The most formal of the multiple viewing venues is Sherwood Auditorium where the classic and still stunningly avant garde shorts
Un Chien Andalou (1929) and
L'age D'or (1930) will play in tandem. These surreal masterworks were the collaboration of filmmaker Luis Bunuel and artist Salvador Dali. The opportunity to see these films on the big screen is something to be savored. Kendricks has dubbed this venue Surrealism A-Go-Go, which gets to the playful nature of the whole event.
Funny Boneyard's Bitch
Other portions of MCASDs galleries will be transformed into viewing venues for themed collections of shorts selected by Kendricks. The Axline Court in the museum has become Funny Boneyard II: Drama Queens and Global Village Idiots. Here you'll find such humorous gems as Lilah Vandenburgh 's savagely funny Bitch and Ray Tintori's Death to the Tinman . The selection of films and these two in particular, reveal a lot about Kendricks. He loves artful films and ones that have a playful or clever nature. These two are in black and white and reveal the savvy of filmmakers working on a small budget. Death to the Tinman seems especially emblematic of the kind of films Kendricks likes to highlight. It is skillfully retro in its visual style and creates effects that are accomplished in camera rather than with digital technology. This gives the film a magically antique quality, as if you were watching something by Georges Melies when he was just discovering the possibilities of film. Kendricks calls these type of films "works that are literally hand made and the filmmakers go in and get their hands messy. These films also have an old school aesthetic and an emphasis on storytelling."
Outdoors on the Miles Terrace, there will be The Wailing Wall, Disc II. Here you'll find drinks and a collection of music videos by Nathan Gulick, Darren Ankenman, Orrin Anderson, Cam Archer and Jillian McDonald. The Video Gallery, a cozy little nook, will be the place to find both romance and non-fiction work in a collection called Mini Docs 'R Us III & Defiant Love. Among the films is the lyrically shot Bomb.
And last but not least is Kendrick's salute to Blaxploitation, the Coast Room's Souls on Ice. Here you'll find the most tantatlizingly titled short: Dirty Harriet Tubman by Michael Paul Britto . Britto is known for making spoofs of movie trailers and this one ponders what the famous Harriet Tubman would be like if she were turned into a Blaxploitation badass heroine. Souls on Ice also features one of the event's most powerful works, Moon Molson's heartbreaking Pop Foul, an unsentimental look at the cycles of violence.
MCASD and Kendricks' Muse Chasers present alt.pictureshows on Thursday August 23 at 7:00 pm at MCASD La Jolla, 700 Prospect Street. For more information, 858-454-3541 or www.mcasd.org . Admission is free for MCASD members and $5 for the general public. So get off your butts and engage in this physical channel surfing.
Program note: Many of the films have adult content and have not been rated.
Be listening to These Days on Thursday when Neil Kendricks will be the guest in the second hour.
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