Documentaries Shine at Student Film Showcase

For the first time in it's 17 years, three documentaries were screened at CSULB's annual Student Film Showcase at the Directors Guild of America, Thursday Nov. 8.

The event included 14 CSULB student films which ran for a total of two-and-a-half-hours. The reception that followed the screening consisted of the films directors, cast as well as an audience of professional in the entertainment industry. Together they nibbled on cheese, crackers and Baklava while discussing thier work.

According to the chair of the Department of Film and Electronic Arts, Craig Smith, the films are viewed by all the production faculty without credits and then ranked. The top ten films make it into the showcase.

"We have ramped up the documentary track within the production option," said Smith. "We have wonderful people teaching documentary films."

The first documentary showcased was My Leisure World, a 12-minute glimpse into the social lives of senior citizens by Jessica McCarty. Unlike narrative films which spend a lot of time on pre-production (writing, casting and directing), post-production is much more grueling for documentaries.

"All of it is based on actually going out there and shooting. Once you get out there, there's no control at all," said McCarty. "You're using real people in real life, trying to capture it the best you can."

One of the documentary filmmakers Eric Kim had over 300 minutes of film that he ended up cutting down to 11 minutes. His film Where Did Time Go? followed the story of Bellflower's lost time capsule from 1957.

"The documentaries were terrific. Where Did Time Go? was the most professional documentary," said Max Smerling of Lakeshore Entertainment who attended the event based on the "gorgeously produced" invitation.

Overall Smerling was expecting the student films to be better and was surprised that the filmmakers didn't incorporate more experimental techniques. He cited general problems with the writing and sound.

This statement was surprising considering the new sound lab and upgraded sound stage available to students due to a $560,000 anonymous donation to the department.

"The quality of work has always been good but our students have been disadvantaged because we didn't have the kind of equipment and the number of faculty that a USC or a UCLA has," said Smith. "Now we have supplemented our budget with outside money, a 1.4 million dollar outside anonymous grant. Sound is very important to film...you can hear the difference on these films."

The films are senior projects made by students with an emphasis in production. The entire process takes anywhere from one semester to a year and a half to finish, from the beginning stages of writing to completion.

Funding is also an issue. Gabe Micheal, director of the seven-minute film Smooch, worked three jobs and helped flip a house to pay for his film about a 10 year olds first kiss. The tagline reads "Is it love, or just a really big fart?"

The filmakers have to wear many hats ranging from producing to writing, directing and casting. Many of them said they enjoyed the entire process. McCarty and Mary Fecteau, who worked on documentaries, said that the people they met while filming was their favorite part of the project.

Through filming The Necessary Assasination of George Lucas director Ryan Bergez learned a valueable lesson.

"I loved writing it and essentially produced it at the same time, which I think in hindsight I would never do again...I would be paying attention to craft service that people were getting fed, whereas I should have been paying attention to what we were going to shoot next," said Bergez.

Another Student Film Showcase will is scheduled for December location and date TBA.

Murakami at MOCA

Seizure inducing wall paper, gazing green "jelly fish" eyeballs, walls filled with canvas the size of a short bus, bursting with psychedelic images, melting with details so that even the most disturbed ADHD in addition to the posh Angelinos could be amused.

Fine art meets pop culture at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA in Los Angeles, as internationally acclaimed Japanese artist Takashi Murakami is exhibited in a major retrospective that runs through Feb. 11, 2008.

The exhibition features more than 90 works in various media including paintings, sculptures, film and massive installations, on estanding 23 ft. tall.

Musuem goers are greeted by two life-sized manga figures. Thier faces are wide-eyed and innocent like characters from Pokemon except, the girl is skipping rope made of milk squeezed from her Pamela Anderson-sized breasts and the well-endowed boy is weilding a lasso made of semen from his erect penis. Two painting appropriately titled Milk and Cream accompany the figures.



Many of Murakami's pieces intermingle what are usually considered childlike images with adult subject matter. Most of his work has a deeper meaning that goes unnoticed at first glance. For example, four paintings of skulls in hot pink, sky blue, red and green seem generic but then you read the excerpt or look closer and find that they are actually mushroom clouds morphing into skulls symbolizing the death and destruction brought on by the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.



