Discover Guido Molinari, grand master of Quebecois abstract art, in La Couleur chante Molinari by Lauraine André-G. Beginning in the 50’s, painter, poet and theoretician, Guido Molinari produced a consistent and rigorous body of work that alternated between the rational and the sensorial. He was in favour of resolutely abstract painting that would put an end to Romanticism and Symbolism. Here he speaks of the evolution of abstraction and the theoretical debates of this intense period that was 1950’s Quebec. He presents his pivotal works, and touches on the concepts that underlie his artistic approach within the context of the intermingling of the artistic circles of Montreal, Paris and New York.

Also : Ex-centris posted his summer 2005 schedule online !

La Cinémathèque québécoise honorée au Festival du film d’animation d’Annecy

À l’occasion d’un hommage au Canada, le prestigieux Festival international du film d’animation d’Annecy (France), qui se tiendra cette année du 6 au 11 juin prochains, offrira une carte blanche à la Cinémathèque québécoise. L’organisation du festival veut ainsi souligner le rôle immense qu’a joué (et continue de jouer) la Cinémathèque dans la sauvegarde du patrimoine mondial du film d’animation.

Vingt-cinq films d’archives puisés dans la collection internationale de la Cinémathèque seront présentés à Annecy. Les festivaliers pourront ainsi parcourir l’histoire du cinéma d’animation et découvrir un pan de l’inestimable corpus conservé par la Cinémathèque. La programmation comprend des chefs-d’œuvre de Winsor McCay, Jiri Trnka, Len Lye, Robert Breer, Tex Avery, Jan Svankmajer, Jan Lenica, Norman McLaren et de plusieurs autres. Ces films rares, fragiles et précieux sont très rarement montrés à l’extérieur des salles de projection de la Cinémathèque.

De plus, l’exposition Co Hoedeman, Les Jardins de l’enfance, qui avait ravi le public montréalais à l’été 2003, sera présentée au Musée-Château d’Annecy pendant le festival. Cette merveilleuse exposition réalisée par l’Office national du film du Canada et la Cinémathèque québécoise propose un parcours parmi les spectaculaires décors qu’a élaborés le cinéaste Co Hoedeman pour ses films d’animation.

If I were going to the movies during the 24hrs ou plus that I’ll be visiting this fair city from the wilds of Edmonton, I’d go see the new Kim Ki-duk film 3 Iron. I read Tony Rayns bilious deconstruction of Kim‘s oeuvre in the last Film Comment, and was shocked to find that he felt that western critics had been suckered in by Kim’s last offering Spring Summer Fall Winter … and Spring and that this was evidence of their collective propensity towards romantic views of the orient and, you know, their general lame-ness. I found Spring etc. genuinely moving and genuinely connected to films like Why Has Bodi Dharma Left for the East or even Ozu pics, just as moving as I found The Isle, with its fishhooks in vaginas and middle aged men behaving nihilistically, utterly appalling. So I’m genuinely curious. And while I’m ready to risk the status of Tony Rayns thinking I’m not one of world cinema’s cool kids (if he had any idea at all who I was, that is), I must confess I’m not sure I’m willing to risk finding out that this is a nasty, isn’t-transgressive-misogyny-fun exploitation-style romp. So I’m gonna go for a nice dinner with the friends who are letting me crash with them instead. Let me know how it turns out.

Excentris
June 4-10
5:10 pm

The MUTEK festival returns in fine form for a 6th edition more coherent and diversified than ever. Exploring a new configuration of venues, MUTEK 2005 invites more than a hundred artists originating from 15 countries, to share their most recent creations. A fusion of genres, cosmopolitan backgrounds, harmonious vistas, original and unrestricted experimentations: version 2005 is a veritable invitation to an audio and visual voyage.

Thanks to a dozen or so programs of performances, conferences, workshops, and numerous surprises, MUTEK offers you the chance to take advantage of the treasures recently collected from its many explorations.

From original presentations to exceptional experiences, to playful productions, the multidimensional itinerary exists for the pleasure of the eyes and the ears.

