ART INTO FILM programme notes
National Film Theatre
Friday 17 and Saturday 18 June
An event presented by Sight and Sound magazine, The Arts Council of England and the Tate Gallery
Event organisers: Sarah Stephens, Adam Hodgkins and Maryannick Le Cohu
Programme notes compiled by Liese Spencer

To coincide with the opening of the Tate Gallery’s R B Kitaj retrospective, Sight and Sound, the Arts Council and the Tate Gallery sponsor an event exploring some of the many conversations that have taken place between art and film.

FRIDAY 17 JUNE: AN EVENING WITH PAOLOZZI AND KITAJ
6.30pm Eduardo Paolozzi in conversation with Christopher Frayling.
8.00pm Private coach to the Tate Gallery for a special viewing of the Kitaj retrospective.
10.00pm Ends

SATURDAY 18 JUNE: A DAY OF FILM, ART AND VIDEO
10.30am Enigmatic Encounters Between the Painted and the Projected Image
Presentation by Peter Wollen
11.30am Coffee Break
11.45am Animation and Art
Mario Cavalli, Kayla Parker and David Anderson talk about their work and show extracts from their films.
With question and answer session
1.15pm Lunch
2.30pm Stan Brakhage
Stan Brakhage presents premiere screenings of his new hand-painted films, and talks with Simon Field.
With question and answer session
4.45pm Ends

A DAY OF FILM, ART AND VIDEO
SATURDAY 18 JUNE

ENIGMATIC ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN THE PAINTED AND THE PROJECTED IMAGE
A presentation by Peter Wollen
An established film-maker, Peter Wollen co-wrote Michelangelo Antonioni’s The Passenger and collaborated on a number of films with Laura Mulvey including Riddles of the Sphinx. He has made a number of films for the British Film Institute and Channel Four, his most recent solo feature being Friendship’s Death. He has worked as editor of Screen magazine, taught film at the University of Essex and curated international art exhibitions in Europe and North America. Author of the pioneering critical work, Signs and Meaning in the Cinema, he is currently Professor of Film at the University of California, Los Angeles.

ANIMATION AND ART
Mario Cavalli’s animated films and commercials have established his reputation as an innovative director. His “painterly” film Soho Square created an entirely new way of combining animation with live action, winning prizes at several international festivals, including Hiroshima and Cork. With producer and partner Pam Dennis, Mario set up Pizazz Pictures. He has recently completed a 30 minute version of Carmen for BBC2’s Opervox series and a video for Pierre Boulez’s recording of Ravel’s Bolero.

Kayla Parker has produced experimental animation, screened widely in Britain and abroad. Her films Cage of Flame and Nuclear Family have appeared on television as part of the Four-Mations season on Channel Four. She also made Night Sounding for BBC2 which was shown on The Late Show last year. Kayla has run numerous courses and workshops in animation, video and film-making. She is currently working on As Yet Unseen, a personal film about the relationship between mother and daughter, funded by the British Film Institute.

Trained as a director at the National Film School, David Anderson has received international critical acclaim for his work in animation. His first film, Dreamland Express, won a BAFTA for best short animation, the Best Animation Award at the Munich Film Festival and a Special Prize at the World Festival of Animated Films, Zagreb. Other work includes Deadsy and Door, two Russell Hoban scripts premiered on British television in 1990. David has lectured on animation and acted as a judge for the British Animation Awards. He is a co-founder and director of Redwing Film Company and has just written and directed In The Time of Angels for Channel Four.

KAYLA PARKER
NIGHT SOUNDING 1993, 16mm, 1.5min
The resonance of the shoreline of an industrial, fishing and military port. Animation painted and scratched onto film. A “One Minute Television” film commissioned by The Arts Council and BBC2 for The Late Show.
Director/Animator/Editor Kayla Parker
Photography Stuart Moore
Sound Stuart Moore and Kayla Parker
Dubbing Mixer Paul Roberts

CAGE OF FLAME 1992, 16mm, 4min 55sec extracts
A bewitching celebration of menstruation which uses a variety of animation techniques, from pixillation to scratch on film. An antidote to the vacuous santized view of menstruation largely promoted by advertising. Funded by an Arts Council/Channel Four ANIMATE! Award.
Director/Animator/Editor Kayla Parker
Photography Stuart Moore
Sound Stuart Moore and Kayla Parker
Dubbing Mixer Paul Roberts
Performer Nakinda Parker

CANNTAIREACHD 1992, 16mm, 1min
Animation to accompany a recording of the late Mary Morrison of Barra, singing her own distinctive type of Gaelic “mouth music”. Commissioned by Scottish TV for a documentary about Gaelic music “Canan nan Gaidheil”, (The Language of the Gael).
Director/Animator/Editor Kayla Parker
Photography Stuart Moore

UNKNOWN WOMAN 1991, 16mm, 3min 50sec extracts
A woman’s psychological journey filled with suspense and pursuit. Funded by Film Awards from THe Arts Council and South West Arts.
Director/Animator/Editor Kayla Parker
LIve Action Camera Joy Elliott
Sound Stuart Moore and Kayla Parker
Dubbing Mixer Paul Roberts
Performer Lorrie Parker

AS YET UNSEEN (pilot) 1994, 16mm, 2min 10sec
Pilot for a personal film about the relationship between mother and daughter based on shared memories and dreams. Funded by a Development Grant from The British Film Institute.
Director/Animator/Editor Kayla Parker
Photography Stuart Moore
Sound Stuart Moore and Kayla Parker
Dubbing Mixer Paul Roberts
Set Builder Miles Parker

STAN BRAKHAGE
Stan Brakhage screens premieres of his hand-painted films and talks to Simon Field.

Avant-garde film-maker Stan Brakhage has been involved in film for over 40 years, producing an astonishing range of work that includes psychodrama, autobiographical films and Freudian trance films. He describes his Abstract Expressionist hand-painted films as his favourite work and cites Turner, Pollock, Rothko and Kline as influences. From 1969 to 1981 he taught film history and aesthetics at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and he has been teaching film at the University of Boulder since 1981. He was recently honoured by the US Library of Congress, which selected his monumental four-part film Dog Star Man (1962-64) for inclusion in the National Film Registry. Brakhage has also been awarded the prestigious MacDowell Medal, whose previous recipients include Robert Frost and Georgia O’Keeffe.

Simon Field is currently Director of Cinema at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London. He has written and lectured on Stan Brakhage’s work and that of other artist film-makers. More recently, he worked with producer/director Keith Griffith on Abstract Cinema - a programme on abstract artists for Channel Four.