Odds and Ends V.5 "The Rose City Revue" program

Ok, the little video elves have been up late for weeks on end now cobbling together what is sure to be a truly amazing selection of Portland made short films. From experiments in the nether zones of informational societal remapping to beautifully rendered thought poems and awesome music videos, Odds and Ends V.5 "The Rose City Revue" is bound to melt hearts and clear away grey skies for miles, the show will be premiering at the the Northwest Film Forum's "Local Sightings" film festival this coming Saturday!

Odds and Ends V.5
"The Rose City Revue"

Date/Time: October 4th, 5pm
Location: Northwest Film Forum
1515 12th Ave
Seattle, WA 98122
(206) 329-2629

these are the films

1. Line Study by Jeremy Bird 1 min. 2006

synopsis:

casio synthesizer, video feedback (VHS)

bio:

JEREMY BIRD is a videomaker and video editor in Portland, Oregon. His short videos are said to harmonize sound and picture into a series of engaging instants. He has edited music videos, feature films, commercials, and has created projections for live music and dance performance. His latest short, "Spheres", has screened at moving-image festivals around the world.

website
www.jeremybird.net


2. Future Series Pt.1 by Grace Carter 1 min. 2008

synopsis:

The future series is a heartwarming, paranoid trilogy. A portrait of 21st century yearning set in a dim, claustrophobic hotel. Robot voices, digital communication and empty space lend to the slow unraveling of a bachelor who can’t help but feel there’s something wrong in his search for something right."

bio:

Grace Carter has been working in theatre arts and filmmaking for the past six years in Portland, OR. She Co-founded the critically acclaimed defunct theatre and collaborated as a producer, director and actor on several stage performances. Grace’s films have been screened at several regional festivals including the 32nd annual Northwest Film and Video Festival, The PDX Fest and the Oregon Biennial at the Portland Art Museum. Grace has also worked as an actor on many film projects the most recent “Paranoid Park,” a new feature by Gus Van Sant.

website
www.gracecarterfilms.com



3. Moving Staircase by Rob Tyler 2 minutes 20 seconds 2006

An ethereal gaze into neoteric pedestrian travel and a close-up glance at the mechanics of a modern staircase. “Moving Staircase” briefly highlights the movement and motion of an escalator and its interaction with people.

Director, Rob Tyler
Music, Marc Fischer
Escalator Passenger, Amy Rose
Escalator Provider, Bill Naito Company Portland Oregon
Created for the Blu Dot Furniture Film Series

bio:

Rob Tyler is a Video Director and Filmmaker living and working in Portland Oregon. Working in both experimental and documentary mediums, his work has been described and visually stunning and atmospherically beautiful.

website
www.vcr100.com

4. The Forest by John Bacone DV 2008

synopsis:

Having trouble sleeping, this character sets out to find something from his cartoon watching past.


bio:

John Bacone is a sculptor and filmmaker living in Portland, Oregon


5. "Blobsquatch: In the Expanded Field (excerpt)" by Carl Diehl 5 min 2007

synopsis:

articulates over a year’s worth of research and development by Carl Diehl. This audio-visual essay encapsulates Diehl’s intial queries into the space he has since demarcated metaphortean. Premiering on the 40th anniversary weekend of the infamous Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot filmstrip, sightings continue to accumulate in the form of screenings and presentations worldwide.

bio:

Earning his BFA in Art Video from Syracuse University in 2000, Diehl set off for the Bay Area. In San Francisco, he worked as a media arts programmer at Artists' Television Access, where he began the screening series "Rhythm from Wreckage," in 2002. In addition to activities with ATA, Diehl produced independent and collaborative works involving live cinema, sound collage and single-channel video. Re-locating to Oregon in 2004, Diehl completed his MFA in Digital Arts at the University of Oregon in 2007. Current research involves developing Metaphortean modes of understanding vernacular electronics and other activities associated with the interface of malfunction.

website
www.electronicelsewhere.com


6. The Astro Project by Ice Cream Truck Face

synopsis:

Fiver calls up his friends to go dancing at the disco tech on the moon. After arriving they shake a leg and our hero fiver bumps into a robot one too many times. This angers the robot and he punches fiver into an out of body experience. Fiver astral projects and meets God. God approves.

bio:

I was born in Santa Barbara CA and soon learned that I loved cartoons and I loved to draw So much so that I'd get in trouble for drawing on my own walls and coloring in my brothers coloring books before he got a chance. We moved around a lot and I guess driving across the country and back gave me a lot of time to draw in the back seat. After finishing up at the Las Vegas Academy High School I moved north to Oregon to seek like minded creatives and that fresh pine air. This is where I discovered my love for shadow puppets. I've been performing shadow puppets since 2000 the firs show being Stinx and his Quest for the Perfect Banana. And as of late I realized my love for cartoons and started making my own. The first being the Astro Project. I am currently working on a story about my alter ego Ice Cream Truck Face in which he travels to planet north pole in search of the fabled Yeticlause.