Let yourself be captivated by today’s most current and cutting edge digital sound, music, and audiovisual creation.

ASKAA is a performative installation by Dominique T. Skoltz and Herman W. Kolgen, two Montréal multidisciplinary artists who draw their inspiration from organic images and microtonal sounds. The public can move in and around the piece, made up of translucent giant video screens which launch, at random, computer-generated images coupled with sound particles. ASKAA is presented in collaboration with MUTEK from June 1 to 5. With its program of new media performances, contemporary music, theatre and experimental cinema, the Musée introduces visitors to innovative practices in contemporary art.

ASKAA is an interactive ecosystem inspired by vegetation. With this project, Skoltz_holgen have developed an evolving sound/image platform that reacts in real time to sonic influxes. Displayed on the gigantic projection screens, virtual plants can be seen in perpetual evolution, while simple impulses of sound will randomly modify their developmental process as well as their environment.

In performance mode, the installation will be amplified by the addition of guest artists. These artists, once immersed in the illuminated botanically settings, will assume the capacity to stimulate the evolving vegetation pattern with their particular styof of sonic influxes. See the website for a list of all the guest artists as well as the scedule of their performance.

EyeSteelFilm presents the WORLD PREMIERE of Daniel Cross’ Chairman George!

From the director who made THE STREET: A film with the Homeless and the team that made SPIT: Squeegee Punks in Traffic, comes CHAIRMAN GEORGE, a free-wheeling, jet-setting documentary which follows George Sapounidis’ musical trajectory through China, Ottawa, and Greece…chasing the Olympic Torch.

In Canada, George is a statistician. But in China, George is Elvis… CHAIRMAN GEORGE is a documentary feature about a Greek-Canadian troubadour who refuses to live anything but an extraordinary life. ln Ottawa, George is a statistician who lives with his mother. But every few months, he takes an extended leave from his job and heads to China where he metamorphoses into an international man of culture. Armed only with his bouzouki, guitar and cell phone, he becomes a star in China (with both the critics and the ladies). He concludes that since he is “the only Greek in the world who can sing in Chinese,” it is his duty to perform at the Closing Ceremonies of the Athens Olympic Games, as the torch is passed from Athens to Beijing.

AIRDATES:
May 28, 2005 : North American Premiere on CTV Television! On Saturday May 28th at 7:00 PM, you’ll be able to watch the film that CTV has promoted all week! – May 29, 2005 : There will be a repeat screening Sunday 29 May 12:35am-1:45am (Saturday night)

From an anonymous cinephile:

“They make me feel guilty, cheap and dirty. I don’t know if I even like them, but eventually I think I will end up seeing every movie Todd Solondz ever makes if only cuz it takes too much commitment to avoid them. So it will be with his latest, PALINDROMES, which runs at Cinema du Parc from Friday May 27th to Sunday June 9th. This one looks like it could be pretty inventively sleazy—-8 different actresses, one character. In any event, this film could prove to be definitive: it will reveal Solondz as either the authentic anti-american-values idiot savant of his generation; or, conversely, as a lottery-lucky talentless skeeze.”

“En étroite collaboration avec l’historien de l’animation William Moritz, la veuve de Fischinger, Elfriede, a consacré ses énergies à retrouver les films et à les faire restaurer à l’aide d’éléments conservés dans les archives (dont celles de la Cinémathèque québécoise). Depuis le décès d’Elfriede, sa fille, Barbara, poursuit cet exigeant travail. Pour sa part, Moritz a établi une filmographie qui constitue aujourd’hui une référence dont l’exactitude et l’exhaustivité sont reconnues. Les archives Fischinger, dirigées par Barbara, collaborent depuis quelques années avec le Center for Visual Music de Californie à la restauration des chefs-d’oeuvre du cinéaste. C’est le résultat de ce travail que le public de la Cinémathèque aura le plaisir de découvrir le 26 mai. Quarante minutes de projection lumineuse pour admirer les oeuvres dans leur éclat d’origine.”

The following films will be screened ;