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Friday, Sep 18 - 7:30pm Peephole Cinema Presents: Kinetoscopic Records Programmed by Dan Streible (NYU / Orphan Film Symposium) UnionDocs invites you to the opening reception of Kinetoscopic Records, presented by Peephole Cinema and programmed by Dan Streible (NYU / Orphan Film Symposium) on Friday, September 18 from 5pm - 7pm. Peephole Cinema exhibitions showcase contemporary media artists while also evoking the proto- and early cinema experiences of the peep show. This UnionDocs program, Kinetoscopic Records, invites a collision of the old and new, the earliest movies and born-digital works. The ten pieces replicate qualities of the earliest film shows, an incongruous variety of kinetic, flickery, silent pictures in motion, each less than a minute long. This program’s inspiration is the recent rebirth of one of the first motion pictures ever made, Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze, January 7, 1894 (aka Fred Ott’s Sneeze). Although its copyrighted images appeared in print in 1894, the Sneeze was not seen in motion until reanimated on 16mm film in 1953. However, only now has the entire recording been reproduced. The new Library of Congress version reveals The Sneeze to be nearly twice as long as presumed, with Mr. Ott sneezing twice in one unedited take. This is its premier public run.

Peephole Cinema Presents: Kinetoscopic Records

Programmed by Dan Streible (NYU / Orphan Film Symposium) UnionDocs invites you to the opening reception of Kinetoscopic Records, presented by Peephole Cinema and programmed by Dan Streible (NYU / Orphan Film Symposium) on Friday, September 18 from 5pm - 7pm. Peephole Cinema exhibitions showcase contemporary media artists while also evoking the proto- and early cinema experiences of the peep show. This UnionDocs program, Kinetoscopic Records, invites a collision of the old and new, the earliest movies and born-digital works. The ten pieces replicate qualities of the earliest film shows, an incongruous variety of kinetic, flickery, silent pictures in motion, each less than a minute long. This program’s inspiration is the recent rebirth of one of the first motion pictures ever made, Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze, January 7, 1894 (aka Fred Ott’s Sneeze). Although its copyrighted images appeared in print in 1894, the Sneeze was not seen in motion until reanimated on 16mm film in 1953. However, only now has the entire recording been reproduced. The new Library of Congress version reveals The Sneeze to be nearly twice as long as presumed, with Mr. Ott sneezing twice in one unedited take. This is its premier public run.
Friday, Sep 25 - 7:30pm Cowbird Presents: Unheard Voices With Jonathan Harris, Dawn J. Fraser, and Rodrigo Jardon. Even in this age of social media, we still learn most of what we know through predominantly white male filters and pundits, experts and academics, politicians and editorialists. We don't often hear directly from people like a bread baker from La Unión Xaltepec community in Nochistlán, Mexico, the only one of her family to stay behind and not leave for work in the United States. Nor do we hear stories from a father who started his own hair salon in Harlem, recounting the day his son became old enough to take over the business.Those are just two of the people you'll hear from in Cowbird's new Unheard Voices digital storytelling collection. Cowbird's Unheard Voices recently funded two storytellers to amplify the voices and experiences of those excluded from traditional media outlets. Inspired by the acclaimed Cowbird/National Geographic collaboration that gave a platform to residents of the Pine Ridge Reservation, Unheard Voices launched this spring and will premiere its first two collections of stories at UnionDocs on September 25th. Writer and storyteller Dawn Fraser will share the experiences of the stylists, patrons and community members who congregate in barbershops and natural hair salons in New York City. Photographer Rodrigo Jardón will share the voices and images of the Mixteca Alta, an indigenous region in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico, which has been profoundly changed by immigration. Afterward, they'll be joined by Cowbird Founder Jonathan Harris and panelists, Kayla Epstein, Nadia Reiman and Sarah Kate Kramer, for a discussion and Q&A about their projects and the future of community storytelling.

