Projected Muse

Reviews of an Anthropological Nature:

2009-05-26T14:35:00.007-04:00

Texas Tavola: A Taste of Sicily in the Lone Star State

I was able to attend a screening of this film at the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting in November 2008.

Texas Tavola immediately presents an interesting premise in the mix of Texan and Sicilian culture. The filmmakers present an appealing symbolic aesthetic in juxtaposing images of the empty ruins of the immigrant’s hometown in Sicily with the people populated celebratory gathering of three generations in their Texan town. The film chronicles the nine day process of Tavola di San Giuseppe, an important religious event at which a single Sicilian-American family hosts almost 1,000 guests in honor of St. Joseph, their Sicilian town’s patron saint.

This feast is rife with symbolism and references to the community’s own travels. There is an altar full of food, breads in the shape of hearts and crosses, fig cookies. Food is a large component of the celebration, including a traditional Texan barbeque where the priest jokes to the gathered community that the barbeque is “holy smoke”. This concentration on food is not only Italian in nature but also combats the legend of famine in their Italian town.

Another tradition of the feast is a reenactment of the Christ story where Maria and Giuseppe seek out a place to rest, a home. They are rejected and finally welcomed to the house of the host family. In their immigrant story, the Sicilian community has made a home in Texas.

As with many immigrant groups and the growing elderly population, they wonder if the young people will continue this tradition when they are gone. This feast, bringing together Texan and Sicilian cultures and religious fervency, is more so a gathering of people—a celebration of a shared life and history.

Reviews of an Anthropological Nature:

2009-05-26T14:31:00.006-04:00

Chicago 10
I helped to promote a screening of Chicago 10 at the Jewish Cultural center in DC, and upon arriving discovered that I was the youngest attendee in the room. Chicago 10 had its East Coast Premiere at SILVERDOCS in 2007.

This film intrigued me in its use of animated scenes and archival footage from the Chicago protests at the 1968 Democratic Convention. The animated storytelling makes the story more accessible for youth while using the mechanism to work around casting and believability difficulties in reenactment scenes. Furthermore, an illustrated representation reflects how the public gains access to most closed court trials, pushing this aesthetic and making it all the more potent in the filmmaker’s use of the trial transcripts.

The most striking scene in the whole film was the revelations of the judge’s character and his demeaning attitude towards the defendants. In the personifications put forth of the judge one is given the antagonist of the film; however, at times the personalities of the activists are not fully heroic characters. All the characters in the film have their own flaws and heroisms presented. While a revealing film of the 1968 activist and alternative cultures, it fails to fulfill in a final climax, relying in some ways too much on the outcome of the trial rather than looking at the story more holistically.

For a young audience, Chicago 10 stimulates a renewed interest in the history of their elders, making it cool and appealing. The lack of female roles in the film, while understandable in that the characters involved in the Chicago 10 were all male, further highlighted that the audience for this film are male, and the leaders of the movement were male.

Obama and Women

2009-03-05T16:58:00.002-05:00

A worthwhile acknowledgment of women and a great start to Women's Month 2009. Isn't it great that the majority of the American population get a month to remember our history as it certainly does not fall within the History of Man.

Presidential Proclamation on Women's History Month
Obama pays tribute to women who helped preserve, protect the environment
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
March 3, 2009

WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH, 2009
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
With passion and courage, women have taught us that when we band together to advocate for our highest ideals, we can advance our common well-being and strengthen the fabric of our Nation. Each year during Women's History Month, we remember and celebrate women from all walks of life who have shaped this great Nation. This year, in accordance with the theme, "Women Taking the Lead to Save our Planet," we pay particular tribute to the efforts of women in preserving and protecting the environment for present and future generations.
Ellen Swallow Richards is known to have been the first woman in the United States to be accepted at a scientific school. She graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1873 and went on to become a prominent chemist. In 1887, she conducted a survey of water quality in Massachusetts. This study, the first of its kind in America, led to the Nation's first state water-quality standards.
Women have also taken the lead throughout our history in preserving our natural environment. In 1900, Maria Sanford led the Minnesota Federation of Women's Groups in their efforts to protect forestland near the Mississippi River, which eventually became the Chippewa National Forest, the first Congressionally mandated national forest. Marjory Stoneman Douglas dedicated her life to protecting and restoring the Florida Everglades. Her book, The Everglades: Rivers of Grass, published in 1947, led to the preservation of the Everglades as a National Park. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993.
Rachel Carson brought even greater attention to the environment by exposing the dangers of certain pesticides to the environment and to human health. Her landmark 1962 book, Silent Spring, was fiercely criticized for its unconventional perspective. As early as 1963, however, President Kennedy acknowledged its importance and appointed a panel to investigate the book's findings. Silent Spring has emerged as a seminal work in environmental studies. Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 1980.
Grace Thorpe, another leading environmental advocate, also connected environmental protection with human well-being by emphasizing the vulnerability of certain populations to environmental hazards. In 1992, she launched a successful campaign to organize Native Americans t o oppose the storage of nuclear waste on their reservations, which she said contradicted Native American principles of stewardship of the earth. She also proposed that America invest in alternative energy sources such as hydroelectricity, solar power, and wind power.
These women helped protect our environment and our people while challenging the status quo and breaking social barriers. Their achievements inspired generations of American women and men not only to save our planet, but also to overcome obstacles and pursue their interests and talents. They join a long and proud history of American women leaders, and this month we honor the contributions of all women to our Nation.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 2009 as Women's History Month. I call upon all our citizens to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that honor the history, accomplishments, and contributions of American women.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this third day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.
BARACK OBAMA

