Category: Climate

 A postscript to the post about Anke Mebold’s screening of An Atlantic Voyage, the multicolored, silent-era compilation of travelogues from the early twentieth century, produced by ?? in the year ??.  The Orphans Online program listing calls this stand-alone segment Envoi & Bon Voyage!  An excited sentiment that required the rare exclamation point. In addition to including a film literally about a ship carrying travelers on a touristic voyage, the session was a cheerful, celebratory ending to the four days of screenings and talks that characterize all the Orphan Film Symposiums heretofore. The term envoi is a rare one in English prose.

[Read on. . . . ] Postscript to An Atlantic Voyage as Bon Voyage

Streaming now: an HD recording of the final part of the final session of Orphans Online, May 29, 2020. Anke Mebold (DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum) introduces the puzzle/compilation film of uncertain date and origins.  Original music composed and performed by Stephen Horne. 24 minutes.   Click to enlarge, or watch at vimeo.com/432997996. The Mebold metadata on the DFF film: An Atlantic Voyage: Von Hamburg zu den Niagarafällen mit dem Schnelldampfer Kaiser Wilhelm II  [From Hamburg to the Niagara Falls with the Express Steamer Kaiser Wilhelm II] (DE[?] 19?? / GB 1903[?] / FR 1906[?]); with footage from [?] Charles Urban

[Read on. . . . ] Watch: Bon Voyage, AN ATLANTIC VOYAGE (Orphans Online 10b of 10)

Now streaming in HD, this roundtable of artist, archivist, and scholars, with extensive audience discussion.  99 minutes.  “Never Lost But Found in the Ocean: On Biographies of Film Copies.” Film historian Maria Vinogradova (NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia) conceived of the topic in collaboration with Bill Morrison, whose newest work is inspired by an unlikely recovery of celluloid from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Joining them are Peter Bagrov, curator at the George Eastman Museum; Joan Neuberger, Eisenstein scholar and professor of history, University of Texas at Austin; and moderator Marina Hassapopoulou from NYU Cinema Studies faculty.   Click to enlarge or

[Read on. . . . ] Watch: Never Lost But Found in the Ocean (Orphans Online 10a of 10)

Now streaming, this HD recording of Deliquescence, a live multimedia performance by the artist known as A Clockface Orange (Genevieve HK & Rachael Guma, liquid-light projection) with Lea Bertucci (sound) and Bradley Eros (light).  Their multilayered triptych also incorporate footage found in Prelinger Archives.  The 14-minute piece is followed by discussion with the artists.  Click to enlarge or watch at vimeo.com/432042400.  A Clockface Orange:presents live liquid-light performances to accompany musicians, artists, and recordings of all genres. Its work showcases an appreciation for ephemeral, experiential art inspired partly by Fluxus and 1960s experimental culture, incorporating the use of liquids on glass to

[Read on. . . . ] Watch: Thursday finale, A Clockface Orange (Orphans Online 9b of 10)

Wanna cut to the chase? Watch the replay edition of the Helen Hill Awards portion of Orphans Online here.  52 minutes.  For each Orphan Film Symposium, beginning in 2008, NYU Cinema Studies and the University of South Carolina Film and Media Studies Program celebrate independent filmmakers with the Helen Hill Awards.   The  announcement of Martha Colburn and Jaap Pieters receiving the 2020 award is here. Thanks to Eye Filmmuseum hosting (what was to have been) an Amsterdam symposium, experimental film curator Simona Monizza worked with both artists to select works to showcase, including two films restored by Eye. The live edition

[Read on. . . . ] Watch: The Helen Hill Awards (Orphans Online 5a of 10)

As a preview to the reposting of video recordings of the May 26-29 Orphans Online, we have these title cards (or tiles) designed by Valeria Kriletich (in Buenos Aires).  Each pair will appear before the video segments being prepared by Walter Forsberg (in Mexico City). The new streaming video will free from the few technical glitches we experienced during the live event. Some films screened in May will necessarily be absent from the new HD files, to honor the filmmakers’ and archives’ agreements. The new video segments will indicate what has been removed, where to find it elsewhere, and often

[Read on. . . . ] Title Tiles

It’s International Archives Day. June 9, 1948: The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization convened a meeting of archivists who created the International Council on Archives. In 2007, ICA declared the 9th of June as International Archives Day, an occasion to raise awareness of the importance of these memory institutions. Although sometimes perceived as dead-letter offices or institutions where the Ark of the Covenant gets forgotten, archives are, advocates contend, essential for a healthy society. An ICA declaration of 2010 ends with this: “Open access to archives enriches our knowledge of human society, promotes democracy, protects citizens’ rights and

[Read on. . . . ] Archives Day and Liberty

This research was originally paired with Bradley E. Reeves (Appalachian Media Archives) and his new compilation video, TVA: “Built for and Owned by the People” (2020). Harnessing Excess: Water in American Infrastructural Cinema of the 1930s by Joni Hayward Marcum In 1942 Educational Screen described the government-operated Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) as “harnessing the water and reclaiming the land” of the region. Founded in 1933 as part of the New Deal policies, the TVA was founded as a public corporation. Shortly after the start of the great depression, there was little trust in private companies. Thus, the public utilities run

[Read on. . . . ] Harnessing Excess: Water in American Infrastructural Cinema of the 1930s

The Story of the C.C.C. (produced no later than 1937), color/bw, sound. A documentary made by the Civilian Conservation Corps documenting life and work in several Massachusetts camps. The intertitle cards tell the story of the CCC from its inception to around 1937. Commentary by Stephen Slappe, Head of the Video & Sound Department at Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, Oregon, for the Orphans 2020 Film Symposium.  sslappe@gmail.com  Here on the eve of the Orphan Film Symposium on Water, Climate, and Migration, artist and film collector Stephen Slappe sends this piece for the occasion. He shares thoughts about and

[Read on. . . . ] The Story of the CCC (193?)

NYU Cinema Studies & Tisch School of the Arts present   Orphans Online, May 26-29, 2020 (All times are NYC, Eastern Daylight Time; GMT -4)  #Orphans2020 The 12th Orphan Film Symposium on Water, Climate, and Migration originally to be held at Eye Filmmuseum Amsterdam in May 2020 became impossible to convene (due to the you-know-what). Most of the 60 scheduled presenters agreed to experiment with an online edition, mixing live talks and live-stream screenings with extensive texts and videos posted on this NYU website. Some of these extraordinary and polished video presentations are already posted.  The world has changed. Thanks

[Read on. . . . ] The Live Program

Three of the program committee members for the 2020 Orphan Film Symposium preview Orphans Online, explaining why the three themes were selected and how orphan films in particular address them. The live streams of May 26-29 begin at 10am, 2pm, and 6pm (EDT) each day.  Still other videos continue to be placed on this blog daily.  Anna McCarthy, chair of Cinema Studies at NYU, leads a conversation with Giovanna Fossati (Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam), Jennifer Peterson (Woodbury University, Los Angeles), and Dan Streible (New York University, NYC).  Audio only: Always curating, Giovanna made for the occasion a playlist on the water

[Read on. . . . ] Why Water, Climate, and Migration?