Club Transmediale 2007 :
25.1. – 3.2. 2007 Maria am Ufer / Berlin / Germany
Mr.De – A Detroit Story
Jean-Christophe Gaudry, US/FR 2006, 50 min, German premiere
Gaudry’s portrait of Underground Resistance artist and co-manager of Submerge, Mr. D, looks intimately and with a fine eye for detail at contemporary post-industrial Detroit and the structures of its independent music business. Detroit, one of America’s richest cities when it comes to music, yet also one of its poorest and most dangerous, was a decisive catalyst for the genesis of Techno and now appears to be once again generating new musical departures. This look at Detroit also shows how music can both reflect and shape socio-political realities. “It’s the history of a city through a man’s history.”
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Pilgrimage from scattered Points
Luke Fowler, UK 2006, 45 min
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No Neck Blues Band – Work in Progress
9 shorts directed by Adam Mortimer, US 1995-2005, 40 min
The video works of Adam Mortimer – a loosely affiliated member of the No-Neck Blues Band –are an unambiguously appreciative aesthetic enhancement of this Free-Form-Experimental collective’s somewhat inaccessible musical oeuvre. Informed by experimental film of the 1960s, Mortimer’s visual language always functions simultaneously on several layers of meaning, in both ad hoc and indirect fashion. His short films keep viewers guessing for long stretches, before suddenly culminating in a clear plot.
www.adamegyptmortimer.com
www.theserth.com
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Subsonics 1 – 3
Allison Walls/Brendan Walls/Oren Ambarchi, AUS 2004, 90 min, German premiere
“Subsonics 1 – 3”, a documentary series about experimental music produced in 2004 for Australian TV under the editorial eye of Oren Ambarchi traces an arc from the classical avant-garde of the 50s to experiments with analogue electronic sounds in the 60s, representatives of New Improvisation, through to today’s laptop generation. The first three parts portray Mulatta Records, Sue Harding, Masonna, Sun Ra, Ai Yamamoto, Fahalim Ooshcasky, Scott Horscroft, Reynols, Faust, Voicecrack, Jon, Jim Denley and Harry Partch.
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Subsonics 4 – 6
Allison Walls, Brendan Walls, Oren Ambarchi, AUS 2004, 90 min, German premiere
Parts 4 – 6 of the music documentary series produced for Australian TV featuring the following artists: Sachiko M & Toshimaru Nakamura, The Dramatics, Curse ov Dialect, Keith Rowe, Joyce Hinterding, Greg Kingston, GCTTCATT, Phill Niblock, Otomo Yoshihide, Leif Elggren, Francisco Lopez, Fuckhead.
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Sumatran Folk Cinema
Mark Gergis, Alan Bishop, US 2006, 60min, German premiere
A psychedelic collage of images and sounds from the heart and soul of Sumatran culture. Witness classic Dangdut rock music, street and country scenes, Pop culture, raw TV excerpts, Minang Orchestras, night markets, folk music, and much more wrapped in a 60-minute kaleidoscope complete with an epic soundtrack. Filmed in and around Medan, Padang, Bukitinggi and beyond with some of the most amazing pre-tsunami footage ever captured from Aceh province. Shot by Mark Gergis and Alan Bishop (Sun City Girls)on location in 2004. Just back from Jakarta, where they have been shooting for their next film: “Javanese Folk Cinema”, both filmmakers Mark Gergis and Alan Bishop will be in attendance for some Q&A.
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Congotronics 2
Vincent Kenis / Crammed, BE/CG 2006, 40 min, German premiere
“Congotronics 2” can as well be considered as a cross reference to Alan Bishops und Mark Gergis’ “Sumatran Folk Cinema“ as a statement within extended Pop discourse. Vincent Kenis, the producer behind Aksak Mabul and Crammed Records, portrays five “Electro-Traditional” bands from the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, whose post-colonial “Third World”-Electronica, played on instruments of their own manufacture, won international renown after the release of the first album of Konono Nr. 1 in 2005. Unintentional distortions – caused in fact, by the sound systems – are integrated into music that hence sounds uncannily akin to the aesthetic concepts of the experimental Rock and Electronic avant-garde such as Can, Krautrock, Jimi Hendrix, Lee Perry and the Proto-Techno.
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Synken
directed by Transforma, sound by O.S.T., DE/US 2007, 55 min, German premiere
A sneak preview of the new DVD, “Synken” by Transforma (image) & O.S.T (sound), presented by Shitkatapult and Cimatics/AV/Platform, produced by Visual Kitchen.
