January 19, 2007
Extending its program from Berlin to New York, the unitednationsplaza is pleased to present Film Festival, by Ricardo Valentim, on view at e-flux, New York, from January 19th through March 9, 2007. Please join us for the opening reception on Friday, January 19, 6–8 PM.
Film Festival is comprised of a two-month series of screenings featuring seventy educational films produced for educational programs at the North American and British public schools and libraries between 1950s and 1980s. The films were originally commissioned from various agencies including advertisement firms, tourist boards, various universities, United Nations, US Department of Education and others. All films are in 16mm format and range in duration from 5 to approximately 30 minutes. The films have now been phased out of use.
A small auditorium where two to three 16mm documentaries are shown daily and a brochure with the exhibition program compose this work. Since the films are constantly changing, this is a show in evolution, where the audiences perception of it will reflect the unique features of that particular days projections (or lack thereof).
Film Festival aims to define a moment of doubt, questioning the concept and the image of the other. The act of voiding the notion of difference is a protagonist for the construction of a democracy of display. Film Festival is not an appropriation of documents but a representation of the reality today.
Film Festival will offer daily screenings of two or three titles from the overall collection. (See program below.)
Ricardo Valentim was born in Loulé, Portugal and lives in New York. Valentim studied anthropology, and currently works with film, photography, sculpture and installation. His work has been shown recently at Galeria Pedro Cera, Lisbon and at Contrabando (curated by Carolina Grau) at Galeria Luísa Strina, São Paulo. Film Festival is an ongoing project, which was started in Lisbon and travels to New York from São Paulo.
The New York presentation of Film Festival was initiated by Julieta Aranda as a collaboration with the unitednationsplaza program in Berlin.
unitednationsplaza is exhibition as school. Structured as a seminar/residency program in the city of Berlin, it will involve collaboration with approximately 60 artists, writers, theorists and a wide range of audiences for a period of one year. In the tradition of Free Universities, most of its events will be open to all those interested to take part. unitednationsplaza is organized by Anton Vidokle.
Film Festival opens on Friday, January 19th, 2007 at 6pm at e-flux, 53 Ludlow Street in New York City.
Program:
January 19th, Friday
6:30 pm Washington
Castle Films – Eugene W. Castle n/d 9min.
7:30 pm Natures Strangest Creatures
Buena Vista Realease – Prod. Ben Sharpsteen n/d 14min.
January 22nd, Monday
3:00 pm Ruke I Niti
Dunav Film n/d 9min.
4:30 pm Woman Power. Equality and Development
United Nations Production – Dir. Elspeth McDougall e Mark Robbins 1974 26min.
January 23rd, Tuesday
3:00 pm Antonio Gaudí
Media Film International Media Company – Prod. Ira Latour 1965 25min.
4:30 pm The Totem Pole
Department of Anthropology, University of California,Berkeley – S.A.Barrette PH.D 1961 26min.
January 24th, Wednesday
3:00 pm Florida Seafare
National Marine Fisheries Services n/d 25min.
4:30 pm Fishing in Hawai
Columbia Pictures Corporation 1940 9min.
January 25th, Thursday
3:00 pm A Drum is Made – A Study in Yoruba Drum Carving
Universities of Ibadan and Ife, Nigeria 1974 24min.
4:30 pm Meat Loaf (Bat Out of Hell)
CBS Records Concert – Dir. Arnold Levine n/d 22min.
January 26th, Friday
3:00 pm Just One Child – What will I be Tomorow
Reynolds Films Produtions – Dir. Don White 1981 12min.
4:30 pm Boy of Botswana
Encyclopaedia Britannica Films – Dir. H. J. Lemieux 1970 16min.
January 29th, Monday
3:00 pm Meet the Mormons
Brigham Young University 1973 24min.
4:30 pm Two Black Churches
Yale University – William Ferris 1975 18min.
January 30th, Tuesday
3:00 pm Feeding the World
Hearst Metrotrone News 1985 12min.
4:30 pm Latin American Overview
McGraw-Hill Films Inc. – Vladimir Bibic Film Productions 1982 25min.
January 31st, Wednesday
3:00 pm Vandalism – It is a Big Deal
Beacon Films 1983 20min.
4:30 pm Natures Strangest Creatures
Buena Vista Realease – Prod. Ben Sharpsteen n/d 14min.
February 1st, Thursday
3:00 pm Throw that Bull!
Castle Films – Eugene W. Castle n/d 8min.
4:30 pm Crocodile Thrills!
Castle Films – Eugene W. Castle n/d 9min.
February 2nd, Friday
3:00 pm Masks
Pegasus Film n/d 12min.
4:30 pm Made in Mississippi – Black Folk Art and Crafts
Yale University by William Ferris 1975 18min.
February 5th, Monday
3:00 pm Cuba in the Shadow of Doubt
Filmakers Library Inc. – Dir. Jim Burroghs, Prod. Suzanne Bauman, Carol Polakoff 1986 55min.
4:30 pm The Hoaxters
MGM – Dir. Herman Hoffman 1952 34min.
February 6th, Tuesday
3:00 pm Untitled (Olympic Games)
Cappy Productions Inc. n/d 52min.
4:30 pm Aquatic Wizards
Castle Films – Rod Warren Productions Inc. 1955 8min.
February 7th Wednesday
3:00 pm Celebration del Matrimonio
University of California-Extension Media Center by Margaret Nixon 1986 28min.
4:30 pm Getting Married
Braverman Picture Corporation – Dir. Charles Braverman 1976 24min.