However, what really sets this exhibition apart are the huge installation pieces. The two largest works are 23 and 18 1/2 ft. tall and both are rife with Buddist references are symbolism.



Murakami was born in Tokyo in 1962, earned his PhD in fine art in 1993 and invented the phrase "POKU." POKU is a phrase combining the words pop art and otaku (which is used to describe fans of anime and manga). Overall he is known for combining the brightness of pop art and the "superflat" style found in anime all with the imaginary qualities of psychedelic surrealism.



The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA
152 N. Central Ave. Downtown LA
213-626-6222
www.moca.org

Altar Your Thinking About the Dead

"Cemetaries are public places but there not treated like public places," said artist Joyce Burstein standing in between tombstones at the at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, for the Day of the Dead celebration. Her words might have been true on any other night, in any other cemetery but on Saturday Oct. 27, 2007--she was dead wrong.

In the center of the event, grills sizzled with every Mexican dish you could think of, beer was abundant and a long line of tents housed vendors selling art and hand-made trinkets perfect for altars honoring the dead.

There were theater performances, a "Cavaleras" art exhibit and a historical lecture presentation. At the entrance people danced to traditional music. Those in the middle of the action wore ornate outfits with little bones that clicked and clanked with each movement and large feather headresses that swayed with the beats.



However, with all the festivities the true heart of the event was found in more than 100 altars--some modest, some elaborate all decorated to commerate the dead. Walking down the rows of alters the air was smokey with incense and a thick scent of sage. Black paved roads were packed with people, about of fourth of which were in full costume. After awhile it was normal to bump into the ocassional witch or 6 year old devil.

The mood was neither somber nor sad even though ideas of death and lost loved ones were everywhere.

"Generally American culture focuses more on fear, but Hispanic culture focuses on celebrating life and realizes that death is a part of that," said Tracy Lissauskas, visiting the festival for her second year in a row from Long Beach.

Day of the Dead or Dia Day Los Muertos is one of Mexico's traditional holidays honoring deceased ancestors, family and friend. November 1 is All Saints Day and is reserved for departed children and infants, often referred to as "angelitos" (little angels). November 2 is All Souls Day reserved for remembrance of those who died as adults.

The tradition of Dia De Los Muertos is an indigenous custom that dates back to pre-Hispanic cultures of Meso-America according to www.ladayofthedead.com. This makes the holiday more than 3,000 years old and once commen amongst the Aztec, Mayan and other Mexican natives. Even after five centuaries of Spanish colonization the celebration has continued to survive.

Unlike the United States where death is a topic largely avoided, in Mexico's acient civilizations death held a significant place in certain rituals. According to www.mexicoconnect.com for Aztecs it was considered a blessing to die in child birth, battle or human sacrifice. Such death would gaurentee the victim a desirable destination in the afterlife.

In some ways a much softer version of this attitude had lived on. Manuel Plasencia a man of Mexican heritage who has worked on numerous alters for Dia De Los Muertos said:

"We want to celebrate it [death] with happiness, like a fiesta, it's nothing scary bad or for crying."

The cornerstone of this celebration is the creation of altars and offerings to the departed. The alter can be dedicated to a family member, friend, pet, even a celebrity. Basically it can be made for anyone who was special in your life. The purpose of the alter is not to raise the dead even though some of the symbolism with the offerings may suggest contact or communication. Rather the focal point is to commerate the individual and remind the living of our own mortality.

Here are some of the traditional element to include when constructing an altar for your beloved:

Earth Each of the four elements of nature: earth, wind, water and fire should be represented in an alter accoding to www.ladayofthedead.com. Earth is often represented by the placement of fruits. Also food should be left for the departed since it is believed that they are coming from a long journey and will be very hungry. This is usually a traditional dish accopanied by one of the individuals personal favorites (at one altar I saw a box of Fruity Pebbles another had hamburgers) and tamales according to Aldo Cruz, two-time winner of Hollywood Forever Cemetery's Best Traditional Altar Contest.

Wind This element is represented by movement. Most commonly used are "papel picados" which are intricate tissue paper cut-outs that usually have the shape of flowers or skulls cut-out and come in bright colors.

Water There are three reasons why this vital element is included. First it is placed in a container for the soul to quench its thirst after its journey to the altar. Second, water is used as a symbol of purification. Finally water is set out along with a razor, clean towel and soap so the soul can freshen up before the meal.

