ARTS
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The Michigan Daily
Wednesday, February 6, 1985
5
rage a
A2 hosts the worldly 8mm Film Fest
By Joshua Bilmes
"Something is about to happen."
"What?"
"Something wonderful."
Those words, or words similar, were
used in the trailer for 2010. They fit
even better as a description of the 15th 8
Millimeter Film Festival, which will be
beginning tomorrow night and con-
tinuing through Sunday. Why is the 8
mm Festival wonderful? Generally, 8
mm films, or Super 8, are things you
are not going to find anywhere else, and
they are unique. Specifically, this
year's Festival program has a variety
of special features in addition to the
usual competition.
3 Taking the more general information
first, Super 8 is what most filmmakers
get their start in. Michael Frierson,
directing the Festival (with Martha
Garret) for his third year, terms it
"technically crude," but goes on to say
that it is very creative aqd alive. "It's
filmmaking that is so completely dif-
ferent" from the feature movies most
of us see at the local theater. That is a
mild way of stating the attraction of the
8 mm festival.
The six different shows of films in
each competition have a rather
bewildering array of independently
produced films from both the U.S. and
abroad. Animation, documentaries,
experiments, and even some genuine
narrative films will all be screened.
They will, indeed, look a bit crude;
most of the filmmakers are relatively
new. Some will be excellent and will
stick in your mind for some time to
come. I still remember "High Ground"
from the 1983 Festival, a film which
used some very good music and ex-
cellent photography to turn ten minutes
of a man running up a hill into a new
experience. Some will be wretched
(keep in mind that the seventy films to
be screened are the best from the 200 or
so entries). All will be worthwhile,
somehow.
This year's crop of films includes some
very good animation and a good deal of
German Super 8. Two animated films
to be on the watch for are "Q.P." (not in
competition) by Tim Hittle, which
features a battle between Jay Clay
and a kewpie doll, and "Alpha" by
James Middleton, a humorous piece on
nuclear war.
The reason for the German entries is
the presence at this year's festival of
Christoph Doering. He is bringing a
substantial number of German Super 8
movies from Berlin, and an evening of
German Super 8 will kick off the
Festival in Auditorium A, Angell Hall,
at 9 p.m. Wednesday. Doering is a
Super 8 filmmaker from Berlin who has
been working on experimental films for
over a decade. He met Frierson at a
festival in Caracas and expressed in-
terest in coming to Ann Arbor. One of
his experiments is a combination of
film and music, and one of these Super 8
performances will end the festival at
the Nectarine Ballroom on Sunday.
Besides the Super 8 from Germany,
there will also be a look at British Super
8. This will be in Aud. A at 3 p.m. on
Sunday and will be free of charge. It is
coming from Britain with Jo Ann
Comino, who is producing a ninety-
minute Super 8 program for the BBC.
The final special feature this year is
an emphasis on Super 8/Video tran-
sfers. For those wondering what a
transfer is, it involves shooting a movie
in 8 mm and getting all of the sound and
picture quality which the film gives and
then transferring the movie to video,
which can be easily edited at a much
cheaper cost. The Kuenzel room of the
Union will see a screening of video en-
tries and a Super 8 to Video workshop.
The entries will be shown at 12 noon
Saturday, and the workshop will follow
at 3 p.m., and both events are free. The
workshop will feature the authors of the
book Super 8 in the Video Age.
All of the events and locations will be
found in the Campus Cinema section of
Weekend magazine.
The Ann Arbor Film Coop is spon-
soring this years 8 mm Festival, as it
has every year since its inception in
1970. There were some twenty-five en-
tries the first year, and the number in-
creased until the past few years have
each seen some 200 entries. All of them
are screened, and some 70 manage to
make it into competition. They will be
shown in six shows at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
in Aud. A Thursday-Saturday. The 9
p.m. Saturday show will also be seen at
2 p.m. Saturday. Sunday has two shows
featuring the winners at 7 p.m. and 9
p.m., and the Winners Night shows are
always the most popular. Prices are $3
for a single show and $4 for both shows
in an evening. The judges this year are
Tim Hittle, Stacy Parkins, a Pen-
nsylvania TV producer working at
Michigan on a National Endowment for
the Humanities grant, and Bruce
Young, a one-time Festival worker.
There are some 2500 dollars in prizes on
the line. Be sure to see something. It
might not all be good, but it will be
something wonderful.
-...Wwwwm
L
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2
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I
DSO
'S
By Neil Galanter
Driving back from Detroi
r night, I had music of Tc
Mozart, and English com
William Walton all in my e
ming around. What a comi
Russian, a Viennese, and a
chap! The evening was in
different; but stimulating at
time.
Guest conductor David Ath
studied conducting in Englar
bridge, opened the conce
R roaring and rolling start with
of Tchaikovsky. The Hamle
Overture sets itself off with
drum roll, among intermitte
of the gong, and then co
develop with the savori
soothing smooth surface o
solo, which was persuasively
Stoltzman bol
principal oboist Donald Baker. This
short overture has all the standard
qualities of an introductory overture to
an evening symphony concert, but it
t Saturday also has an added special touch which
haikovsky, musically depicts the characters from
poser Sir Shakespeare's play. Atherton led the
ars, swim- orchestra masterfully and the result
bination, a was music making of an extremely
in English impressive caliber.
