film: the full body experience
2011 revelation perth international film festival
The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye
REVELATION CONTINUES TO EXCITE PERTH AUDIENCES WHO ARE ENVIED EVERY YEAR BY THEIR INTERSTATE PEERS FOR THEIR ACCESS TO SOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST RECENT, STRANGE AND REVEALING FILM FARE. JUST A PRE-LAUNCH GLIMPSE OF A SMALL SLICE OF JACK SARGEANT’S 2011 PROGRAM, CURATED WITH HIS CUSTOMARY FLAIR, IS ENOUGH TO WHET THE APPETITE AND TRIGGER TREPIDATION. IN THE FOLLOWING CLUSTER OF FILMS THE BODY IS SEEN FROM A NUMBER OF PERSPECTIVES—AS ZOMBIE, THIRD GENDER, SKATEBOARDER RADICAL, CANCER VICTIM, MURDERER AND UNIVERSE-ENCOMPASSING ARTIST-SCIENTIST-PHILOSOPHER.
the advocate of fagdom
Angelique Bosio’s 2011 welcome documentary, The Advocate for Fagdom (France, 2011, 91mins, www.theadvocateforfagdom.com), will put Bruce La Bruce’s LA Zombie (RT99, p26) in perspective with its survey of the cult filmmaker’s output from shorts to the features Hustler White, No Skin Off My Ass and his zombie sex films. The specialist lineup of interviewees includes LaBruce himself, Gus Van Sant, John Waters, Harmony Korine (RT99, p16), Richard Kern and Revelation director Jack Sargeant. Bosio is a festival guest.
the ballad of genesis and lady jaye
Marie Losier’s The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye (US, Germany, UK 2011, www.balladofgenesisandladyjaye.com/ballad/) investigates the ‘pandrogeny’ project of artist Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (70s performance art group Coum Transmissions; Throbbing Gristle; Psychic TV) and wife Lady Jaye transcending notions of gender by “transforming their bodies through cosmetic surgery into a third body.”
dragonslayer
Hot from SXSW 2011 in Texas where it won Grand Jury Award Documentary feature and Jury Award Best Cinematography comes Tristan Patterson’s Dragonslayer (USA, 74mins, www.dragonslayermovie.com). The film tracks an itinerant skateboarder Josh Sandoval as he journeys through suburbia “like the classic anti-hero, part-punk and part-bohemian, avoiding the bleak certainties of everyday life in favour of the magical pleasures to be had in skateboarding, hanging out with his friends and falling in love.”
gravity was everywhere back then
Described as “dreamlike,” the animated film Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then (Brent Green, 75mins, 2010, http://gravitywaseverywherebackthen.blogspot.com) will feature a live soundtrack performance by five of the film’s makers. It’s based on the true story of a man who, with love and hope, builds a healing-house for his terminally ill wife. Revelation reports that “director Green built a replica of the healing machine in his garden for the film, his own obsessions mirroring those of his subjects.”
Heaven & Earth & Joe Davis
heaven & earth & joe davis
Peter Sasowsky’s Heaven and Earth and Joe Davis (USA, 90mins, 2011, www.joedavisthemovie.com) introduces us to artist, philosopher and scientist Joe Davis: “art and science fuse in his work; whether creating a genetically modified apple designed to tempt the Devil, recording the sounds of micro-organisms or encoding Greek philosophy into fly DNA.”
Stranger still is Davis’ account of “the broadcast of the harmonic frequencies of vaginal contractions into space as a comment on the censorship of gender by the space program.” Reevlation reckons that polymath Joe’s enthusiasms will generate a revitalised sense of awe about the universe of which we are part.
the redemption of general butt naked
The Redemption of General Butt Naked (Daniele Anastasion, Eric Strauss, 2011, USA, 84mins) won Excellence in Cinematography at this year’s Sundance (www.generalbuttnakedmovie.com). Revelation fills us in on the background to this documentary: “During the [first] Liberian civil war (1989-1996) Joshua Milton Blahyi, aka General Butt Naked, led his brutal army, many of whom were child soldiers, into murderous attacks. Known as the Butt Naked Batallion because of their habit of fighting naked in order to get the spirits to protect them, the Warlord and his men were responsible for thousands of deaths.” Blahyi has since reappeared as a Christian seeking forgiveness from victims and his own soldiers. The strength of the film lies apparently in its avoidance of easy judgment given the moral complexity of a post-colonial war.
soda_jerk v tony lawrence
If these films are not enough to make you see the world in a different light, Soda_Jerk v Tony Lawrence might do the trick. Instead of revealing unexpected realities, these artists play with the very way the world is mediated for us. Berlin-based Australians Soda_Jerk and Sydney’s Tony Lawrence present a feast of new and recent works using whatever comes to hand—mixing, mashing, experimenting in their very different ways. Soda_Jerk will premiere the epic Pixel Pirate 2: The Director’s Cut (2011), messing with iconic images, forms and sound-image norms. Lawrence will present four short films, “from the rock-based Goldtop Mountain, through to the poetic evocation Girl On Fire, the quasi-religious imagery of Monsignor Blood and the almost mystical From Water (2009-2011).”
Revelation Perth International Film Festival, Perth, July 14-22, www.revelationfilmfest.org
RealTime issue #103 June-July 2011 pg. 19