Cowbird Presents: Unheard Voices

With Jonathan Harris, Dawn J. Fraser, and Rodrigo Jardon. Even in this age of social media, we still learn most of what we know through predominantly white male filters and pundits, experts and academics, politicians and editorialists. We don't often hear directly from people like a bread baker from La Unión Xaltepec community in Nochistlán, Mexico, the only one of her family to stay behind and not leave for work in the United States. Nor do we hear stories from a father who started his own hair salon in Harlem, recounting the day his son became old enough to take over the business.Those are just two of the people you'll hear from in Cowbird's new Unheard Voices digital storytelling collection. Cowbird's Unheard Voices recently funded two storytellers to amplify the voices and experiences of those excluded from traditional media outlets. Inspired by the acclaimed Cowbird/National Geographic collaboration that gave a platform to residents of the Pine Ridge Reservation, Unheard Voices launched this spring and will premiere its first two collections of stories at UnionDocs on September 25th. Writer and storyteller Dawn Fraser will share the experiences of the stylists, patrons and community members who congregate in barbershops and natural hair salons in New York City. Photographer Rodrigo Jardón will share the voices and images of the Mixteca Alta, an indigenous region in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico, which has been profoundly changed by immigration. Afterward, they'll be joined by Cowbird Founder Jonathan Harris and panelists, Kayla Epstein, Nadia Reiman and Sarah Kate Kramer, for a discussion and Q&A about their projects and the future of community storytelling.
Saturday, Sep 26 - 7:30pm ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTS With filmmakers Brett Story & Katarzyna Plazinska. AAFF will curate a film program at UnionDocs consisting of nine new non-fiction films. All works presented, that were screened at the 53rd edition of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, originate from Mexico, Brazil, Sweden, Germany, Canada and the US. The filmmakers behind the works are Kevin Jerome Everson, Mike Hoolboom, Brett Story, Bruno Varela, John Skoog, Pablo Lobato, Katarzyna Plazinska, Richard Wiebe and Helmut Völter.icons, ephemeral forms, sleight of hand, the circulation of regulated, and a refuge from Soviet invasion

ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTS

With filmmakers Brett Story & Katarzyna Plazinska. AAFF will curate a film program at UnionDocs consisting of nine new non-fiction films. All works presented, that were screened at the 53rd edition of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, originate from Mexico, Brazil, Sweden, Germany, Canada and the US. The filmmakers behind the works are Kevin Jerome Everson, Mike Hoolboom, Brett Story, Bruno Varela, John Skoog, Pablo Lobato, Katarzyna Plazinska, Richard Wiebe and Helmut Völter.icons, ephemeral forms, sleight of hand, the circulation of regulated, and a refuge from Soviet invasion

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SHOW ADDED BY POPULAR DEMAND Limited Run. Live Performance with Ross Sutherland. NYC Premiere. After a hard-drive crash and a near-death experience, Ross Sutherland found himself house-bound with only one thing for company: an old videotape that once belonged to his granddad. Over the months that followed, Ross memorized every second of the tape. Slowly, he learned how to manipulate the images into telling the story of his life. The videotape allowed Ross to open a dialogue with his late grandfather, and eventually helped him confront the illness that had nearly ended his life. The true story of one man’s journey into synchronicity and madness.
Saturday, Oct 17 - 7:30pm American Pictures by Jacob Holdt With photographer Jacob Holdt "The show reveals the psychological costs of racism on both the black and the white mind. Yet it is not only a "show" about the victims of racism, but also an experiment in oppression. The technique of the show is to incessantly bombard the audience with a one-sided view from the position of the black underclass, a view in sharp contrast to the Horato Alger myth. There is no opportunity for rationalization or justification. A form of oppression ensues which gradually breaks down the defenses of the audience. It effectively creates a momentary role reversal letting the astonished students actually experience the emotions black people often suffer in everyday white society. This opens the way for whites to begin to identify with and understand black reactions." - Jacob Holdt

