Alternate Cinema

Alternate Cinema

May 22-28, 2009

Co-presented with the Seattle International Film Festival
 

Alternate Cinema pushes at the boundaries of what is real and what is imagined, creating experiments in the laboratory of cinema that explore the vastness of cinematic possibility. Yet when we examine these works, they seem more in tune with our selves, with our thoughts and with the very medium of film itself.

This year's selection includes archival film clips (in FILM IST. a girl and a gun), a backyard safari (in Light Year) and the mix of fact and fiction (in Our Beloved Month of August). Documentaries include a look at underground film pioneers George and Mike Kuchar in It Came from Kuchar and a 16mm portrait of an abandoned planned community in California Company Town. The program also includes a playful imagining of Samuel Becket's Waiting for Godot in Beket. Short In the Dark is a collection of new and old, national and local, thought provoking short films.

Look beyond what traditional cinema presents and experience what Alternate Cinema can offer.  Open your mind and let the new ideas flow in.
 

Click here to purchase tickets to any Alternate Cinema program
 

 

FILM IST. a girl and a gun

May 22 - May 24, 2009

(Gustav Deutsch, Austria, 2009, 93 min)

Gustav Deutsch combines archival pornography with World War I footage and really old nature films. The result is an essay on sex and violence and the children born of that union, written entirely with editing choices and music. Your interpretation may vary.

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Our Beloved Month of August

May 24 - May 26, 2009

(Miguel Gomes, 2008, Portugal, 150 min)

In the Portuguese hills, August is the time of feasts, singing, and debauchery. Seen through the eyes of one of cinema’s true free spirits, this charming mix of fact and fiction depicts urban life and love, and also provides a humorous look at the film profession.

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California Company Town

May 23 - May 26, 2009

(Lee Anne Schmitt, 2008, USA, 76 min)

This engagingly deadpan documentary is about California’s industrial company towns that were abandoned after industry dried up. Over the footage of these ghostly towns, filmmaker and narrator Lee Anne Schmitt discusses their impact on the economy and the environment.

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Beket

May 22 - May 23, 2009

(Davide Manuli, Italy, 2008, 80 min)

Loosely based on Samuel Beckett's “Waiting for Godot,” Beket takes place in a no-man's land outside of time, when mankind no longer inhabits the planet. Protagonists Freak and Jaja meet at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere and embark on an absurd, existentialist journey filled with apocalyptic imagery.

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Light Year

May 25 - May 28, 2009

(Mikael Kristersson, 2009, Sweden, 100 min)

In a dazzling sequence of shots, Mikael Kristersson explores the greatness of small objects in his garden in Sweden. Viewing the real world from the perspective of the wasp and the cabbage butterfly, we see how human beings are merely one species among many.
 

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It Came From Kuchar

May 25 - May 27, 2009

(Jennifer M. Kroot, USA, 2009, 86 min)

Twin brothers, Mike and George Kuchar, began making low-budget, experimental, and hilariously melodramatic films in the 1960s. Their pioneering work inspired filmmakers and made the twins into film legends. Director Jennifer Kroot entwines humor and sentiment as she explores the brothers’ lives, their fans, and their influence on the American underground film scene.

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Short in the dark

May 27 - May 28, 2009

With poetic visions of worlds that cease to exist or worlds that spontaneously come about, all imbued with breathtaking beauty, we invite viewers to sharpen their gaze, often in silence. This program explores anticipated new films from local artists (Jon Behrens, Salise Hughes, Karn Junkinsmith, Sarah Jane Lapp), national (Pat O'Neill, Robert Todd) and international artists (Michael Snow, Philipp Lachenmann, Eriko Sonoda). Plus, we’re honored to present the Seattle premiere of Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas' first short film. Inside or outside the norms, these films represent the eternal struggle for new frontiers in the cinematic language.

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