The Unseen Festival 2019: Opening Night. Friday, September 20, 7:30pm
Join us on Friday, September 20, 7:30pm, at Counterpath (7935 East 14th Ave., Denver) for opening night of the Unseen Festival 2019!
Reading
André Hoilette is a Jamaican born poet who lives in Denver. His Great Uncle has a black belt in roots magic. Hoilette is a Cave Canem fellow who spends a lot of his physic energy avoiding duppies when they can be avoided. He writes about the dead reads comics and loves music. After 15 years away from writing, he has returned to pursue MFAs in Poetry and Fiction from Regis University. “I generally write about the Caribbean, it’s lore or about the dead. The manuscript I’m currently working on is about loss interpreted through cellists and the instrument.”
Dance
Keith Haynes, a Houston native, is a dancer, choreographer, teacher, and video projection designer who recently received his MFA in Dance, with an emphasis in video technology, from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Haynes began his dance training in 2012 while pursuing his BFA in Radio/Television at Stephen F. Austin State University under the direction of Heather Samuelson and Katie Parr. As an interdisciplinary artist, Haynes fuses contemporary modern dance and video projection to investigate and explore identity, race, and his Christian faith. Haynes’s research emerges from investigations with reference to notions of how identities collide and coincide within one body. His work aims to undo the recurring patterns of normalcy and compliance imposed upon people of color and uncover the misconnections between identities that lead to self-regulation, perpetuated by internal and external forces deemed socially tolerable. Recently, Haynes has worked and trained with Heather Samuelson, Gesel Mason, Larry Southall, Chris and Bashir Page-Sanders and Helanius J. Wilkins. Additionally, Haynes has performed in works at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and the American College Dance Association Gala concerts in Eugene, Oregon and Boulder, Colorado. Currently, Haynes is working on multiple projects throughout the Denver/Boulder metropolitan area that include video projection design and dance curation for The Unseen Festival.
Originally from Nebraska, Vivian Kim is a choreographer, teaching artist, and performer based in Boulder, CO. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Nebraska Lincoln under the direction of Susan Levine-Orada. During her time at UNL, Vivian had the opportunity to work with, and perform for, Kayvon Pourazar, Kendra Portier (David Dorfman Dance), Jenna Reigel (Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company), STREB: POP Action Company, Ekida Laurie, Noelle Bohaty, and many others. After graduating from UNL in 2014, Vivian performed and taught for MamLuft&Company Dance in Cincinnati, OH under the Artistic Direction of Jeanne Mam-Luft. While in Cincinnati, Vivian also had the opportunity to present a commissioned work for the Cincinnati Area Choreographer’s Festival. Recently, Vivian received her Master of Fine Arts degree for Performance and Choreography in Dance with a secondary emphasis in The Alexander Technique from CU Boulder May of 2018. During her time at CU Boulder, she had the opportunity to teach as a Graduate Part-Time Instructor, lecture and study under Helanius J. Wilkins, Gesel Mason, Erika Randall, Larry Southall, and many others. Currently, Vivian is teaching at Red Rocks Community College as an Adjunct Professor in Hip Hop. She is also a company member for world-renowned Hip-Hop choreographer and dancer, Rennie Harris, in his Denver-based dance company, Rennie Harris Grass Roots Project. Vivian’s performance research is based around her Korean-American identity and the balance between imposed Korean traditionalism and being raised in the U.S. She’s interested in the U.S. influences on South Korean media, culture, and expectations of women. In this research, Vivian’s curiosities lie within in the collision, or intersection, of these two cultures and how they influence her actions, behavior, character, and thought-process. Vivian’s very excited to be a part of the Unseen Festival this year and looks forward to sharing the space with other brilliant artists.
Film
Winners Bitch – Sam Gurry – USA – 2018 – 7 min
Who knows us best? Family, friends, peers, actors, and a pet psychic provide insight into the truth of the noted all breed American Kennel Club judge, Virginia Hampton. Inspired by a found archive, Winners Bitch explores the subjective nature of reality through show dogs and ribbons. A woman ahead of her time sacrificed herself for her profession, arguably at a cost but definitely for the glory.
“I like objects, I like things, I like people. When working in Antiques in Philadelphia, I stumbled upon this archive of over 350 photos of Virginia Hampton purchased blind at auction. I began researching her and was able to get in contact with various friends, peers, and family members. Each person had a radically different insight into who she was and how she affected their life and the world of competitive dog judging. Using Virginia as a conduit with which to explore the nature of subjectivity, I hired a pet psychic and had her read the photos for Virginia’s energy. I then provided actors with short character dossiers and interviewed them as though they knew Virginia. This resulting soundtrack is a mix of fact, fiction, fancy, and fallacy. A Winners Bitch is “the class bitch who has defeated all other class bitches of that breed at that show is the ONE female of that breed to be awarded points towards her championship”. She is our Winner but the rest is up to you.” – SG
Sam Gurry is a filmmaker living and working in Hollywood. They are a recent graduate from the MFA Experimental Animation program at the California Institute of the Arts. Sam’s films have played internationally at SXSW, the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the Ottawa International Animation Festival, and others. In addition to animation, They perform experimental noise music in the performance group Saint Victoria’s Incorruptible Body, organize events around LA, and write. Sam is chronically over eager.
A Fixed Answer – Britany Gunderson – USA – 2019 – 3 min
A refusal of romantic and friendly gestures.