terestingly Then came the most interesting por-
t the same tion of the evening. Richard Stoltzman,
clarinetist, walked on stage and made a
ierton, who thin small black tube with holes and lots
nd at Cam- of silver keys move with an amazing
rt with a amount of vigor and athleticism. Stolt-
h the music zman played the Mozart Clarinet Con-
et Fantasy certo, which is no small feat, as the
a powerful piece is riddled with technical traps all
ent clashes over the place for the piper. Stoltzman
ntinues to made it through those traps fairly well,
iness and with only an occasional squeak or
f an oboe declination at the tops of his phrases.
y played by He was much more effective in terms of
dly blows i
tone and color in the passages which
were in the lower registers of the
clarinet's tessitura. In the higher areas
of the scale, he produced a somewhat
overly muscular tone quality which was
not at all well suited to the quality of
Mozart's loving melodic structure. His
work in the lower range, however, was
stunningly controlled and relaxingly
mellow at all times. Stoltzman proved
in a short 22 minutes that he is a master
of his instrument technically, which is
incisively commendable for such a dif-
ficult woodwind. If only his mellowness
was present at all times, then it would
have been even better than it already
was to begin with. The performance
was still definitely the highlight of the
evening, and I am anxious to hear both
the clarinet as a solo instrument and
Stoltzman as a soloist again. He is
equally agile in the art of jazz as well,
and it would be invigorating to see what
he clarinet
he could do with that type of music,
given his control of the instrument.
The evening's major work was
William Walton's First Symphony in B
Flat Minor. Walton labored con-
siderably in the production of his first
symphony. Writing to a friend as he
began work on the piece, he claimed, "I
am here for some weeks, trying to start
on a symphony. What a fool I am." A
fool he definitely was not, and the hard
labor he put into the work payed off in
the long run. The symphony is an inten-
sely vigorating work with many
sparkling moments throughout the 45
minutes it takes to perform it. I assure
you those were 45 minutes well spent
Saturday evening. Atherton and the
DSO were in consistent good form.
USE DAILY CLASSIFIEDS
Photos catch Ann Arbor
mIass IlEETIII6
By Sarah Pick
Photography buffs may be interested
to hear about the latest exhibit, A Day
in the Life of Ann Arbor, being shown at
The Latent Image Gallery.
The new cooperative gallery is
located at 221 E. Liberty Plaza behind
r Afternoon Delight. Since -October, it
~has offered exhibition space to its
photographers for a membership fee.
Its monthly shows provide a guideline
for amateur and professional
photographers looking for new ideas.
The current presentation, being
exhibited through February 23rd,
displays works from various members
taken within the allotted 24-hour period
in the city limits of Ann Arbor. The
rules stimulated some creative per-
spectives of the city.
Jens Zorn, a physics professor at the
University of Michigan, captured the
momentary expressions of passersby in
two sequential studies in black and
white. A color photograph of another
artist, depicting a bridge over the Huron
River, managed to outdo its simplistic
ANN ARBOR :
" Dwaters 1 & 9 - sth Rvenue at Ubety St. - 761-4700 ,0
New Twilight Shows Mon. thru Fri. of Matinee Prices
New Twilight Shows Mon. thru Fri.
t $"g' with this entire ad $1.00 off Adult "
" #1.UU Eve admission. Coupon good for 1 "
* OFF or 2 tickets. Good for all features !
. .thru 2/7/85 except Tuesdays.
The adventures of two New Yorkers on "
their dream vacation to Florida and
" Cleveland ..in the dead of Winter!
STRANGER.
- THAN
PARADISE .
..a a olv9-9 . 91"
composition through the color and
balance of its subject matter. The
challenge of photographing something
as mundane as the Fleetwood Diner
was met with a night shot of the glaring
flourescent glow of the diner's exterior.
Unfortunately, a good deal of the
work lacked in presentation as well as
quality. As important as it is for
amateurs to have a place to display
workrtheircarelessness often detrac-
ted from the overall appeal of the
exhibit. Some screening should have
taken place in order to regulate the
quality of the photographs and their
presentation. In addition, prices set by
each photographer were often ex-
cessive.
In spite of its shortcomings, the
gallery is worth a quick stop, for it may
offer some pleasant surprises. Gallery
hours are Tuesday-Thursday 12-5,
Friday 12-7, Saturday 10-5.
ATTENTION ALL UNDERGRAD
COMPUTER ENGINEERS & SCIENTISTS
ToIIGHT
5:00 p.m-
443 mason
If you want to have more say in the way your
department is run, join us,
THE ASSOCIATION OF
COMPUTER ENGINEERS AND SCIENTISTS.
A.C.E.S. - The Association of Computer Engineers and Scientists
Sponsored by: The Vice-President of Student Services, LSA-SG,
MSA, The CSE Division and The Engineering Council
GUYS' PREWASHED
DENIM JEANS
Comfortable 100% cotton, great fit.
Available in sizes 28-38. Reg. 23.99.
GALS' 5 POCKET
STRAIGHT
LEG JEANS
Classic straight leg styling. 100 % cot-
ton. In sizes 3-16. Reg. 23.99.
g11 Of
a
may! 1111 +
STUDENT PHONATHON
CALLERS WANTED
Part Time Employment
Nights
1, 1 9
The School of Education will be interviewing students by phone to
call alumni nationwide for an alumni fundraising phonathon.
" Phonathon held Sunday through Thursday evenings
March 4 through April 4
" Callers will be expected to work two of the five nights each
week with some opportunity for additional hours.
* $4.00 per hour, nightly incentives, occasional snacks
PRICES GOOD
Visa- &
Master Card"
THRU always
SATURDAY, welcome.
FEBRUARY 9, -
1985
I
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