Film Special: The Black Maria Film Festival

Don’t miss this unparalleled chance to see extraordinary new short film and video. Named after Thomas Edison’s movie studio, Black Maria supports, exhibits and rewards cutting-edge short film and video. Festival winners (including a short by Jodie Mack of Dartmouth’s Film & Media Studies) tour the US and debut at over 70 top cultural institutions.

The evening consists of a series of award-winning shorts specifically selected for Dartmouth. Prof. Jodie Mack presents the program and closes the show with a screening of  her 2011 winner Yard Work is Hard Work.

Evening Program Selections:

The Stitches Speak – 12 min (2009) by Nina Sabnani, Mumbai, India

Fabric art graces this intriguing animation/documentary tracing Kutch artisans’ journeys between Pakistan and India in the forming the Kala Raksha Trust and School for Design. The women’s appliqués and embroideries reveal a powerful narrative in this visually rich work. Stellar Award – Animation Selection

Mrs. Buck in Her Prime – 9:30 min. (2010) by James Franklin Gould, Washington, NC

Mrs. Buck in Her Prime is a tender documentary portrait of a spirited 104 year old African American church pianist who, despite her physical frailties, carries on playing the piano with verve and vigor  at services in her small hometown of Washington, North Carolina. Juror’s Choice Selection

Pinburgh - 5 min. (2010) by Doug Cooper, Pittsburgh, PA

Pinburgh is a highly inventive musical fantasy, combining live action and digital animation techniques. The piece is set in Pittsburgh’s hilly industrial landscape. A live actor is seen dancing down a drawn set of steps and into a bar where a patron plays a game of pinball. As balls bounce out of the bar and about into the city, they activate drawings which conjure up the perspectives of M.C. Escher yet retain an originality that reflects a quirky and witty sense of humor. Juror’s Citation Selection

Stanley Pickle – 11:33 min. (2010) Vicky Mather, Berkshire, England

A comedic  “pixilated” live action animation in which a quirky main character, Stanley Pickle, a 20 year old,  has lived with his parent too long. He never leaves the house until one fateful day but he likes to play with his clockwork toys and  his mother kisses him goodnight each evening. The trouble is that Stanley thinks this is all quite normal, until he spies a mysterious girl in the meadow outside his window. She turns his world upside down. The film premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival and was given the McLaren Award for New British Animation. Jurors’ Choice Selection

Carpe Diem - 5 min. (2010) by Alison Neale, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

This is a campy and biting musical satire, which takes place aboard a flight from big oil crazed Houston, Texas to Ft. McMurray, the capital of the Alberta, Canada Tar Sands. The “VP” of  Hexxon oil finds his world collapsing around him as the market goes into a tailspin and investors jump ship. The “VP” is confronted with a two-headed fish; evidence of big oil’s environmental impact in this over-the-top hors-d’oeuvre operetta. Director’s Choice Selection

Hail – 3 min. (2010) by Emily Hubley, South Orange, NJ

This whimsical hand drawn animation is based on a song composed and performed by the musician Hamell on Trial. Hubley’s art illustrates the song about three hate-crime victims who meet up in heaven. This lyrical piece was created as part of a documentary by Vic Campos about the song’s composer. Director’s Choice Selection

New London Calling  – 10 min. (2010) by Alla Kovgan, Somerville, MA

New London Calling is zestful and refreshingly free spirited urban dance film shot on location in New London, Connecticut. A tribe of exuberant 6th, 7th and 8th graders energetically explore the creative possibilities of the city, playing games, running, jumping, with vitality. Cinematography is by the Russian collaborator of noted dance film maker Alla Kovgan. This is no ordinary dance film, it is colorful, dynamic, multi racial and just plain delightful. Director’s Choice Selection

The Burning Wigs of Sedition – 9:22 min. (2010) by Anna Fitch, San Francisco

An untamed, irreverent, and fractured pseudo musical set in the belly of a square-rigger bound for a crazed bacchanal.  Stellar Open Style Selection.  This film is in the Venice Biennial.

Eye Liner - 4 min. (2009) by Joanna Priestley, Portland OR

This energetic, playful animation by a noted animation artist, explores geometrical features of the human face as shifting abstract compositions and figurative archetypes. The ebb and flow of these evolving images combine whimsically to capture a free-spirited rhapsody. Juror’s Citation Selection

In 16mm

Yard Work Is Hard Work – 28 min. (2008) by Jodie Mack, Hanover, NH

Disillusionment plus hope in collage and song: part experimental animation, part romantic comedy, Yard Work Is Hard Work is also a biting critique of certain myths about marriage and consumerism. This initially droll work turns into poignant musical follows a pair of newlyweds as they learn the perils of “upward mobility” and life in general. Jurors’ Choice Selection