American Pictures by Jacob Holdt

With photographer Jacob Holdt "The show reveals the psychological costs of racism on both the black and the white mind. Yet it is not only a "show" about the victims of racism, but also an experiment in oppression. The technique of the show is to incessantly bombard the audience with a one-sided view from the position of the black underclass, a view in sharp contrast to the Horato Alger myth. There is no opportunity for rationalization or justification. A form of oppression ensues which gradually breaks down the defenses of the audience. It effectively creates a momentary role reversal letting the astonished students actually experience the emotions black people often suffer in everyday white society. This opens the way for whites to begin to identify with and understand black reactions." - Jacob Holdt
Saturday, Oct 24 - 7:30pm Elephant’s Dream With Kristof Bilsen. Double feature with The Iron Ministry. Debut of UnionDocs Surround Sound System. After a lengthy and devastating civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the capital city of Kinshasa is rebuilding. Through the eyes of three civil workers struggling to reconstruct the foundation of the city’s public services, we witness a tale of national transformation— at a snail’s pace. Driven by desperate ambition, postal worker Henriette faces a system defined by stagnation, even as she rises through its ranks. With ramshackle equipment, a firefighter is forced to watch as everything he helped build burns to the ground. Meanwhile, optimistic railway worker Simon stands guard over an unused rail-station—unsure of what he is protecting. Their stories allow director Kristof Bilsen to offer a rare look at the DRC, filled with poetry and absurdity that is brimming with compassionate insight. - Eli Horwatt (HotDocs) Elephant’s Dream takes us beyond the usual reports of the Congo, to provide poetic and compassionate insight into a country in transition, as seen through the microcosm of three state-owned institutions and its public sector workers in the third largest city in Africa, Kinshasa, a railway station, the central post office and the only existing fire station.

Elephant’s Dream

With Kristof Bilsen. Double feature with The Iron Ministry. Debut of UnionDocs Surround Sound System. After a lengthy and devastating civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the capital city of Kinshasa is rebuilding. Through the eyes of three civil workers struggling to reconstruct the foundation of the city’s public services, we witness a tale of national transformation— at a snail’s pace. Driven by desperate ambition, postal worker Henriette faces a system defined by stagnation, even as she rises through its ranks. With ramshackle equipment, a firefighter is forced to watch as everything he helped build burns to the ground. Meanwhile, optimistic railway worker Simon stands guard over an unused rail-station—unsure of what he is protecting. Their stories allow director Kristof Bilsen to offer a rare look at the DRC, filled with poetry and absurdity that is brimming with compassionate insight. - Eli Horwatt (HotDocs) Elephant’s Dream takes us beyond the usual reports of the Congo, to provide poetic and compassionate insight into a country in transition, as seen through the microcosm of three state-owned institutions and its public sector workers in the third largest city in Africa, Kinshasa, a railway station, the central post office and the only existing fire station.
Saturday, Oct 24 - 7:30pm The Iron Ministry With J. P. Sniadecki. Part of double feature with Elephant's Dream. Debut of UnionDocs Surround Sound System. Filmed over three years on China’s railways, THE IRON MINISTRY traces the vast interiors of a country on the move: flesh and metal, clangs and squeals, light and dark, language and gesture. Scores of rail journeys come together into one, capturing the thrills and anxieties of social and technological transformation. THE IRON MINISTRY immerses audiences in fleeting relationships and uneasy encounters between humans and machines on what will soon be the world's largest railway network.

The Iron Ministry

With J. P. Sniadecki. Part of double feature with Elephant's Dream. Debut of UnionDocs Surround Sound System. Filmed over three years on China’s railways, THE IRON MINISTRY traces the vast interiors of a country on the move: flesh and metal, clangs and squeals, light and dark, language and gesture. Scores of rail journeys come together into one, capturing the thrills and anxieties of social and technological transformation. THE IRON MINISTRY immerses audiences in fleeting relationships and uneasy encounters between humans and machines on what will soon be the world's largest railway network.
Saturday, Oct 31 - 7:30pm HALLOWEEN at UNIONDOCS Halloween Party at UnionDocs. With freaks and ghoulish GIFs and much more. On Saturday October 31st UnionDocs will open its doors to a spooky night of thrill and horror. Stop by if you dare, and bring your friends.