Fire It is essential to include fire in your altar to illuminate it so the departed can find their way to it. Each candle represents a loving soul that misses the departed and an extra is placed for the forgotten soul.

Flowers & Copal Copal is a certain kind of incense that smells like sage. It is used along with flowers and other strong scents to guid the souls to the altar. Copal also commemorates pre-Columbian history according to www.ladayofthedead.com. The most commonely used flower is the marigold or cempazuchiles which blossom in Mexico during October and November. Cruz says their bright orange color also lead the souls to their altars. Besides marigolds, Cruz also uses white flower to show that a person was pure, and red to symbolize "the blood of life."

The Skull Sugar skulls can be made from a recipe at home there are many avaiable online) or purchased in the month of October at Mexican markets and shops. They are also on sale at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery Day of the Dead Event. Tracy Lisauskas bought a hand-painted one for $15.00 to put on her computer desk. These skulls can be inscribed witht the names of the deceased and the living on the forehead as a reminder of mortality.

Personal Items Finally photos of the departed are usually include. As is tequila and cigarettes if the person drank and smokeed. Anything that the person loved or anything that represented who they were may be placed on an altar. Some guides suggest that the placement of offering be symmetrical but both experts I talked, Plasencia and Cruz said that didn't really matter. What's more important is to "Feel free to do what you think your honoree would enjoy," says blogger Ladi at www.squido.com. "The point is, size doesn't really matter, what matters is the heart you put into it."

Circus Punks: High-End Knock Down Dolls

The Circus Punks opening reception went off Saturday, October 13 at the GoRilla Gallery in Orange. Circus Punks are the foot-tall with fuzzy edges used at carnival booths. Traditionally, you throw bottles at them and win prizes, but at this art show these dolls are hand-painted and sold for $200-450.

So far Circis Punks has been shown in New York and Pasaden. This year's show is in Orange retrospective displaying 275 punks. Of these 275, 76 are hand-painted, 90 are mass produced or screen-printed and the rest are mixed media creations.

Local punk rock band The Johns were there to play a short set. The Johns lead singer Rob Milucky was quite the Circus Punks enthusiast.

"I wanna buy one! I like Jason Maloney's....It's Raggy Ann with a knife and her sidekicks head in the back, it's great. Everyone should have that in thier living room," said Milucky.


Later, I caught up with Maloney and found that his hand-painted punk was actually Raggedy Fran--Raggedy Ann's psycho-evil-goth-step-sister.

That was the best part of the show. Many of the artists were present and most of the punks had a story.


"A lot of them seem to be monster oriented," said Katie Gallegher a gallery goer supporting a friend of a friend.

That was true except for the friend of the friend she was there for-- Tommi Lim. He explained that his punk dealt with truth and lies and how others try to follow certain righteous people whether it be religious or political and how you can never trust any one 100%. So on one side of his doll he painted a fist in the air like "Fight the Power" and while the other side depicted the same hand with it's fingers crossed. All this was done in vivid pinks and greens set against a black background with lime green fuzz.

The event was sponsored by Harvey's makers of the seatbelt bags, who own GoRilla gallery and have a store attached to the gallery.



For more information on Circus Punks visit www.circuspunks.com

Swerve = Film + Art + Music - $

The Swerve festival brought an eclectic mix of film, art and music to the Burnsdall Art Park in Hollywood Sept. 28-30, for three days of free or at least relatively cheap thrills, all while raising environmental awareness.

"One of the trademarks of West Coast creative culture is the cross pollination of creative disciplines--art, music and film are interrelated and overlapping," said Fesitval Director, Jonathan Wells, "this is the first festival to celebrate that."

Though the entire event was created by Fuel TV, there precence mainly shined through in the film portion of the festival which kicked-off with the US premiere of the feature film Surfwise. The documentary directed by Doug Pray follows the story of legendary surfer Dr. Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz. Overall the film segment of the festival included five feature films, 20 divers shorts (more than half of which were international) and 20 music videos.