Transforma & O.S.T. worked for two years on this first joint DVD that will be released in March 2007 on the Berlin label, Shitkatapult. With a mix of abstract images, graphic animation, digital image effects and complex film sequences, “Synken” creates a fantastically spaced out, darkly romantic scenery, in which gloomy forests, tunnels, timeless lakes, cellars inhabitated by rat people, and a mysterious vagabond play the main roles. O.S.T.‘s arrhythmic crackling electronic 5.1-surround soundtrack bathes the images in an eerily hypnotic flow. Imagery and sound together open up subtle leads that can never be read only as a linear narrative. “Synken” consists rather of individual narrative modules that can be potentially combined in any number of narratives. The next logical step in Transforma and O.S.T.‘s collaboration will accordingly be to take the DVD onwards into live performance, in which the players’ real-time decisions will develop further versions of the narrative.
www.shitkatapult.com
www.transforma.de
www.amhain.net
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Bassline Baseline
Nate Harrisson, US 2005, 20 min
Styled on educational films, Nate Harrison’s trenchant short film-essay follows the genesis of the legendary bass synthesizer, TB 303, developed in the early 80s by Roland, and its impact on society, culture and the history of music.
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House
Gabriel Shalom, US 2005, 18 min
As a lesson in well done edutainment, Shalom’s „House“ tracks down the different styles, production procedures and cultural habits of electronic dance music. Switching between the fast-cut videoclip aesthetic and the fact based narrative of an interview with Dj Scott Hardkiss, this videomusic documentary stands for an inspiring new genre of music related film.
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Pioneers of Electronic Music : Richie Hawtin
Holger Wick / Maren Sextro, DE 2006, 70 min, Berlin premiere
This portrait closes the Detroit bracket in this year’s CTM program (i.e. as the counterpart to “Mr. D. A Detroit Story”). For almost 20 years Hawtin – as Plastikman, head of the labels Plus8 and Minus, and under numerous pseudonyms – has been creating trend-setting blueprints that have continuously expanded both the technical and aesthetic limits of Techno. Accompanied by the makers of the Slices DVD series, Hawtins gives us a glimpse of his private world, in which the straight bass drum is present as a constant echo.
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Essays on Radio: Can I have 2 minutes of your time?
produced by Cronica, PT 2005, 60 min
28 audio-visual experimental shorts, each 2 minutes long: Jan Robert Leegte/ Boca Raton, Nuno Tudela / Pedro Tudela, Return / Pita, Ran Slavin, Ok.Suitcase, Telco Systems / Longina, Lia / @c, Stephan Mathieu, Isabel Abreu & Rita Barbosa / Pal, Return / Freiband: Staging Toon Echism, Tina Frank / General Magic, Brigitta Bödenauer / Miguel Carvalhais, Júlio Dolbeth / Steinbrüchel, Karl Kliem / Christine Fowler, Maximilian Jänicke / Random Industries, Sara Kolster / Pawel Grabowski, Nuno Tudela / Pedro Tudela, Return / Gintas K, Marius Watz / @c, Jörg Piringer, Sumugan Sivanesan / Durán Vázquez, Antmanuv, Ran Slavin / James Eck Rippie, Erich Berger / Pure, Paulo Raposo, Ran Slavin / The Beautiful Schizophonic, Horacio G / Longina, Meta.
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It becomes Her
Masako Tanaka, Music by Fe-mail, JP 2006, 5 min
A music clip documenting the fragmented sound environments of Norwegian Noise duo, Fe-mail (Maja Ratkje and Hild Sofie Tafjord). Intuitive, precise timing and a trenchant use of digital image processing make this a highly persuasive found-footage collage that goes a long way towards being one of Masako Tanaka’s best works.
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Covers
Janek Schaefer, UK 2006, 26 min
In the manner of a slide show, “Covers” turns individual pieces from Janek Schaefer’s record collection into a wallpaper-like narrative flow. Thus, without any obvious intent to document the history of music, Schaefer offers 100 years of cover design as an aesthetic reflection on it.
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La Ciudad
Mpld, Gill Arnò, music by Criterion, US 2005, 20 min
The moving and constantly pulsating images of „La Ciudad“ („city“) reflect the adrenalinic and unstoppable flow of NYC, while the music of Brooklyn Beats artis Criterion ambivalentyl clashes with the abstract, non-grippable surface with repetitive broken beats. Both music and image are drawn from their place of origin and can be seen as contemporary urban folk art.