HALLOWEEN at UNIONDOCS

Halloween Party at UnionDocs. With freaks and ghoulish GIFs and much more. On Saturday October 31st UnionDocs will open its doors to a spooky night of thrill and horror. Stop by if you dare, and bring your friends.
Sunday, Nov 1 - 7:30pm Speculation Nation With Sabine Gruffat, Bill Brown, Paige Sarlin, Elin Gran, Luis Moreno-Caballud and Rebecca Amato. NYC Premiere. The global financial crisis that began in 2007 battered Spain. Over a quarter of the population lost their jobs, and hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes. The constitutional guarantee for housing that has been a cornerstone of Spain following the death of Francisco Franco has been shaken by a combination of greedy real estate speculators, predatory banks, corrupt public officials, and a global financial catastrophe. In this impressionistic documentary film, Sabine Gruffat and Bill Brown travel across Spain to explore the consequences of the housing crisis. What they find are Spanish citizens, inspired by the politics of The 15M Movement and Occupy Wall Street, who are mobilizing, collectivizing, and fighting for the right for a decent place to live. Along the way, the filmmakers visit young mothers and their families squatting in failed condo developments; intentional communities of mountain cave dwellers; protest campsites that have sprung up in front of bank branches; and empty apartment buildings transformed into experiments in utopian living. The film examines the ideologies that separate housing from home, and real estate speculation from speculations about a better way to live.

Speculation Nation

With Sabine Gruffat, Bill Brown, Paige Sarlin, Elin Gran, Luis Moreno-Caballud and Rebecca Amato. NYC Premiere. The global financial crisis that began in 2007 battered Spain. Over a quarter of the population lost their jobs, and hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes. The constitutional guarantee for housing that has been a cornerstone of Spain following the death of Francisco Franco has been shaken by a combination of greedy real estate speculators, predatory banks, corrupt public officials, and a global financial catastrophe. In this impressionistic documentary film, Sabine Gruffat and Bill Brown travel across Spain to explore the consequences of the housing crisis. What they find are Spanish citizens, inspired by the politics of The 15M Movement and Occupy Wall Street, who are mobilizing, collectivizing, and fighting for the right for a decent place to live. Along the way, the filmmakers visit young mothers and their families squatting in failed condo developments; intentional communities of mountain cave dwellers; protest campsites that have sprung up in front of bank branches; and empty apartment buildings transformed into experiments in utopian living. The film examines the ideologies that separate housing from home, and real estate speculation from speculations about a better way to live.

Haunted (Maskoon)

With Liwaa Yazji and Jason Fox. An uncertain existence followed the escape and expulsion from Syria that tumbled into a physical and mental nowhere, a non-space between yesterday and tomorrow. Haunted tells of the loss of home and security, of the the meanings that a home has in one’s life. Haunted received a Special Mention Prize for a First Film at FID Marseille, 2014.
Sunday, Nov 8 - 7:30pm Eavesdroppers, Ventriloquists and Ghosts With Johanna Linsley, David Helbich, Brian House, Laure Fernandez, Brian Fuata & Alison S. M. Kobayashi This event brings together a group of international artists and theorists who work with sounds that are in some sense illegitimate. These sounds (and modes of listening to them) are particularly contemporary. They play on textures and moods conditioned by shifting economic forces, changes in our understanding of the role of the state, and the fragmenting of identity politics. Here, the illicit listening of the eavesdropper taps into the anxieties and potentialities of an era of surveillance and privatisation. The uncanny voice of the ventriloquist speaks of the encounter of human and non-human agent, and asks: who is controlling whom? The voices of the past and the ghost in the machine haunt the proceedings and insist on a reckoning with both history and the future that is nevertheless full of gaps, multiples and indeterminacies. This event is informed partly by notions of 'acousmatic' sounds, or sounds whose origins are in some way obscured or indiscoverable. As theorist Salomé Voegelin suggests, however, this is not to figure origins as singular and fixed, but to open up thinking about context as 'a plurality of things thinging' (Voegelin, 2015). This focus on plurality extends to ideas of the live and recorded, so that the distinction between them is understood as dynamic and subject to interpretation.