At the awards ceremony on Sunday night hosted by Jason Lee (My Name is Earl, former pro skater) and Chris Pastras (pro skater), Best Short went to director Gullherme Marcondes for Tyger, Web Award went to James Frost and Mary Fagot for Tons of Ballons and Joey Garfeild was selected as Emerging filmaker for RJD2 "Work it Out." A full-wrap of the awards show and the festival will be on FueL TV November 9 at 9:30p.m.

However, the majority of the action at Swerve could be found on the main lawn. The most popular attraction was afree t-shirt silkscreen station. People could get up to three designs by artist featured at Swerve placed however they wanted on the navy shirts provided. The line was 40-people long most of the time I was there.

Another station was sponsored by createaskate.org. Here people were sanding the edges, stenciling graphics and taking home free skateboard decks.

On the other hand, there was one booth so desolate I could have sworn I saw a tumbleweed roll by. In an effort to encourage people to go green, a group called Global Inheritance had stationary bikes hooked up to generators to charge electronic devices. I looked at the table packed with all sorts of chargers and was stoked.

"Can I charge my camera?" I asked.

"No but ten minutes on the bike will get you a couple bars on your cell phone," said the environmentally-friendly girl.

For some reason breaking a sweat in the Hollywood sun for a cell phone charge wasn't as desirable as free t-shirts or skate decks.

One of Global Inheritance efforts that was a hit, was thier recycling store. Festival goers could turn in bottles and cans for merchandise. One bottle would get you a sticker, for 30 you could get an hour of free bowling at Lucky Strike for 12 people and 50? Well, 50 bottles would get you an autographed P. Diddy CD (but most people were too indie for that anyways).

The biggest exhibition of art at the festival was a collection of painted recycling bins, which was also appropriate for the environmental push. Also many of the styles the artists used were "street" or graffiti influenced which went with Fuel's So-Cal- culture-celebration idea behind the event.



Another colllective area of art was found near the main stage. Ten 15-foot high pin-wheels with 6-foot wheel spans stood facing away from the stage (which sat atop a large hill at the art park) towards a pleasant view of the Hollywood Hills. With the light breeze Saturday afternoon, the windmills would start and stop turning so you could catch glimpses of the artists' mixed-media creations between spins. Most of them were bold and bright.

Finally judging from those I interviewed, the music is what really got people to go to Swerve. From indie rock bands like Snow Den to the hybrid Brazilian hip-hop/electronica group Bonda Do Role, a total of 14 bands played all for free except for the final show. Swerve closed with the Brooklyn-based trio We Are Scientists who are descibed in the program as "...a three-tusked mastodon. A triple mohawak." Enough said.

This was the inaugural year of the Swerve Festival but the PR guy seemed weary of the phrase "first annual." As far as reactions the reviews are mixed.

"It feels very corporate said Colin, who, when I asked for his last name told me to spell his name coL and gave me his myspace (as if this was a totally normal was to answer).

He explained that it didn't feel "organic" but rather that the creators were trying to make you experience everything a certain way and that's not what art is about.

"The art is pretty typical of what's going on in LA right now," said Dana Bean who was at Swerve to watch her friends' band Foreign Born.

It was easy to see that Swerve had to be a very expensive endeavor for thr sponsors. Like coL said, it may have been a little to corporate for the likes of the young, artistic, indie Los Angeles crowd. But I have to give Fuel credit underwhelming an audience that isn't even paying you is no small task. Then again, after every interview, I did ask each person if they felt like they got their money's worth... and they all said--yes.

For more info., photos and videos click here or visit www.swervefestival.com

The Great Picture

The largest photograph ever taken is on display now through Sept. 29 at the Pasadena Art Center's South Campus.

The photo is three stories high and 11 stories wide and was produced in a F-18 jet hanger at the El Toro airport which was tranformed into an enormous camera obscura--the largest camera ever made.

photo from Pasadena Weekly Article: www.pasadenaweely.com

"We were making it up as we were going along," said Clayton Spade one of the six leading photographers working on the project at a lecture for The Great Picture on Sept. 20.

"We had experts...they sometimes were right but frequently were wrong," added another lead phtotographer, Mark Chamberlain.

"We said screw all that we'll just do it ourselves!" exclaimed photographer Douglas McCulloh, drawing a laugh from the audience.

The exhibit, is in the Art Centers Wind Tunnel with dim lighting that slowly brightens to reveal the massive landscape that is captured by The Great Picture. The goal is to recreate the experience that the photographers had while working inside the camera which was pitch black.