Thank you, Mr. President.

DC/NY Film Commuters: Pondering?

2009-03-05T14:52:00.005-05:00

Will Smith writes for Urban Turf questioning DC's status as a possible Suburb of New York City:

Richard Florida, renowned urban theorist and author of The Rise of the Creative Class, has made a splash with this month’s cover story in The Atlantic entitled How the Crash Will Reshape America. In the piece, Florida analyzes the changes, by geographic region, that he believes will come as a result of the current recession. Specifically, he predicts that certain cities and urban regions in the US will suffer a “body blow” from which they may never fully recover, while others will emerge stronger and more strategically relevant than before.

In a 45-minute NPR interview, he makes two comments about the DC area in particular. The first is complimentary:

“…Greater Washington, DC … I still think is a boomland. In fact in our ratings and rankings, it comes up as a great place for singles, a great place for families — and I’m not just talking about the city. Maryland and northern Virginia and the whole environment there.” (Minute 21:15 in the audio)

His second comment is more provocative:

“Part of Washington DC’s resurgence is not just that it’s a government town and has AOL high-tech. DC in a very real way has become a suburb of New York. And a lot of the media and broadcast — NPR functions that are there, XM Radio, many of the documentary film producers, many of the writers for The New York Times — have actually relocated [to DC] because of the affordability and connectivity.” (Minute 16:00 in the audio)

DC a suburb of New York?! Only if your definition of suburb extends 200 miles beyond a city’s borders.

In all seriousness, clearly Florida does not mean suburb in the conventional sense. And his point is an interesting one: technology enables some of New York’s elite to call DC home.

We’re curious, do you know anyone who “commutes” between DC and New York? Or for that matter, do you know anyone who commutes between DC and any other city outside the immediate metropolitan area?

Take this further and think about it in terms of filmmaking as Florida mentions (see bold above). My own work has taken me to New York and with Bolt Bus offerring WiFi and express service at a far reduced price to the train, can this be possible? Or is "being there" (anthro term) applicable to this situation and the benefits of existing in one location?

The interview goes on to mention the high speed rail as the future of transportation between metropolitan areas. The only problem with this is time and money and investing in this option over the highway. I've heard rumors of such a train going from DC to NY and I am not referring to the acela but rather a train closer to what is used in France. Considering the large amount of people that commute by metro/subway in NY and DC, having a superfast, reliable, and AFFORDABLE train would be a great draw and would be certain competition for the many bus options most people are preferring these days.

Listen to the podcast and share your opinions.

Great Female Directors

2009-02-19T14:10:00.003-05:00

In response to one of my favorite blogs out there: Women & Hollywood, I have decided to compile a list of some of the great(est) WOMEN directors in the biz. I think one of the greatest difficulties in doing this is that many of their films are not well marketed, there are exceptions of course; however, these women are also not as acknowledged for their work as many of their male peers are (ahem, Oscars). So while this list is certainly a work in progress, the remembering and the watching of these women's films is a positive act in and of itself. I also want to acknowledge those women in the independent film world that are great to me and will soon, hopefully, be seen as great on a larger scale (if they aren't already)...

Claire Denis
Deepa Mehta
Julie Taymor
Mira Nair
Sarah Schenck
Maria Agui Carter
Aviva Kempner
Ildikó Enyedi
Adrienne Shelly
Rebecca Miller

Question: Is it because some of these women work in documentary (and narrative) film that they fly under the radar of what is a great director?

UN PAR DE SUENOS

2009-02-13T13:31:00.002-05:00

I worked on this film as Production Coordinator (Coordinadora de Produccion)

MadCat Review

2008-04-19T14:31:00.004-04:00

With a beautiful warm sunny day outside and Tenure filming around campus, the audience for the MadCat Women’s International Film Festival was miniscule, amounting to six in total. The curator, Ariella Ben-Dov, is probing the theme of identity and has chosen these seven films for their patient camera and lyrical imagery. Ben-Dov sees identity as personal and public, elusive and fixed. She provides a diverse grouping of films that in their assembled viewing become more common and less disparate despite their initial differences.

