le ballet mécanique

Le Ballet Mécanique (1924), a collaboration between American composer George Antheil, French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker Joseph Fernand Henri Léger, filmmaker Dudley Murphy, and American modernist artist Man Ray who contributed cinematographic input.



The Philadelphia Museum of Art is currently hosting an interdisciplinary exhibition through January 5th, 2014, Léger: Modern Art and the Metropolis.   Curated by Anna Vallye, the exhibit is designed to "shed new light on the vitally experimental decade of the 1920s in Paris when the great French modernist Fernand Léger (1881-1955) played a leading role in redefining the practice of painting by bringing it into active engagement with the urban environment and modern mass media. This will be the first exhibition to take as its inspiration and focus Léger’s monumental painting The City (1919), a cornerstone of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s collection and a landmark in the history of modern art, placing it in dialogue with the urban art and culture of modernity."

PMA hosted a screening and discussion of Le Ballet Mécanique, what wiki describes as one of the masterpieces of early experimental filmmaking. Composer Antheil's "most enduring work" was intended as a soundtrack, but film and music were reportedly not brought together until the 1990s.

dimensions of dialogue

Another selection from surrealist Jan Svakmajer -- his 1982 animation, Dimensions of Dialogue.

a coney island of the mind

From Hazy Productions and director Nora Finton, A Coney Island of the Mind.  

back of the mike

A Jim Handy short providing "an insider's view" of the sound effects from a 1930s radio show.  Back of the Mike moves back and forth between the visual scene in a listener's imagination and the actions taking place in the old time radio studio.  From shaggylocks who recommends you "watch it the second time with your eyes closed." 

alice in wonderland

The first-ever film version of Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland.  The 1903 film was severely damaged and restored by the British Film Institute (BFI) Archives.

"Made just 37 years after Lewis Carroll wrote his novel and eight years after the birth of cinema, the adaptation was directed by Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stow, and was based on Sir John Tenniel's original illustrations. In an act that was to echo more than 100 years later, Hepworth cast his wife as the Red Queen, and he himself appears as the Frog Footman. Even the Cheshire cat is played by a family pet."

omar and his skyhook

An enchanting 2009 short from Doug Purver and Roadnorth - Omar and His Skyhook, styled after early silent films.

 

playhouse

From The Last Reading On Earth, Ever - Playhouse, by Joseph Bates.

merry frolics

Enjoy a 1906 feature - The 400 Tricks of the Devil - from French illusionist and filmmaker Georges Méliès (who also stars in).



According to wiki, this enchanting short has also been known as The Merry Frolics of Satan, Les quatre cents farces du diable, Les 400 farces du diable, and Les quatre cents coups du diable.

in the shop

NY photographer Dustin Cohen takes us into the shop of  91 year old veteran Frank Catafulmo with this charming film short, The Shoemaker.  Mr. Catafulmo has been repairing shoes in Brooklyn almost 70 years, since the end of World  War II.  Via Huffpost with photostream here.

the magician and the scientist

From Sean Davies and Random Pictures, The Magician & The Scientist, a short story ...

dr mermaid

Via Expanded Animation, the glassmation work of Mark Elliot and Jack McGrath.  Created in collaboration with Vanessa White, Dr Mermaid and the Abovemarine is the tale of a marine biologist who can speak to fish.  Blog In A Bottle says the 6 minute film took a year to make, with glassblower Mark Elliot making the figurines and then heating them up to create the small movements.

quay brothers

From the Brothers Quay, their 1986 Street Of Crocodiles.  MOMA had a retrospective last year reviewed by Roberta Smith.  Also a slideshow here from that exhibit, a MOMA video interview with the artist/filmmakers, and a video overview with MOMA curators from ThirteenWNET.

 

the cameraman's revenge

L'hôtel d'amour and beetle sin from director Ladislaw Starewicz in his 1912 The Cameraman's Revenge.  As mentioned in an earlier post, the director also worked for a Lithuanian natural history museum and is known for his charming insect flicks.

living in lilliput

Via Paris Review, a 1902 Georges Méliès in honor of author Jonathan Swift.

power of the future remembered

As we head forward into the New Year, Power Of The Future Remembered shown below.  It is one of many creative videos submitted for the 2012 remix contest, "The Sound of the Moving Image.  The Past Re-Imagined As The Future."  Contestants combined video from the Prelinger Archives and audio from the Free Music Archive.

the insects' christmas

The Insects' Christmas, a dreamlike 1913 stop motion animation by director Vladislav Starevich. Interestingly enough, he also worked for a Lithuanian natural history museum and is known for his insect flicks.   XmasFlick added the Edward Scissorhands soundtrack while modifying some rougher elements in the original.  Via boing boing with more weirdly wonderful holiday shorts at this link.
 

les saintes-maries-de-la-mer

Romany music as seen through the ancient story of Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a town in the Camargue region of France where "gypsies" throughout Europe travel each May on a religious pilgrimage to honor their Saint Sarah in prayer and song.  The music at this yearly gathering has inspired and "pollinated" flamenco, Django Reinhardt's jazz, traditional Hungarian and Balkan brass, the Gipsy Kings' Rhumba.  A wonderful little film piece from Django Reinhardt biographer Michel Dreni including additions from 1910s Romany violinist Georges Boulanger, Thierry Robin, and Django Reinhardt's great-grandson, Dallas Baumgartner.




The filmmaker also reports

My children (ages 7 and 13) filmed the events during our family vacation—except for the knifefight, which I filmed by chance (my children were in bed, happily). I was shooting the church at night when the fight broke out; you won't actually see the blades, but the footage was shot amidst the panic as the crowd ran in fear. The fight was a crime of passion: a spurred Romany lover decided to slice his beloved. He tried to get her earlier in the day, then returned at night, leaving her with blood running down her arm and her clan vowing revenge. Next year, Disneyland instead. Ha!

birdy

Another animated tale of invention .. (and just coincidentally) .. Birdy from Agnieszka Woznicka.

the maker

An animation now showing ..

the magician

The Magician.