At the lecture and reception for The Great Picture on Sept. 20 all six photographers agreed that the 35 minute exposure time was a truely "zen-like" experience. For the last five minutes they all agreed to sit in silence, alone but together in the dark, in their gigantic camera hoping that all thier hard work would eventually develop.

And luckily it did. But not without hundred of volunteers and bussiness sponsors, 400 pounds of muslin imported from Germany, 600 gallons of black and white developer and 1,200 gallons of fixer for developing just to name a few.

But there's a lot more to the photo than "Wow that's big." The photo itself is a panoramic view of a portion of the Marine Air Corps Station El Toro which will soon become part of the Orange County Great Park, as was accomplished as part of the Legacy Project. The Legacy Project is a non-profit documentary project that is covering the tranformation of El Toro into of the nations largest metropolitan parks (the Orange County Great Park). Amidst all the political controversy on deciding what to do with El Toro, the photo really represents a turning point in Orange County history.

On a larger scale it's also a statement about the evolution of the photographic medium. In a world were you can shoot hundreds of digital images with a camera or even your cell phone these guys did the opposite and went all the way back to the camera obscura, which Da Vinci was sketching centuries ago.

"We had one photo to make," said Chamberlain, "and one chance to make it." Two Guinness Book world records later and I guess it's safe to say they did; they most definitly did.

It's Jesus, Psychedelics and Surf Culture at the Laguna Museum of Art

Below: Jimi Hendrix concert poster, 1968
Omage fromwww.myraltis.co.uk/rickgriffin/

Imagine a huge biblical painting inspired by the Gospel of John 12:15. A Jesus-like figure is in the center riding a donkey. The brush strokes are prominent. The lettering at the top is so good it would make a tagger jealous. You look closer and notice a figure to the left of Jesus--is that guy wearing a Lynyrd Sknyrd t-shirt?

Indeed he is, that's what you get when your looking at one of artist Rick Griffin's pieces. Right now at the Laguna Art Museum an exhibition entitled Heart and Torch: Rick Griffin's Transcendence runs until Sept. 30 and is $8.00 for students.

Rick Griffin was a surfer and a hippie turned born-again Christian who lived from 1944-1991. In many ways the exhibition chronicles his journey in these three stages of his life. It includes over 140 paintings, drawings, posters, album covers and artifacts.

Below: Surfer Magazine Cover, 1962
Image from www.myraltis.co.uk/rickgriffin/

Sponsored in part by Hurley and Surfer Magazine one of the things that really makes this exhibition stand out is the diversity of mediums. In one room there are a collection of large paintings with heavy religious influences. Another room is filled with concert posters designed for the likes ofJimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead in Griffin's signature psychedelic style. A smaller room is dedicated to his comics which are simply pen and ink once featured in Zap Comics and Mad Magazine.

Overall Heart and Torch is the artist's 1st major retrospective and solo museum exhibition and cover over 30 years of his work as a cult figure in 1960-70's counterculture. What this means for us is hours of relatively cheap entertainment and one of the few art exhibitions where you can literally walk out of the gallery and into one of the surf shops downtown and see Griffin's designs printed on Hurley t-shirts.

Below: John 18:5, 1979 Published in The Gospel of John. Acrylic on Canvas
Image from: www.rickgriffinink.com

Also if your a comic freak and you dig Griffin's cartoons there's another exhibit running at the Grand Central Art Gallery in Santa Ana Featuring BasilWolverton, it runs until Nov. 11th. His style is very similar to Griffins and the infamous Robert Crumb and while I was checking out the blogs on Juxtapoz (an arts and culture magazine site) one writer even called him the father of low-brow art. Another great review of Wolverton show can be found at the OC Weekly by Greg Stacey, he has a clever eye for art, for instance he noted that Wolverton characters don't have hair they have "hairs." And it's true the artist details are impossibly intricate. Even if your not into art it's a very well written piece.

Laguna Art Museum

307 Cliff Dr. Laguna Beach 92651

949-494-8971
www.lagunaartmuseum.org

Grand Central Art Gallery
125 N. Broadway Santa Ana 92707
714-567-7233
www.grandcentralaercenter.com