Eavesdroppers, Ventriloquists and Ghosts

With Johanna Linsley, David Helbich, Brian House, Laure Fernandez, Brian Fuata & Alison S. M. Kobayashi This event brings together a group of international artists and theorists who work with sounds that are in some sense illegitimate. These sounds (and modes of listening to them) are particularly contemporary. They play on textures and moods conditioned by shifting economic forces, changes in our understanding of the role of the state, and the fragmenting of identity politics. Here, the illicit listening of the eavesdropper taps into the anxieties and potentialities of an era of surveillance and privatisation. The uncanny voice of the ventriloquist speaks of the encounter of human and non-human agent, and asks: who is controlling whom? The voices of the past and the ghost in the machine haunt the proceedings and insist on a reckoning with both history and the future that is nevertheless full of gaps, multiples and indeterminacies. This event is informed partly by notions of 'acousmatic' sounds, or sounds whose origins are in some way obscured or indiscoverable. As theorist Salomé Voegelin suggests, however, this is not to figure origins as singular and fixed, but to open up thinking about context as 'a plurality of things thinging' (Voegelin, 2015). This focus on plurality extends to ideas of the live and recorded, so that the distinction between them is understood as dynamic and subject to interpretation.
Sunday, Nov 15 - 7:30pm Sublime Optics: Documentary, Geography, and Mapping With Peter Bo Rappmund and Laura Kurgan. Topophilia traces the 800-mile path of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), and examines one of the most historically productive oil routes in the United States. Completed in 1977, TAPS unique structure runs both above and underground through pristine Alaskan terrain—up mountain passes, over frozen tundra, and across hundreds of rivers and streams. From numerous extraction points on the North Slope, hot crude oil is moved the entire length of Alaska via TAPS to the Valdez Marine Terminal, where ships load the petroleum before they voyage to ports around the world. This terminal was the initial point of departure for the Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker bound for Long Beach, California, which ran aground on the Bligh Reef in 1989 and resulted in the second largest oil spill in U.S. history. Shot entirely with a stills camera, Topophilia studies a pipeline’s inherent linearity and its unwavering repetition in construction. The documentary presents these architectural elements as both foreground and background; recurring patterns in the structure become fixed points that illuminate movement and stasis in natural and man-made landscapes. Through the use of frame by frame animation, time-lapse photography, looped sequences, and layered field recording compositions, the film decodes hidden messages of the built environment, and portrays TAPS and its surroundings harmoniously as a continuous, giant building; a space that not only reorders ideas about landscape and our place within it, but one that also offers an unmistakable juxtaposition between the endgame of industrial revolution, and the modern ecosystems where this scenario ultimately plays out.

Sublime Optics: Documentary, Geography, and Mapping

With Peter Bo Rappmund and Laura Kurgan. Topophilia traces the 800-mile path of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), and examines one of the most historically productive oil routes in the United States. Completed in 1977, TAPS unique structure runs both above and underground through pristine Alaskan terrain—up mountain passes, over frozen tundra, and across hundreds of rivers and streams. From numerous extraction points on the North Slope, hot crude oil is moved the entire length of Alaska via TAPS to the Valdez Marine Terminal, where ships load the petroleum before they voyage to ports around the world. This terminal was the initial point of departure for the Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker bound for Long Beach, California, which ran aground on the Bligh Reef in 1989 and resulted in the second largest oil spill in U.S. history. Shot entirely with a stills camera, Topophilia studies a pipeline’s inherent linearity and its unwavering repetition in construction. The documentary presents these architectural elements as both foreground and background; recurring patterns in the structure become fixed points that illuminate movement and stasis in natural and man-made landscapes. Through the use of frame by frame animation, time-lapse photography, looped sequences, and layered field recording compositions, the film decodes hidden messages of the built environment, and portrays TAPS and its surroundings harmoniously as a continuous, giant building; a space that not only reorders ideas about landscape and our place within it, but one that also offers an unmistakable juxtaposition between the endgame of industrial revolution, and the modern ecosystems where this scenario ultimately plays out.

