Italia Experimental Films and Videos 1980-2005
- Gary Adlestein |
- 1980 |
- 45 minutes |
- BOTH |
- SOUND
DVD Compilation
A selection of short experimental films and videos shot in Italy spanning a period from 1980 through 2005. Some are intuitive, edited-in-camera, reactions to what I was experiencing: others are frame-by-frame (JK optical printing) reconfigurations of the image or, in the videos, layered and image-processed compositions. All are lyric celebrations of a place, art and culture that I love. (G.A.)
Compilation includes the following works:
Saint Teresa (1983, 16mm, 4:50 min.) - after Bernini's "Ecstasy"; baroque excess and dazzle; shot in super-8 at SM della Vittoria, Rome; re-composed in 16mm on the JK.
Embarkation to Capri (1980, super-8mm, 2:04 min.) - a single shot lyric; the pleasure seekers depart (after Watteau and Fellini). "A particular favorite of mine." - Tom Chomont
Verona (1989 super-8mm, 3:11 min.) - one of a series of edited-in-camera, sync-sound, place lyrics that I was shooting in the late '80s.
Taormina/Etna (1996, super-8mm to Hi-8 video, 6:53 min.) - a land and seascape of exquisite beauty pulsing with life and the promise of death.
Sicilia (1999, mini-DV, 4:20 min.) - meditation on life and death in the Catacombs of Palermo and, on the island of Motya, in the presence of a 5th century BC Greek Statue unearthed in the 1970s. (DIrector's Citation, Black Maria Film & Video Festival).
Nocturne (2003, mini-DV, 4:20 min.) - video diary: midnight under a full Venetian moon.
Graffito (2003, mini-DV, 2:55 min.) - tracing a swirling arabesque at the heart of Venetian art and design. (Athens Int'l Film Festival; Three Rivers Film & Video Festival)
Apollo Dreaming (2004, mini-DV, 3:30 min.) - through the oculus of teh Pantheon, Apollo dreams the future of Rome. (DIrector's Citation, 24th Black Maria Film & Video Festival)
San Marco Subaqueo (2005, mini-DV, 4:45 min.) - the bejeweled Adriatic Queen succumbs to the coppery depths of the sea.
Bava Bytes (2005, mini-DV, 10:40 min.) - fractured Mario Bava trailer pics mixed in a delirious giallo tribute to maestro Bava, Christopher Lee and Eva Bartok.