Taking it's name from the Japanese phrase meaning "the pathos of things", MONO NO AWARE is an arts non-profit working to promote human connectivity through the cinematic experience. Based in Brooklyn, NY, MONO NO AWARE presents artist-in-person screenings, organizes analogue filmmaking workshops, facilitates equipment rentals, plans cinema field trips, and hosts an annual exhibition for contemporary artists and international filmmakers whose work incorporates Super 8mm, 16mm, 35mm or altered light projections as part of a live performance or installation. We are in our 8th year of operation and are happy to have been invited down to the New Orleans Film Festival to share what we do with the community here.
- I've often compared film manipulation to noise music. Do you feel that this kind of experimental cinema has (or can have) a rhythm to it, or are things best left non-linear and unexpected?
It can certainly have a rhythm to it. Working with film as a physical material allows for a great amount of control, it just takes experimenting to find the techniques that deliver the results you want. That being said, some elements are left up to chance and it's the combination of the planned and the unexpected that make magic happen.
- Stan Brakhage or Hollis Frampton?
Hmmm, Frampton.
- How did you first get involved with Cinema Reset?
I'd heard about Cinema Reset from friends of mine who taught a workshop with at the 2013 New Orleans Film Festival. I checked out their website and learned more about what they do. While submitting a short film for consideration in this year's festival, I wrote a cover letter as suggested by the programming team and explained the work I do in New York. I was then approached by the festival to offer a workshop and it's all history from there!
- Explain what will be going on during the workshops at the New Orleans Film Festival.
On Saturday, we hosted a Direct Filmmaking workshop in which participants used a variety of inexpensively sourced 16mm material (found food, trims, scraps, and black and clear leader) and repurposed them for their own short projects. We practiced three different techniques: painting onto the surface of the film (additive technique), scratching the surface of the film (destructive technique), or masking parts of the film in combination of techniques. The result was a hands-on experience that made some really incredible work. Really! We accomplished a lot in the time allotted and all the folks who participated made very unique projects that looked awesome when projected on an analog projector.
On Sunday, we'll be hosting a Cyanotype Photogramming workshop. We've pre-coated 16mm to have a mildly light-sensitized emulsion and have asked folks to bring small objects or fabrics to place on the surface of the film. When exposed to sunlight, these objects will cast shadows and create photograms. It's a pretty simple photographic technique that many people might have done as their first project in high school photography class, but since we're doing it with motion picture film it will turn into an animation when projected. The strips will be spliced together and will create a beautiful, blue toned film that we'll show Sunday evening in the Cinema Reset Microcinema at the CAC.
- Have you had people with no prior experience in this medium dive right in when given the chance?
Absolutely. The workshops are designed to allow folks to be hands-on immediately and we find that everyone picks it up quickly.
- Are there any modern day experimental filmmakers you'd like to single out right now?
Ryan Marino (Brooklyn, NY based filmmaker and musician) makes work on 16mm about Nature that puts me closer to the Mother Earth than the BBC every could. Check out his two recent pieces A Distant Horizon and Old Growth. Meg Rorison (Baltimore, MD) has been churning out some dreamy 16mm work. LJ Frezza (Chicago, IL) is a found footage video maker who put a hell of amount of work into his films and it shows (check out Nothing, Golden Eye, and Battle Hymn of the Republic).
- Have you tried datamoshing videos? If so, what was moshed?
I haven't tried datamoshing, but Josh Solondz screened a piece at NOFF last night that data moshed Godzilla films. It was terrific.
- Digital Vs. Film: Where do you stand?
Different tools in the same tool box. Sometimes you need a flat head and sometimes a philips head.
That being said, the things were doing in the workshops here at NOFF (and elsewhere) can't be easily replicated in a digital environment. There's certainly room for both mediums when it comes to commercial production of films. There's definitely been a resurgence of indie features being shot on 16mm because of folks dedicated to the quality of their stories and some smart budgeting. A lot of 16mm cameras are actually cheaper to rent per day than high-end digital cameras. In the end, the difference in cost between a digital feature and a 16mm feature is not drastically different, so its up to the creators of the project to make those decisions.
- Are there any movies in particular that you're looking forward to at this years fest?
I'm excited to see Jessica Oreck's The Vanishing of the Witch Baba Yaga on Monday afternoon.