Lucky

With Laura Checkoway, Julie Bridgham, Dr. Pereta P. Rodriguez and Neyda Martinez. Human Rights Through a Different Lens, is a film series meant to use documentary film to expand dialogue around the intersection of human rights and art. It is a partnership of Brooklyn media organizations Skylight, WITNESS and UnionDocs. n astoundingly brilliant, incredibly intimate account of struggle and survival, Lucky is a gut-wrenching and fascinating watch. Following the confrontingly bullish and hopelessly vulnerable Waleska ‘Lucky’ Torres Ruiz for over six years, ‘Lucky’ is an unflinching, provocative look at one woman’s turbulent life through foster care, rape, abuse, poverty, homelessness and hustling. A single parent lesbian mother of two, Lucky’s New York isn’t Barney’s and bike rides around Central Park. It’s the Bronx, homeless shelters and trying to fight a frustratingly red-tape strewn system.
Friday, Nov 20 - 7:30pm City of Lost Souls With Juliet Jacques. Lagging behind gay and lesbian history, a transgender cultural cannon is still being defined, and Rosa von Praunheim’s 1983 trans musical spectacular, City of Lost Souls, captures a unique position within the development of transgender theory. At the time it was released, City of Lost Souls was criticized for its messy storyline. Trans: A Memoir author Juliet Jacques argues that the film has aged remarkably well; in fact it’s flawed or Warholian insistence on character and improvisation forever preserved a nuanced exploration of the alienation that comes with being a gender or sexual minority. “It’s fascinating to see the debates in which they worked out their gender identities staged before online communities, transgender-specific fanzines or Queer/Transgender Studies courses — all crucial to the development of organized transgender politics,” Jacques wrote in her review of the film. By 1982, “transgender” had been used in several contexts, but it does not appear in City of Lost Souls. The relationship between the two main characters, Angie Stardust, a transexual, and Tara O’Hara, the transvestite “ideal,” whose breasts Angie envies and derides — anticipate the passionate debates about the tranvestite / transsexual dichotomy and transgender alliance. As Jacques writes in her memoir, the transgender alliance that emerged did not end debates between transsexual people who moved across the gender binary and transgender and genderqueer individuals who aimed to find space beyond male and female.

City of Lost Souls

With Juliet Jacques. Lagging behind gay and lesbian history, a transgender cultural cannon is still being defined, and Rosa von Praunheim’s 1983 trans musical spectacular, City of Lost Souls, captures a unique position within the development of transgender theory. At the time it was released, City of Lost Souls was criticized for its messy storyline. Trans: A Memoir author Juliet Jacques argues that the film has aged remarkably well; in fact it’s flawed or Warholian insistence on character and improvisation forever preserved a nuanced exploration of the alienation that comes with being a gender or sexual minority. “It’s fascinating to see the debates in which they worked out their gender identities staged before online communities, transgender-specific fanzines or Queer/Transgender Studies courses — all crucial to the development of organized transgender politics,” Jacques wrote in her review of the film. By 1982, “transgender” had been used in several contexts, but it does not appear in City of Lost Souls. The relationship between the two main characters, Angie Stardust, a transexual, and Tara O’Hara, the transvestite “ideal,” whose breasts Angie envies and derides — anticipate the passionate debates about the tranvestite / transsexual dichotomy and transgender alliance. As Jacques writes in her memoir, the transgender alliance that emerged did not end debates between transsexual people who moved across the gender binary and transgender and genderqueer individuals who aimed to find space beyond male and female.
Sunday, Nov 22 - 7:30pm Nicolas Boone: Psalm and Hillbrow With Nicolas Boone. In this postapocalyptic world that evaporated into desert sand, neither questions nor answers exist, neither norms nor dialogue. At this event two of Nicolas Boone's most recent works, Psalm (2015) and Hillbrow (2014) will be screened.