February 8th, Thursday
3:00 pm Washington
Castle Films – Eugene W. Castle n/d 9min.
4:30 pm Bali Paradise Island
Castle Films – Eugene W. Castle n/d 9min.
February 9th, Friday
3:00 pm Families of the World – Yemen
Journal Films Inc. 1986 18min.
4:30 pm Eskimo Family
Encyclopaedia Britannica Films – Prod. William Deneen 1959 16min.
February 12th, Monday
3:00 pm Mammals with Hoofs
Coronet Films – Instructional Media 1977 10min.
4:30 pm The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau – The Tragedy of the Red Salmon
Churchill Films, Matromedia Producers Corporation, Inc. 1970 24min.
February 13th, Tuesday
3:00 pm Fidel Castro – Biography
McGraw-Hill Films Inc.- Prod. David L.Wolper, Dir. Alan Landsburg n/d 25min.
4:30 pm Gandhi
Twentieth Century n/d 20min.
February 14th, Wednesday
3:00 pm People of Spain
Encyclopaedia Britannica Films – Prod. Clifford J. Kamen 1955 15min.
4:30 pm The Zoo
Encyclopaedia Britannica Films 1949 10min.
February 15th, Thursday
3:00 pm Hinduism and the Song of God
Hartley Productions 1978 26min.
4:30 pm Holy Land: Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the Middle East
Encyclopaedia Britannica Films – Dir. Jim St. Lawrence 1984 25min.
February 16th, Friday
3:00 pm Requiem – 29
Dir. David Garcia 1971 30min.
4:30 pm The Pigs vs. The Freaks
Jack Epps Jr. (Pyramid Films) 1975 14min.
February 20th, Tuesday
3:00 pm Tunisia
Home Movie 1964 24min.
4:30 pm Snowdonia
British Council Film – Inspiration Pictures, by Horace Shepherd n/d 15min.
February 21st, Wednesday
3:00 pm Puritan Family of Early New England
Coronet Films – Instructional Media 1955 10min.
4:30 pm Family Afoot in the Yukon
Standard Oil Company of California n/d 21min.
February 22nd, Thursday
3:00 pm Families of the City – Adventure in Nairobi
McGraw-Hill Films Inc. – Dir.Lee Bobker 1971 11min.
4:30 pm Two Families
Learning Company of America – Columbia Pictures – Prod. Jonh H. Secondari
Productions Ltd. – Dir. Helen Jean Secondari and Henri Toluzzi 1973 21min.
February 23rd, Friday
3:00 pm The City
Encyclopaedia Britannica Films – Prod. Bert Van Bork 1962 10min.
4:30 pm The Home of the White Storks
McGraw-Hill Films Inc. 1964 11min.
February 26th, Monday
3:00 pm In Praise of Hands
The National Film Board of Canada 1974 28min.
4:30 pm Le France Creatrice – Henri Matisse
Compagnie Generale Cinematographique – Dir. Andre Leveille n/d 22min.
February 27th, Tuesday
3:00 pm Portugal
Barr Films by Stefan Duinth 1988 19min.
4:30 pm Samoa
Walt Disney Productions – Prod. Ben Sharpsteen 1956 29min.
February 28th, Wednesday
2:00 pm Last Stand Farmer
Silo Cinema Inc. – Prod. Richard Brick 1975 24min.
3:30 pm Portrait of a Fisherman
National Geographic Society 1981 15min.
4:30 pm The Maple Sugar Farmer
W. Graig Hinde and Robert E.Davis 1973 27min.
March 1st, Thursday
12:00 am The Apache Indian (Revised)
Coronet Films – Instructional Media 1945-1975 10min.
2:00 pm Japan
National Geographic Society – Dir. Stafford Garner, Prod.Sidney Platt 1987 25min.
3:30 pm Magicians of India
Official Films n/d 8min.
4:30 pm The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau – The Tragedy of the Red Salmon
Churchill Films, Metromedia Producers Corporation, Inc. 1970 24min.
March 2nd, Friday
3:00 pm Under a Gypsy Moon
Pictoreels 1938 9min.
4:30 pm Songs of the Irish
Castle Films – Eugene W. Castle 1946 7min.
March 5th Monday
3:00 pm The Coronation of Pope John XXIII
Castle Films – Eugene W. Castle 1958 8min.
4:30 pm The Coronation of their Majesties King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
Pathegrams Inc. – Eugene W. Castle 1937 9min.
March 6th, Tuesday
2:00 pm Guyana South Americas Newest Nation
McGraw-Hill Films Inc. 1969 16min.
3:30 pm Woodland Indians of Early America
Coronet Films – Instructional Media 1958 10min.
4:30 pm Black Roots in Africa
Atlantis Produtions – Prod. Jonh Simons 1978 16min.
March 7th, Wednesday
3:00 pm The Supai Indian
Coronet Films – Instructional Media 1945 9min.
4:30 pm The Bedouins of Arabia
Films Incorporated n/d 19min.
March 8th, Thursday
3:00 pm The Promise of Pakistan
McGraw-Hill Films Inc. – The March of Time 1950 17min.
4:30 pm Feeding the World
Hearst Metrotrone News 1985 12min.
March 9th, Friday
3:00 pm Not With an Empty Quiver
Dir.Dennis Berrett, Prod. Mark Hathaway 1978 28min.
4:30 pm Sunday on the River
Gordon Hitchens and Ken Resnick 1962 28min.
For more information please contact Elizabeth Linden at liz [at] e-flux.com.