with the Toronto-based artist Deanna Bowen. She presents the findings from her meticulous research on Canadian and American Ku Klux Klan activities in performance, prints, bookwork, and collage at ICA in a group exhibition about the things that lie in the margins of recorded history. Through this body of work, Bowen advances her argument that iconic images of civil rights protest ironically occlude the Klan's activities, and, in response, she shines light on the invisible perpetrators. At UnionDocs, she discusses her research and screens her 2012 short film Paul Good at Notasulga, based on an original audio recording from 1964 of the late civil rights journalist Paul Good's coverage of a violent incident. Liz Park, Whitney-Lauder Curatorial Fellow at ICA and the curator of the exhibition, will moderate a conversation about the burden and privileges of being the keeper of an archive and of being the storyteller with Bowen and the late journalist's daughter Regan Good.

The Uprising

With Peter Snowdon and artist Ganzeer The Uprising shows us the Arab revolutions from the inside. It is a multi-camera, first-person account of that fragile, irreplaceable moment when life ceases to be a prison, and everything becomes possible again.This feature-length documentary is composed entirely of videos made by citizens and long-term residents of Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Syria and Yemen. The film uses this footage, not to recount the actual chronology of events or analyze their causes, but to create an imaginary pan-Arab uprising that exists (for the moment) only on the screen. It has screened at over twenty international film festivals, including Turin, Edinburgh, Bratislava, and MoMA's Doc Fortnight
Friday, Feb 27 - 7:30pm All or Nothing: Final Hours Fundraiser Party The music, the dancing and the free and cheap drinks. Drink and dance to support Living Los Sures. We're celebrating our final days raising funds for Living Los Sures and all of the backers who have so generously donated thus far.

All or Nothing: Final Hours Fundraiser Party

The music, the dancing and the free and cheap drinks. Drink and dance to support Living Los Sures. We're celebrating our final days raising funds for Living Los Sures and all of the backers who have so generously donated thus far.

Anthromentaries Four

New York Premiere
with Steve Wetzel and Pacho Velez present for discussion. Steve Wetzel will exhibit several videos never seen in New York—each inspired by observational documentary, ethnographic film and video, and the rich and hugely diverse body of experimental time-based art—and read a few passages from two of his short collections of writings.
Friday, Jan 23 - 7:30pm What You Get Is What You See: Down and Out in San Francisco and Antarctica With artist David Levine David Levine will discuss how a 2004 trip to Berlin’s Volksbuehne led him to conspiracy theories about the transformation of performance into spectatorship, spectatorship into surveillance, and surveillance into transcendence.

What You Get Is What You See: Down and Out in San Francisco and Antarctica

With artist David Levine David Levine will discuss how a 2004 trip to Berlin’s Volksbuehne led him to conspiracy theories about the transformation of performance into spectatorship, spectatorship into surveillance, and surveillance into transcendence.

Providence & Friends

Curated by Faith Holland & Seth Watter of Magic Lantern Providence & Friends ranges from small, unpretentious 8mm love letters to the most advanced digital manipulations, from beautiful abstractions to politicized travelogues, and from the finished form of recorded media to the contingencies of live performance.
Saturday, Jan 10 - 7:30pm FROM DEEP: An Essay in Three Parts With filmmaker Brett Kashmere and Jace Clayton, aka DJ /rupture, in conversation. A new feature-length experimental documentary which explores the three-decade love affair between basketball and rap.

FROM DEEP: An Essay in Three Parts

With filmmaker Brett Kashmere and Jace Clayton, aka DJ /rupture, in conversation. A new feature-length experimental documentary which explores the three-decade love affair between basketball and rap.
Sunday, Nov 16 - 7:30pm The Toxic Edge: A Screening and Conversation with Sarah Kanouse With Filmmaker Sara Kanouse and Guests. AROUND CRAB ORCHARD investigates the deep flows of toxicity in the natural environment and how these shape their materiality and the politics of their existence.

The Toxic Edge: A Screening and Conversation with Sarah Kanouse

With Filmmaker Sara Kanouse and Guests. AROUND CRAB ORCHARD investigates the deep flows of toxicity in the natural environment and how these shape their materiality and the politics of their existence.

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