The opening film, The Widow’s Coast, showed water scenes of beauty and simplicity. Widow’s Coast traveled from Lithuania. Director Janina Lapinskaite presented a poetic portrait of widows: setting the table, putting lipstick on in readying to walk the dog—going through the motions. Women stand still as the haunting sounds of footsteps, the train whistles, lapping water and their voices, narrate their quiet lives of loss. One woman states, “God gave man everything but forgetfulness” as the camera moves from close ups on these women’s aged faces sitting quiet with their tea things at hand. One woman looks out a window, spotted with the tears of rain. Lapinskaite returns to one strange scene, shot from above, a woman sets a table for six and then later sits alone. Returning to the image, the spectator is forced to consider its strange placement and the mis-en-scene begins to take on the shape and colors of an underwater scene observed from above or in its angle a representation of the family of departed fishermen who watch over her.

The second film, The Market, come from Croatian director Ana Husman. It is a stop-motion homage to locally grown produce and the women who prepare the various preserves, relish and pickles that we observe along with the many other processes of the market in a disembodied form. The Market is a fast paced examination of the full day at any local market going from set up to clean up—the final image of garbage men removing the refuse leftover and hosing down the pavement.

The third film comes from Australian, Fiona McGee. She prevents a brief meditation and interview, concerning the attachment of young teenage girls and their mobile phones. Lost Without You is the appropriate title of this film, demonstrating the girls’ use of their mobiles as one would a security blanket. Many feel lost and alone without it. It is their connection to the outside world and their all-important network of friends. As the film ends, the phones lie on the girls' bedside table or under their pillow, they awake in the darkness to its neon call.

The fourth film, Benidorm, comes from Germany. Director Carolin Schmitz continues the water and aged theme seen in the previous films in her film about the elderly tourists who gather on the Benidorm beach of a small Spanish town in the Mediterranean during the off season. This documentary won the 2006 German Short Film Prize and is striking in the contrast between the beach side high-rises and the flat lands and gorgeous mountains in the background.

The fifth film is a minute long and comes from a series of animated interviews. This one illustrates a baby born with two heads and put in a jar. It is both sad and strangely humorous and in its brevity hints at a series of interest by Kyja Kristjansson-Nelson.

The sixth film is entitled, Miriam, Impression of Light. Miriam is an albino girl who along with her boyfriend discusses her identity as it relates to her unique appearance and experiences. As with the other films, there are scenes set at the beach and among the waves as a lone figure and a young woman playing with her boyfriend.

The seventh and final film comes from Austrian director Kathrin Resetarits. I Am Me explores the meaning off individuality in common and everyday routine. I Am Me emphasizes this observation and the importance of self by looking at twins—twin girls in particular.

The MadCat International Film Festival basically serves as a short sampler of intriguing films and female directors from around the globe. The tastes are varied and at times unsatisfying but at moments one savors the potential and the beauty in an image and a story.

Caramel

2008-04-05T15:56:00.004-04:00

Caramel is the new film by Nadine Labaki who both directed and starred. This picture explores the socio-political persecution of females in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East. With this underlying thematic critique, it is also a film full of visual pleasure. The opening shot moves over solidified caramel, a rich golden brown as it cuts to manicured hands, the bubbling of sugar in a pan, and mouths tasting the sweet, supple confection.

The film follows five women, three young women who work at a beauty parlor, one middle aged woman, Jamale, who is a regular customer, and one older woman, Rose, who works as a tailor next door. Layale is having a secret affair with a married man. Nisrine is about to be married and is no longer a virgin. Rima is attracted to women. Jamale is worried about getting older as she seeks employment as an actress. Rose is the sole caretaker for her older mentally unbalanced sister, Lili.

The beauty parlor is a refuge for these women. It is a space for and operated by women. When any men do enter the parlor, it is either a great event or a hurried delivery. Even the broken sign over the entrance comes to symbolically embody these women and their shared lives. The name of the beauty parlor is Si Belle; however the B is hanging off the sign spelling the word, Si elle. So Beautiful becomes So She or If She depending on translation and evocative of the beauty of these women and the suspenseful anticipation of their desires. Labaki includes two scenes of the women locking up the beauty salon for the night, as if to remind the audience of its presence as a sanctuary during the day where the women are able to be their true selves, away from their night world of expectation and control.

Caramel is, at its heart, a love story. By love, I do not mean that which romantic comedies make light of, but rather love in the way it challenges, hurts, and ultimately makes us smile and sing. Caramel is the perfect title for this kind of exploration of love—a sticky sweet substance that when applied to the skin, shocks repeatedly upon removal. Caramel’s love is between sisters, friends, women, and men. Including young and old, love hovers near or is unspoken from afar. Love is haphazard in its translation.

