Sun Feb 26
10.00am
10.00am
CFFS 2023 – [Virtual] Cameraless Film Workshop: Digging Up Surprises
workshop
Cameraless Film Workshop: Digging Up Surprises with Devon Damonte and Avida Jackson
Note: There is an ONLINE and IN-PERSON version of this workshop. This is the page for the IN-PERSON workshop. Link to virtual workshop.
PROGRAM PARTNERS: Henry Art Gallery and Interbay Cinema Society
ACCESS: This event is public. Online participation is limited to residents of Washington and Oregon.
ADMISSION: FREE!
What surprises happen when you scratch and draw on 16mm film then project it? What treasures do you uncover when you dig in the ground? How can you show your digging discoveries in the film you make?
This ArtVenture from Henry Art Gallery, in collaboration with Northwest Film Forum’s Children’s Film Festival and in partnership with Interbay Cinema Society, welcomes experimental filmmakers Devon Damonte and Avida Jackson in a fun, hands-on filmmaking experience with options to participate online or in person. With the theme of “digging up surprises,” participants will combine Japanese washi tape, Sharpie marker drawings on clear film, and scratching on black 16mm film leader (adult collaboration recommended) to create experimental animation movies. Washi tape is a richly patterned adhesive tape made from rice paper. It is also a handy material for creating abstract, cameraless animated movies on 16mm film leader, which interacts with the tape’s patterns and textures in magical ways when the film is projected. All materials will be provided; online participants will be mailed a kit (one per household), which will include two prepaid mailers to return the completed strips for processing. Online participants will test and experiment the first session, then send those in to see the results at the second session, refine techniques and make final footage to send. All film from the workshop participants, both in-person and online, will be spliced into a collaborative group film to be professionally transferred to digital format. The finished group film will then be available for download, and an online world premiere.
Workshop is open to all ages, and cross-generational participation is encouraged. Any workshop participants younger than 15 should be accompanied by an adult co-animator. All in-person participants will be required to wear masks that cover both nose and mouth while in the building.
Funding for this ArtVentures workshop is provided by a grant from the Washington State Arts Commission (now also known as “ArtsWA”) and the National Endowment for the Arts.
WORKSHOP MATERIALS
Both in-person and remote participants (the latter mailed ahead) will be provided a toolkit with: clear 16mm film leader, MT washi tape, a few Sharpie markers, and a small magical stainless steel combination multi-scratching and serrated edge washi tearing tool. Participants may also try additional art supplies of your own; we’ll give some guidelines about what works best in an email the week before the event.
COVID-19 VACCINATION POLICY
NWFF patrons will be required to wear masks that cover both nose and mouth while in the building. Disposable masks are available at the door for those who need them. We are not currently checking vaccination cards. Recent variants of COVID-19 readily infect and spread between individuals regardless of vaccination status.
NWFF is adapting to evolving recommendations to protect the public from COVID-19. Read more about their COVID policies here.
If you have questions about the workshop, you can email River Naylor at river@nwfilmforum.org.
Devon Damonte is an artist based in Olympia, WA. He prefers handcrafted stuff, like cameraless 16mm & 35mm film animation, rubbings, printmaking, handmade papermaking, and book arts. Damonte is adjunct faculty at The Evergreen State College teaching a summer intensive experimental motion graphics adventure called “Visual Music”. His work has shown at NY Film Festival Views From the Avant Garde, REDCAT at Disney Hall in LA, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Engauge Experimental Film Festival Seattle, and McMurdo Station Antarctica. Damonte currently sells his own line of handcrafted washi tape, and he believes we all currently live smack dab in the golden age of adhesive tape.
Avida Jackson is a Black multimedia artist and filmmaker currently living in Portland, OR. She enjoys working with analog and digital techniques and has worked on music videos for Grammy-nominated musicians. She is currently working in Photo and Video production at Nike.
Step into a world of fantasy and fairytale at the 2023 Children’s Film Festival Seattle! Expect fantastical films, wondrous workshops, and spectacular special events. Since 2005, CFFS has provided a joyous and dynamic setting to celebrate the best and brightest in international film programs for children and families through films, workshops, field trips, and filmmaker discussions.