Yesterday I had the incredible opportunity of viewing some brilliant handmade films, courtesy of Contraband Cinema, who brings the greatest experimental films to the Atlanta area. In honor of the upcoming Valentine's Day the event was "a lovers' brew of erotic, experimental, handmade, feminist films presented by curator, writer, and scholar Gregory Zinman" (from the event page) and consisted of the following films: Naomi Uman's Removed (1999); Jennifer Reeves' The Girl's Nervy (1995); Jennifer West's Riot Grrrl Alchemy Film (2008); Carolee Schneemann's Fuses (1964-67). All magnificent 16mm prints (except Riot Grrrl). This is the type of event is what is going to keep cinema alive. When all cinemas will be showing the worst films in HD super 4D rollercoaster mode, we'll still be able to go to a small gallery and watch amazing art films on actual film. In Uman's Removed, the woman in a porn film is completely removed out of the picture (frame-by-frame) with bleach while the remainder of the frame is painted over with nail polish. The film not only subverts the male gaze but also brings up the questions of the politics of film. Can you change the political nature of a film by painting or altering it? The Girl's Nervy is an incredibly fast moving that transforms cracked paint into nerve endings. Riot Grrrl Alchemy Film was perhaps the most anarchic film of the program. The emotions of punk rock, dancers, food fight, rebellion are combined and transformed to the visual sphere. Fuses was the masterpiece of the night. Perhaps one of the only honest depictions of real sex in cinema. A film that welcomes us into the erotic world of lovemaking without arousing us because it's consistent refusal to display sex form one single perspective. Jonas Mekas called the film the most beautiful film of 1968, yet I think that might be an understatement and it is one of the most beautiful films of all-time. The best $6 I have ever spent.
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