Oddball Films and guest
curator Hannah Airriess present Ancient and Imagined Worlds. This program features films concerning worlds beyond
what we occupy; worlds that have been lost to time and worlds that are products
of fantastic imagination. The short documentary The Inner World of Jorge
Luis Borges (1972) acts as a foundation for this program. Borges
masterfully creates worlds and civilizations spanning all of history in his
short stories and essays, and through interviews filmed in his native Buenos
Aires he explains his relationship to mythology, time, and space. In a clip
from The Lost World (1925), we see a
prehistoric world that has continued to exist into the present, and the
disaster that emerges when explorers try to make contact, illustrated in early
stop motion animation. The animator Philip Stapp beautifully renders the
ancient agricultural rituals of Mayan and Aztec cultures in First Americans: And their Gods (1969 - Part I),
detailing pre-Columbian history with dizzying animation techniques and an
experimental audio track. Moving into the imagined realm, Flatland (1965) takes place in a world that only has two
dimensions and a strict social code; when a three dimensional sphere enters the
picture, the laws of the universe begin to fall apart. Back on earth, Our
World in Review: Arctic Exploration (1936)
features explorers encountering new landscapes and frontiers, with the aid of a
pack of snow dogs. Georges Méliès’s Dreams of Baron Munchausen (1911) concludes
the show, showcasing the beautiful and frightening dream world of a man who had
too much to drink.
Date:
Saturday,
February 18th, 2012 at 8:00pm.
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street,
San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 - Limited Seating RSVP to programming@oddballfilm.com or 415-558.8117.
Admission: $10.00 - Limited Seating RSVP to programming@oddballfilm.com or 415-558.8117.
Featuring:
The Lost World (B&W,
1925)
In this scene from the film
adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1912 novel of the same name, a group of
explorers discover a world where dinosaurs still roam the earth. As they
attempt to make a home amongst the dinosaurs, they fall victim to attacks by
dinosaurs, big cats, and ape-men. The Lost World contains a wide variety of visual tricks, most
notably stop-motion animation, to create a dazzling prehistoric world hidden
within our own.
First Americans
(Part I): And their Gods (Color,
1969)
This educational short
film tells the story of ancient agricultural rituals of the Aztec and Mayans
through the breathtaking animation of Philip Stapp. He uses bold colors,
jarring movement, and a variety of illustration styles ranging from pointillist
to abstract in order to illustrate these elaborate cultural histories. Music by
Thomas Wager and Arthur Burrows, referred to as “ethno- concrète,” accompany this gorgeous animated
short.
Flatland (Color,
1965)
This short film, adapted
from Edwin Abbott’s 1884 novel of the same name, tells the story of a world
that only exists in two dimensions. Told from the perspective of a square, the
film provides a tour of 2D society, and the chaos that ensues when a
three-dimensional sphere makes a visit. This visually stimulating, and at times
psychedelic, short was made in the first years of the animation program at
Harvard’s Visual Arts Center, and is narrated by Dudley Moore.
Our World in
Review: Arctic Exploration (B&W,
1935)
New worlds continue to
emerge on earth, as explorers move deeper into the sea, rainforests, and snowy
terrains. This newsreel from the 1930s focuses on the importance of dogs in
arctic exploration, as well as the fascination with new frontiers and attempts
to conquer these emerging worlds.
The Inner Life of
Jorge Luis Borges (Color,
1972)
Jorge Luis Borges was a
master of fantastic literature, and composed countless classic stories centering
on lost civilizations and languages, and on ancient and invented worlds. This
half-hour long documentary features several long conversations with Borges in
his native Buenos Aires, addressing a range of topics from his love of
libraries, living blind, and his literary concerns of fantasy, time, and space.
Baron Munchausen’s
Dream (B&W, 1911)
Baron Munchausen’s
Dream is a late-period film in
the work of Georges Méliès, who created a distinct and innovative formal style
in early cinema with films including A Voyage to the Moon. In this short film, Baron Munchausen enters a
dream world when he falls asleep drunk, encountering both terrifying and
enchanting otherworldly beings. Méliès visual style perfectly illustrates this fantastic
tale.
Curator’s
Biography
Hannah
Airriess is a graduate of the University of Chicago in Film and East Asian
Studies. She has previously programmed at Doc Films Theater in Chicago, and
various art spaces in the Midwest. She has been programming with Oddball since
March of last year.
