This live screening has passed, but you can hear from curator Michael Walsh and watch the films in this article on the Walker Reader.
Join us for this special online screening and live discussion of the Vanishing Landscape in commemoration of Earth Day 2020. Originally part of the month-long April film series Expanding the Frame, this set of short works explores how experimental filmmakers, poets, and media artists interpret a dramatically, quickly changing world. Wit, humor, and call to action mark these pieces that deal with themes ranging from Western Romanticism and decolonization to the loss of family and economic stability in a once thriving region.
This curated lineup of experimental films will begin at 7 pm on YouTube Live. Audiences are encouraged to be in conversation with several filmmakers and the curator during and after the webcast in YouTube Live’s comment section. The program will run approximately 70 minutes. Please note this event was previously scheduled for April 23.
Trambo
Directed by Marja Helander
Trambo is a portrait of an Indigenous Sámi woman wandering on a snowy mountain in Northern Finland. She is dragging a trampoline, a burden she hopes will bring a bit of joy to the difficult years ahead. The trampoline is a reference to the modern age, but it can also be seen as a prison. 2014, digital, 4 min.
The Penfield Road
Directed by Diane Kitchen
A fable concerning the landscape and the romanticism of travel—featuring Starved Rock State Park and other familiar American scenes depicted in vintage postcards—that also reveals the price we pay for the open road. 1998, 16mm, 6 min.
Kindah
Directed by Ephraim Asili
Kindah was shot in Hudson, New York and Accompong, Jamaica. Accompong was founded in 1739 after rebel slaves and their descendants fought a protracted war with the British leading to the establishment of a treaty between the two sides. 2016, 16mm, 12 min.
Pizzly Bear
Directed by Cecelia Condit
In imaginary landscapes where trees talk and frogs turn to handsome princes, Pizzly Bear is a story of a cross between a grizzly and polar bear. As in so many fables, the story is based in fact and this small animal is an archetypal stand-in for humanity. 2017, digital, 4 min.
Vague Images at the Beginning and the End of the Day
Directed by Carl Elsaesser
“A hug/punch eulogy for all things impossible now. Vague Images is a sketchbook of images and sounds from the year wrapped around a trip out to Loomis, South Dakota, to find the abandoned farm where my grandfather grew up. At the same time the film is a travelogue of my frustrations and understandings of gay sexuality. The two are connected.” —Carl Elsaesser. 2015, digital, 8 min.
Poetry Reading by Roy G. Guzmán
Honduran poet Roy G. Guzmán reads from his first collection of works, forthcoming from Graywolf Press on May 5. Raised in Miami, Florida, Guzmán is the recipient of a 2019 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as numerous other awards and grants.
Of the Iron Range
Directed by Steve Wetzel
This single-channel video documents a cultural event in the small Midwestern town of Cuyuna, Minnesota, an area that once held the nation’s supply of iron ore. Each year, people from across the region gather as hundreds of wood ticks are collected and raced. Deeply symbolic and rich in human observation, this short offers a portrait of one of America’s once-thriving industrial sites. 2015, digital video, 20 min.
Drop City
Directed by Peter Burr
This portrait of a computer desktop community takes its name from the first rural hippy commune in America, a settlement in southern Colorado formed in 1965 and constructed of discarded junk and salvaged car tops. A decade later, Drop City was completely abandoned. Nothing is left of it today. 2019, digital, 7 min.
Dolastallat – To Have a Campfire
Directed by Marja Helander
This performance video follows a Sámi woman in the mountains of the Kola Peninsula who has a modern campfire with an unexpected creature. The vast landscape bears hints of Arctic mining industry and there is also a reference to an old Sámi myth. 2016, digital, 6 min.
“If Gaia”
A musical performance of one-take song by V. Vale and Marian Wallace, written and recorded on April 12. Since being quarantined in their RE/Search book publishing offices in San Francisco, V. Vale and Marian Wallace have been recording experiential one-take songs. Since the 1970s, V. Vale has been a leader in counterculture publishing and Marian Wallace has been making films. Combined, they create quirky of-the-moment songs that will make you smile, laugh, and possibly wince.
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