Nicolas Boone: Psalm and Hillbrow

With Nicolas Boone. In this postapocalyptic world that evaporated into desert sand, neither questions nor answers exist, neither norms nor dialogue. At this event two of Nicolas Boone's most recent works, Psalm (2015) and Hillbrow (2014) will be screened.
Friday, Dec 4 - 7:30pm Reception in Honor of the Roberto Guerra Documentary Fund With Kathy Brew and Cecilia Aldarondo Including a sneak preview of clips from Aldarondo's awarded and long-awaited film Memories of a Penitent Heart. In this personal documentary about family, faith, and the painful costs of prejudice, Aldarondo revisits her family history. Twenty-five years after her uncle Miguel died of AIDS, she tracks down his gay lover and cracks open a Pandora’s box of unresolved family drama. The Roberto Guerra Documentary Fund was launched in the fall of 2014 during the 5th Contemporary Peruvian Film Showcase. Originally from Peru, filmmaker Roberto Guerra came to New York as a young, aspiring filmmaker in the late 60s to meet the cinema verité pioneers. From then on he was inspired to create a number of films while living in New York and Europe. He continued to shoot and produce throughout the last year of his life. His spirit and equanimity in the face of his sudden cancer diagnosis was inspirational. He died in January 2014. The Fund aims to honor Roberto Guerra’s life and legacy in the field by supporting and encouraging an emerging Latin-American or US-based Latino filmmaker living in New York in the creation of his or her documentary work. Media artist Kathy Brew, Roberto Guerra’s long-time collaborator and wife, established the Fund in partnership with UnionDocs as the non-profit administrator. To date, the fund has raised almost $15,000. A list of supporters can be found here. A select group of people in the field were invited to nominate potential candidates and then a selection panel convened on September 11th. Cecilia Aldarondo will receive $ 2,500 to support the completion of her first feature-length documentary, Memories of a Penitent Heart. The film is currently in post-production and the grant funds will be used towards costs of an original music score for the film. Cecilia Aldarondo's personal documentary Memories of a Penitent Heart has been supported by grants and fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, the Sundance Institute, The Time Warner Foundation, Firelight Media, The Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation, and The National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP). In 2015, Memories of a Penitent Heart was selected for IFP's Independent Filmmaker Lab as well as Sundance Institute's Edit and Story Lab. That same year, Aldarondo was selected as one of Filmmaker Magazine's “25 New Faces of Independent Film.”

Reception in Honor of the Roberto Guerra Documentary Fund

With Kathy Brew and Cecilia Aldarondo Including a sneak preview of clips from Aldarondo's awarded and long-awaited film Memories of a Penitent Heart. In this personal documentary about family, faith, and the painful costs of prejudice, Aldarondo revisits her family history. Twenty-five years after her uncle Miguel died of AIDS, she tracks down his gay lover and cracks open a Pandora’s box of unresolved family drama. The Roberto Guerra Documentary Fund was launched in the fall of 2014 during the 5th Contemporary Peruvian Film Showcase. Originally from Peru, filmmaker Roberto Guerra came to New York as a young, aspiring filmmaker in the late 60s to meet the cinema verité pioneers. From then on he was inspired to create a number of films while living in New York and Europe. He continued to shoot and produce throughout the last year of his life. His spirit and equanimity in the face of his sudden cancer diagnosis was inspirational. He died in January 2014. The Fund aims to honor Roberto Guerra’s life and legacy in the field by supporting and encouraging an emerging Latin-American or US-based Latino filmmaker living in New York in the creation of his or her documentary work. Media artist Kathy Brew, Roberto Guerra’s long-time collaborator and wife, established the Fund in partnership with UnionDocs as the non-profit administrator. To date, the fund has raised almost $15,000. A list of supporters can be found here. A select group of people in the field were invited to nominate potential candidates and then a selection panel convened on September 11th. Cecilia Aldarondo will receive $ 2,500 to support the completion of her first feature-length documentary, Memories of a Penitent Heart. The film is currently in post-production and the grant funds will be used towards costs of an original music score for the film. Cecilia Aldarondo's personal documentary Memories of a Penitent Heart has been supported by grants and fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, the Sundance Institute, The Time Warner Foundation, Firelight Media, The Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation, and The National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP). In 2015, Memories of a Penitent Heart was selected for IFP's Independent Filmmaker Lab as well as Sundance Institute's Edit and Story Lab. That same year, Aldarondo was selected as one of Filmmaker Magazine's “25 New Faces of Independent Film.”
Sunday, Dec 6 - 7:30pm Stone Tape Theories: Hearing, Haunting, and the Memory of Materials With Kevin T. Allen, Jen Heuson and Shannon Mattern. A stone tape is a material object that has “recorded” the energy of a past event. Widely popularized by British author Nigel Kneale in his 1972 teleplay The Stone Tape, beliefs in the recording ability of objects and environments span the practices of heritage preservation, paranormal investigation, sound and media theory, and spiritual pilgrimage. But if materials do, in fact, record the past, how do contemporary encounters act as instances of playback? Through a focus on sound, hearing, and listening, we will take up this question as an opportunity to interrogate what a sound recording is and what it does. How do we listen to and through material objects? How do we hear a mood or feeling? What is the sound of a memory or a myth? From experiences of haunting to early sound recording techniques to atmospheric design, we will trace a genealogy of stone tape theory and will discuss how these apply to our own scholarly and artistic practice. Through field recordings, film screenings, and archival examples, this evening will explore the relationships between the social and sensorial practices of hearing and listening and material objects ranging from vinyl to ghost towns to sacred stones. Works presented are grounded in years of non-fiction filmmaking and sound research and include investigations into aural politics, expanded sound recording techniques, and heritage production in South Dakota. The evening will culminate in a panel discussion about the relevance of stone tape theory to media archaeology, archaeoacoustics, aural heritage, sound theory, and non-fiction filmmaking.