The audience is invited to be friend and confident, sharing intimate moments and secrets. While the film is not perfect, it’s imperfections remind us of the characters own flaws.
The use of inter-cutting and other subtle phrasing suggests the deep symbolism of these women’s employment and their lives in Beirut. One sequence shows Rose hemming the suit of her suitor and Nisrine as she lays on the operating table to have her vagina sewn to return her virginity for the marriage bed.

Caramel is heartbreaking and hilarious. This duality is most subtly combined in the character of Lili and in the music of composer, Mouzanar The use of circular shapes and lighting within the mis-en-scene marks an exciting aesthetic that I have not seen before and highlights the human shape in the rectangular frame. Additionally, the closed blinds add to the sense of secrecy of the female world, hidden from the patriarchal gaze of the state. The eye candy is not bad either--I couldn't resist!

C-Stand

2008-04-04T17:46:00.004-04:00

Introducing my supplemental blog!

C-Stand: What I See and Where I Stand

I'm mixing it up and pulling in my various activities. These include film sets, television, movies, music and art.
Enjoy!

Funari

2008-04-02T18:17:00.000-04:00

So I just finished a "master class" with filmmaker Vicky Funari. She is the award-winning director of MAQUILAPOLIS, LIVE NUDE GIRLS UNITE!, and PAULINA--all documentaries. She showed clips from these three films which focused on Mexican and Peep show girl populations. Funari defines herself as a feminist and her work as feminist.

The most interesting film in her selection of clips was an experimental project of hers from 1994, SKINESTHESIA. Her own opinion of the work was quite low. She sees it as dated, but still bringing up issues that she had hoped would have changed in our cultural experience in the last fourteen years. SKINESTHESIA follows Hanna, a performance artist and peep show dancer. It is an eighteen minute film about her and her body and the use of the body in her different environments. Funari employs split screen images to draw further comparisons between the imagery of the peep show and her professional performance. The use of language and poetry in voice over form reminds me of experimental and dance film coming from Sarah A.O. Rosner and her company, the AO Movement Collective. This artist also has an interest in the scientific words of the body, sexuality, and poetry.

Toi, Rosetta. Moi, Mouchette

2008-04-01T17:00:00.001-04:00

The connections between Rosetta (Dardenne 1999) and Mouchette (Bresson 1967) were intriguing in the presentation of similar themes and scenarios. Both girls have difficulty with social interactions. Both interact with drunks and belligerents and form emotional attachments to these people. Both are placed in the woods with different levels of agency. Their relationship with nature and society plays with their internal struggles.

Mouchette and Rosetta have defining scenes interacting with the opposite sex. These scenes and the connections that come out of them can be seen to define the trajectory of the film. Riquet is kind to Rosetta and feeds her and cares for her. Arsene does not do as much for Mouchette. In their intimate encounter he offers her a drink and later rapes.

Graham hinges on the immediacy of our involvement, “Rosetta is charged with a visceral energy that makes the act of viewing less a visual and emotional experience than a forceful physical sensation” (1). When the camera is following Rosetta through the woods, it stays close to her face. On occasion the camera stays stationary watching her before it follows her path across the highway and behind the gate. My stomach did flips similar to the sensations felt riding in a car going up and down hill.

The spectator experiences a physical connection to Rosetta. When she speaks to herself in a relatively calm scene, Morgan notes that she “sees herself as divided, as having to separate into two parts of a missing whole in order to giver herself the comfort she has not received and is not yet able to receive from another” (530). The spectator could be interpreted to be the “Tu” or other, she is addressing. In the audience’s divided identification with Rosetta, we are also lacking in wholeness. She is separate from us. We cannot come to her aid and seemingly should struggle to connect with an image projected on the screen.

Additionally, the Dardenne brothers are commenting on both the experience of Rosetta, her isolation and inability to connect with others, as well as the audience’s own use of film to exist in a dark isolated space. Rosetta is always exposed even in her ritual changing of shoes.

The elements of nature seem to ravage her body. When her mother pushes her into the muddy water and she is left alone calling for help, the spectator is as disconnected from her struggle as she is without aide. We cannot help her. This scene is closely tied to the experience of Mouchette who likewise falls into the water. Both young women seek suicide as their last resort; Mouchette succeeds.

Rosetta even in her betrayal of a friend does not lose her life in the end. She has forsaken her job to commit suicide upon the return of her mother, which is like an emotional suicide for her. However, Riquet comes to her aid in the final image, doing for her what she convinced herself to do for him when he was sinking in the river. This parallels the water scene; her fall onto the blue gas can is her suicide attempt. Unlike Mouchette, the audience has hope that this time around she will live and become whole in the audience’s departure from her life.