filmmaker
Transgressive/Oppressive Cinema
"This is my happening, and it's freaking me out."
Ronnie "Z-man" Barzell
I have been chosen to host this semester's Cinematheque at California Institute of the Arts. The theme of the class is films that follow (consciously or not) in the footsteps of Todd Browning's seminal "Freaks". Touchstones are:
- the choice to be offensive/provocative/push the boundaries of taste
- the use of underrepresented peoples
- problems of representation
- the line between simple voyeuristic pleasure and culpability
- the anti-academic stance
- the vehemently anti-Hollywood stance
- democracy of production - films in which those involved seem to shape
the film as much as the director
- poverty of means as liberation
- confrontational filmmaking as liberation
- reclamation of representation
I actively encourage walkouts, disgust, riots, severe disinterest, dismissiveness, book-burning, screen-slashing and accusations of oppression.
"As an artist, your responsibility is to be irresponsible. As soon as you talk about social or political responsibility, you've amputated the best limbs you've got as an artist. You are plugging into a very restrictive system that is going to push and mold you, and is going to make your art totally useless and ineffective." David Cronenberg
Week 1 - 9/10
Various films by Thomas Edison
“Freaks” (Todd Browning) - on 16mm!
Of interest:
* Radio Diaries about Gibtown, FL- a town populated by ex-circus performers
click on GIBTOWN
* "Electrocuting an Elephant" Thomas Edison, 1903 (very disturbing early Edison film)
* Jonny Meah's homepage
Week 2 - 9/17
“Stroszek” excerpt (Werner Herzog)
“Even Dwarfs Started Small” (Werner Herzog)
Of interest:
* Herzog speaks with Doug Aitkin
* Herzog is shot in a 2005 interview
* Herzog on nature in "Burden of Dreams"
* Herzog article in The New Yorker about his clashes with studio-filmmaking
during the making of his new film "Rescue Dawn"
Week 3 - 9/24
WITH SPECIAL GUEST JAMES CLAUER
“The Aluminum Fowl” (short, James Clauer)
“Gummo” (Harmony Korine)
Of interest:
* Harmony Korine fucks with Letterman
* Stupid thing written by some idiot who randomly punched Harmony Korine in the head.
* Korine's website
* Aluminum Fowl on youtube. Check out the COMMENTS by Bugg6767 and bunkio.
Week 4 - 10/1
“Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” (Russ Meyer) - on 35mm!
* I talked about Russ Meyer's fantastic montages. Check this out.
Week 5 - 10/15
“Polyester" excerpt (John Waters)
“Pink Flamingos” (John Waters)
* Check out the audience as Divine performs live in Ohio.
* Susan Sontag's "Notes on "Camp"" (1964)
* We have Jack Smith's "Flaming Creatures" in the library on VHS. But you can check it
out here too. It's well worth seeing, and a film that heavily influenced Waters. Too
bad this copy suuuuuuucks...
Week 6 - 10/29
"Werckmeister Harmonies" excerpt (Bela Tarr)
"Made in England" excerpt (Alan Clarke)
"Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?" excerpt (R.W. Fassbinder)
“Trailer Town” (Giuseppe Andrews)
Week 8 - 11/5 - Homegrown Rabble Rousers
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS WILLIAM BURGESS (BFA F/V 2005) and DARREN HERCZEG (MFA FDP 2006)
“Suburban Bleach” (feature, William Burgess)
"Boy Princes" (short, Darren Herzceg)
* ahhhhh, Darren...
Week 9 - 11/12
"El Topo" excerpt (Alejandro Jodorowsky)
"Horrors of Malformed Men" excerpt (Teruo Ishii)
“Sweet Film” (Dusan Makavejev)
Week 10 - 11/19
“Sweet Sweetback’s Baadaassss Song” (Melvin Van Peebles)
Week 11 - 11/26
“Wassup Rockers” (Larry Clark)
Week 12 - 12/3 - "Assault and Battery" - noise
Merzbow "Music for Bondage Performance"
Kenneth Anger "Invocation of my Demon Brother"
Various films by Russian necrorealist filmmaker Yevgeniy Yufit
Peter Tscherkassky "Outer Space"
Kevin Drumm and Daniel Menche "Gauntlet"
Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Salo - 120 Days of Sodom"
Week 13 - 12/10
WITH SPECIAL GUEST KEITH FULTON
“Brothers of the Head" (2005, Keith Fulton and Luis Pepe) 35mm print