website:
www.numberstar.com

7. Rererato by Baby Bird 5 min 2008

Deep in the snowy recesses of an arctic imagination, two creatures experience a magical transformation. Along the way, they encounter colorful visions and psychedelic bursts that illuminate their path. Bizarre incantations and radiant waveforms provide the soundtrack for their journey. Landscapes made up of projected watercolor backgrounds, props made of cardboard, aluminum foil and Christmas lights, and whimsical hand-sewn costumes. This lo-fi style plays against eye-catching animations that are interspersed throughout the film.

Baby Bird summary:
Baby Bird was founded by Adam Keller and Stephanie Simek to explore the possibilities of their collective imagination through the use of various materials and disciplines. The journey began with the development of a vocal style, with the couple joining mouths like a mother bird feeding her young, and weaving their voices to create both harmonious and dissonant tones. The vision continued with explorations in photography, video, animation, etc.

website
www.hellobabybird.com


8. Just then a fawn came wandering by #1 (series): by Melody Owen 2.5 Min 2008

I made recordings of women artists in different countries reading the same passage from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass.  They translated and read it in their own language.  The
passage describes an episode where Alice meets a fawn in a forest where nothing has a name.  Because they are unable to define each other, they are able to be friends and walk through the wood together.  In the end, the fawn remembers it's name and runs away. #1 has the voice of Sonja Kretz reading in Swiss German.  The footage is shot in Berlin and Iceland. 

Melody Owen is a Portland artist who works in multiple mediums including video, collage, drawing and installation. She spent much of last year at artist residencies in Iceland, Quebec and Paris.  She is represented by Elizabeth Leach Gallery.

website
www.thistlepress.net


9.TO REMEMBER THAT OUR SKIES ARE THE SAME SKIES  by Chris Larson 2.5 min 2008

synoposis:
on distance. on environment. on here. on heat. on commonality. on heart. on there.

bio:
Chris Lael Larson is an multi-disciplinary artist, musician and graphic designer who lives and works in Portland, Oregon, USA.

website
www.natural-lightning.com


10. Eldorado music video for Mattress, Dir. Grace Carter 2007

synopsis:

Eldorado takes us on a spare journey through the soul of love. It gets lost in the desert, doubles back to an old crooked house and finishesat a table laden with impossible food. The composition of the song is spare and longing and the visual aesthetic of the video mirrors this searching need.


11. Happy Birthday Mama! By Dicky Dahl 8 min. 2007

synopsis:

A video greeting to my sweet Mama on her 80th birthday.

bio:

website
www.dickydahl.com

12. “The Mixtress” Documentary, by Peter Hermes 7 min. 2008

synopsis:

Taking a stand against the music industry, the Mixtress promotes emerging musicians through her grassroots cd exchange project.

bio:

Peter Hermes has been a director and cinematographer for over ten years.  He recently moved to Portland, Oregon from Oklahoma to further explore his passions.  “The Mixtess” was made as part of the 2008 International Documentary Challenge where it won the Best Soundtrack award.  It is Peter’s 6th documentary film.

website
www.wideshotstudios.com


13. Future Series Pt.2 by Grace Carter 1 min. 2008

14. Eyes and Ears music video for Ohmega Watts Directed by Nate Goodman

synopsis:

Somewhere between a barely remembered classroom daydream and b-boy stance. A typical school day is transformed into a weird imagination trip, when students try to make sense of the film they are watching. They use theatrical props to illustrate the lyrics of MC/DJ/Producer Ohmega Watts. The making of this video was also a bit of social experiment because the kids weren’t told everything that would be happening. Spontaneously trying to capture the feeling of a kid recounting a crazy day at school with excited exaggeration.

bio:

Nate is an artist and adventurer with a thrill-seeking nature and an early obsession with magic. Growing up in small town northern michigan He learned to use video to document his group of goofy friends. Before Youtube and even the internet they were recording and editing on VHS, just to be able to playback the tape and watch each other act like dorks. Nate moved out west after high school to pursue a career as a snowboard bum in the mountains of Oregon. It was there he honed his skills, filming more dorky friends doing crazy stunts on boards. He has since become one of the top action sports filmmakers in the Northwest. For the last six years Nate has also been exploring different aspects of filmmaking by working on various narrative, music video, experimental and documentary projects mostly as a camera assistant and director of photography. He believes filmmaking is a powerful tool that should be used to promote compassion and creative thought, and oh yeah, magic too.

website:
www.reelgoodman.com


15. American Make-Over by Ron Gassaway (1min 41sec) 2008 

synopsis:

Evolving the advanced science of rose-colored glasses, American Make-Over aspires to provoke a playful public revolution with paint and plexiglass.

bio:

Ron Mason Gassaway was born in Portland, Oregon in1969. He has worked for nearly 20 years as a commercial artist and is currently a returning student at Portland State University, furthering
his skills as a fine artist through film making, installation work, performance and 2D art.