Stone Tape Theories: Hearing, Haunting, and the Memory of Materials

With Kevin T. Allen, Jen Heuson and Shannon Mattern. A stone tape is a material object that has “recorded” the energy of a past event. Widely popularized by British author Nigel Kneale in his 1972 teleplay The Stone Tape, beliefs in the recording ability of objects and environments span the practices of heritage preservation, paranormal investigation, sound and media theory, and spiritual pilgrimage. But if materials do, in fact, record the past, how do contemporary encounters act as instances of playback? Through a focus on sound, hearing, and listening, we will take up this question as an opportunity to interrogate what a sound recording is and what it does. How do we listen to and through material objects? How do we hear a mood or feeling? What is the sound of a memory or a myth? From experiences of haunting to early sound recording techniques to atmospheric design, we will trace a genealogy of stone tape theory and will discuss how these apply to our own scholarly and artistic practice. Through field recordings, film screenings, and archival examples, this evening will explore the relationships between the social and sensorial practices of hearing and listening and material objects ranging from vinyl to ghost towns to sacred stones. Works presented are grounded in years of non-fiction filmmaking and sound research and include investigations into aural politics, expanded sound recording techniques, and heritage production in South Dakota. The evening will culminate in a panel discussion about the relevance of stone tape theory to media archaeology, archaeoacoustics, aural heritage, sound theory, and non-fiction filmmaking.
Saturday, Dec 12 - 10:00am Translating Empathy: A Seminar Dedicated to Social Engagement and Documentary Art With Jody Wood, Sally Szwed, Barbara Hammer and Kelly Anderson Exposing social issues with accountable narratives and creating space for artistic decisions while decentralizing point of view.

Translating Empathy: A Seminar Dedicated to Social Engagement and Documentary Art

With Jody Wood, Sally Szwed, Barbara Hammer and Kelly Anderson Exposing social issues with accountable narratives and creating space for artistic decisions while decentralizing point of view.

Peek in the window of our bustling building in NYC and tune into the ideas and energy bubbling up from the UNDO Center.

Tune into cutting-edge, powerful and poetic documentary programs and connect to conversations with the artists and thinkers passing through.

Now available at the Apple Store.

$7

MONTHLY

 

Unlimited access to all of our monthly offerings for the price of two espressos.
$75

ANNUALLY

 

Keep it simple and save. Unlimited access to our sweet offerings for a reduced, annual fee and receive some added benefits.

$60

LOCAL, ARTIST, STUDENT OR SENIOR

 

In the neighborhood, a working artist, student or senior? This membership is for you. Fill out a quick form for a discount code to an annual membership.

$200

ANNUAL EDITIONS MEMBERSHIP

 

Get all of the benefits of the Annual UNDO Membership plus an annual subscription to UnionDocs Editions, a set of publications, merchandise or special objects.

UnionDocs is grateful for support from:

Help celebrate our 20th Anniversary!

Shop our Gift Registry and name an item to be honored as a part of UNDO history. Learn more about this ambitious renovation of our new permanent headquarters and artist residency in Ridgewood, Queens!

Explore the Registry

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Free access to in-person events, and access online to watch some of the most hard-to-find and groundbreaking documentary films from around the world. Plus select workshops, artist talks and event conversations from our programs.

Become a Member!