Simone Rapisarda Casanova

Less than a month after Simone Rapisarda Casanova completed shooting in Juan Antonio, a village on Cuba's North Eastern coast, the place was wiped out by a hurricane. Thus El árbol de las fresas begins with four of the now displaced former inhabitants reminiscing about their home and what they have lost. Eschewing drama and pathos, the opening sets the tone for what is an unusual documentary; the subjects often address the camera directly and even tease the filmmaker.

In the street or on the sidewalk, staying put, passing through or coming to the end of the line. The films in this program are all street scenes of a sort, but each of them looks a little longer or deeper at the places and things we take for granted in our own daily shuttle from home and back, whether it's a journey of a few metres or many miles.

James Benning + Elke Marhöfer

Program:

Two Cabins
James Benning

Ani, Nan DooKKeobiga Anigo Geobuk-ee Yo! (No, I am not a toad, I am a turtle!)
Elke Marhöfer

Reflections on states of being and ending. Working with the real, the imagined and the remembered, the artists in this program address death in both literal and figurative ways.

Program:

The Suppliant
Robert Beavers

Point de Gaze
Jodie Mack

Line Describing Your Mom
Michael Robinson

Charles
Monique Moumblow

Racetrack Superstar Ghost
Myriam Yates

First Law: Quail Ct.
Mike Gibisser

These four films all reflect on distinct structures and environments, drawing out qualities of space, time, architecture and weather. East Hastings Pharmacy and The Home and the World also show us the inhabitants of two very different places, a methadone clinic in Vancouver's Downtown East Side and a live-in care facility in the English countryside for adults with learning disabilities. These places could not be more different, yet the endurance and spirit of the individuals in both situations are documented with a subtle and respectful grace.

This program, 1989, features three shorts by Sadie Benning and a feature by Marlon Riggs
Directed by Marlon Riggs

With Tongues Untied, Riggs gave voice to communities of black gay men and broke artistic ground by mixing poetry, music, performance and his own autobiographical revelations. Featuring the voices of Riggs and prominent Black gay activists Joseph Beam and Essex Hemphill among others, Tongues Untied offers a powerful composite portrait of life in the age of the AIDS epidemic. 
1989, 55 min.

Introduced by curator Jon Davies

Flaming Creatures
Directed by Jack Smith

Stephen Winter in attendance, Q&A following both screenings
Friday April 1: Introduced by artist Michèle Pearson Clarke 

Directed by Stephen Winter
Screenplay by Winter, Sarah Schulman, Jack Waters

Introduction by filmmaker Lina Rodríguez 
Directed by Shirley Clarke
Screening in 35mm