16. "Nightowl" music video for Swan Island Directed by Cat Tyc 2008

Cat Tyc is a filmmaker, video artist, and poet. Her films have screened at the Anthology Film Archive, the Camac d’ Art in Paris, PDX Fest and the High Energy Constructs Gallery in Los Angeles. She has directed music videos for Portland, OR artists Aweather and Swan Island; the latter piece was voted “Best Film of the Week” on MTVu. A Tyc-directed commercial for the Art Institute’s Annual Fashion Show at the Portland Art Museum was voted ‘Best Commercial’ in the Collegiate Nationals. Her short film "Umbrella" debuts in December 2008.

website
www.cat-tyc.com


16. Skidders the Movie by Lars C. Larsen

synopsis:

A mini-doc on the beauties of Skidding.


bio:

Lars C Larsen is an underground filmmaker in Portland, Oregon. He
creates short, "experimental B films" and is currently working on
Practical Effects for LAIKA's  Coraline, due out feb 09.



Neglected website:
http://www.nanofarm.tv/



17. Test Anthem by Michael Paulus 3 min 30 sec. 2008

synopsis:

198 national anthems from the world’s countries arranged in a vertical,symmetrical stack. Played for the duration with bell curve as defined parameter with demarcation line representing point of departure to the - unattainable?

The longest – Uraguay’s begins and ends the audio with a nice, loping intro. The shortest anthem from Qatar comes in a mere 36 seconds and is sandwiched directly in the middle with most others as most anthems come in at a minute or less. I was curious to see if at the apex, beyond the expected dissonant sounds on the sides of the curve, there might be almost a pure, white nose. Static. It comes close though.

Based on government tests (atomic blasts, plane military test crashes) we are taken through a test – this time with themes closer to the human condition: want, desire, and spiritual transcendence if you will. The parameters are already set though. Could be construed as ultimately fatalistic and pessimistic. That’s possible.

bio:

Michael Paulus is an artist living in Portland Oregon. The marriage of science and art play prominently in his work, often times creating objects that are inherently misguided or dysfunctional in design. A parody of types on the sometimes absolute efficiency and logic that we come to expect
from tools and technology. The figures in his moving image work are usually ‘specimens’ to be observed and usually find themselves in absurd situations they are ill adept to comprehend.
In his static work often times there is an interchange between object and viewer. Sometimes testing the perceptions of the viewer and often times using an established medium or tool/design and tweaking it a bit to put it in a critical context.

website
www.michaelpaulus.com


18. Future Series Pt.3 by Grace Carter 1 min. 2008


19. Weathergirl 1 By Liz Haley Portland, OR. USA 2008 4 min.

synopsis:

weathergirl 1 explores relationships between patterns of organic energy,
new scientific discoveries, human emotional experience and the weather.

bio:

liz haley is a conceptual artist using installation, photography, video and performance to investigate connection, trust, urban-rural,future-past, quantum physics and love. her work has been widely shown,including exhibits in new york, portland tba festival and the miami museum of contemporary art.

website
www.lizhaley.com


20. Losing 1983 by Ali Cotterill

synopsis:

Losing 1983 is a short documentary about life, loss and the Pepsi-Coke challenge. Through interviews, Super-8, and animation, the short follows the narrator, Ali Cotterill, as she fills in the gaps in her memory surrounding the death of her father when she was four.

bio:

Ali was raised deep in the suburbs of New Jersey with a
burning desire to be a child star. She is now a filmmaker based in Portland,OR, who loves pop art, Kinder Surprise, and synchronized dance. Losing 1983 is her thesis film from the Art Institute of Portland’s Digital Film and Video program. Her films have appeared in many festivals including Outfest (L.A.), Milan LGBT Film Festival (Milan, Italy), and TBA Festival (Portland, OR)

website
www.astrofilms



21. Gates of Steel Karaoke Music Video by Karl Lind 4 min 20 sec. 2008 

synopsis:

The Gates of Steel Karaoke Music Video allows viewers to become part of the action and sing along with a zany tail that illustrates the beginning of the end for all of mankind. Audience participation is highly encouraged!

bio:

Karl Lind is a filmmaker and the curator of
the Odds and Ends screening series, he currently lives in Portland, Oregon. His short films and videos have screened at various venues around the Earth, Including: Dallas Video Festival, PDX Film Festival,Other Cinema and Rotterdam International Film Festival.

website
www.inthecanllc.com