Britany Gunderson is pursuing a BFA in Film, Video, Animation, and New Genres at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her practice is often interdisciplinary, creating film and video work that uses material forms such as hand-cut paper, textile fabrics, and celluloid. Exploring ideas of personal non-fiction, her work expands the idea of what a moving image can be. She has screened at venues internationally and received Honorable Mention at the 2018 Milwaukee Underground Film Festival.
A Collection of Animated Gifs – Wendy Cong Zhao – USA – 2018 – 1 min
A collection of animated gifs created during the years 2016-2018, combined with creative sound design and edited into a short film.
Wendy Cong Zhao. “Hi! I am an artist based in New York. I make drawings and animations. I’m currently an MFA candidate at the Integrated Media Arts program at Hunter College. My background is in Painting and Film Production, and I’ve been working and teaching in art and animation since 2011. My work explores a range of ideas, such as expressions of the human body, stories about immigration, and more.” – WCZ
Cococo – Julian Gallese – Costa Rica – 2017 – 7 min
We tend to better appreciate the values of light when we wake up somewhere different every day.
Animation filmmaker from San José, Costa Rica. His work has been shown in film festivals and galleries around the world. In 2018, Julian completed an artist residency at the Toronto Animated Image Society and he’s currently studying at the Royal College of Art in London.
Masquerade – Emma Rautala – Finland – 2019 – 6 min
A girl with no face is hosting a birthday party and the visitors are rushing in, except a bunny who has difficulties finding the right door.
Emma Rautala is a former student from Turku Art Academy (Turku University of Applied Sciences). She is specialized in animation, directing and storytelling. Her previous films are UGLIBOI (2017), co-directed Rathole Diner (2018) and most recent one Naamajainen (eng. Masquerade, 2019). She likes to tell her stories in a dark but cute way. She also likes to pet dogs.
Graffiti – Rick Niebe – Italy – 2018 – 1 min
An abstract exploration of urban graffiti based on a musical improvisation on txalaparta, an ancient basque instrument
Rick Niebe has an MA in semiotic of Cinema at Pisa University, he works as an autonomous artist.His research as videomaker consists in a minimal and epigrammatic experimental re-use of audio visual found objects. Interested in a critical ‘detournement’ of rough materials from the “mediascape” he focuses his attention on ordinary anonymous images as well as on fragments from cinematographic history. His work of de-construction of narrative devices, and re-contextualization of visual elements, aims to disorient and estrange the viewer playing a game between memory and formation of new meanings.
Glimmers – Brandon Wilson – USA – 2018 – 6 min
Glimmers is a collage film that uses rapidly pulsating images to create a sense of merging due to persistence of vision. It is an attempt to derail mental maps, shatter ordinary linear experiencing and celebrate states of being that fall through the cracks of conventional narrative.
Brandon Wilson (b. 1982) grew up in the deserts of west Texas. He studied photography and painting and received a BA in studio arts from the University of Texas in Austin. He lives in a cabin in the woods of northwest Oregon and has been making films since 2014.
Bleeding and Burning – Guillaume Marin – Canada – 2017 – 3 min
An orbit of red and black. Coordinated by the assembly to reach a new galaxy. Neither dance nor editing and collage. Encounter of the human and the form in a paréidolie universe.
Guillaume Marin has been a director and editor for fifteen years. He created visuals for different media platforms, commercials, music videos and experimental films. A great dreamer joker. Playing with illusions and perceptions is his favorite sport.
Bird – Wu-Ching Chang – Taiwan – 2019 – 5 min
The girl suffers from great discomfort without warning, like a disaster. When panic is accompanied by flapping-wing, a chaotic, dissociated journey of her unconsciousness is about to begin.
This animation short film is a collaborative project with the Wellcome Collection. According to Wikipedia, The Wellcome Collection is a museum and library based at 183 Euston Road, London, displaying a mixture of medical artifacts and original artworks exploring “ideas about the connections between medicine, life and art”.
The film is based on the concept of mental illness, the panic attack, and it expresses the issues of fear, death, and life. With 2D animation, the director also combines multiple experimental practice, such as cotton, beads, acrylic, and celluloid.
Born in Taiwan, Wu-Ching Chang earned a BFA in New Media Art at the Taipei National University of the Arts in Taipei in 2015. She is doing an MA in Experimental Animation at the Royal College of Art, UK in 2019. Wu-Ching has worked as a freelance artist for over 9 years. She has achieved projects in multiple fields, including illustration, comic serials, animation, DM design, etc. With the experience of working as a concept and cinematic artist in the game industry for years, she is now based in London, UK, available for international freelance and contract work.
Nuit – Alexander Bayer and Grzegorz Kielawski – Austria – 2018 – 7 min
An experimental short film about mobile phone visual culture.
In the glow of a digital night, a ghost story unfolds. Dancing mobile phones illuminate Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral to the sound track of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr. While enchanted bodies circle, screen icons blend with the site’s iconography. Visual history being literally on hand, Nuit rolls into the depths of every day media practices.
Alexander Bayer, MA, b. 1984 in Hanau, Germany. Studied theatre, film and media studies in Vienna and Bologna. Works after years in print journalism and television as a documentary filmmaker.
Grzegorz Kielawski, MA, b. 1981 in Wa?brzych, Poland. Studied German Philology in Wa?brzych and Vienna. Member of the Grazer Autorinnen Autorenversammlung; works for zeitzoo, the Secession and WIDOK.
A Tune of None at Noon – Carlos Adriano – Brazil – 2019 – 10 min – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE!
Historically São Paulo City (Brazil) hosted the largest Japanese population outside of Japan and it was the first place in Western world to praise Japanese cinema.
This found footage film poem haiku is a tribute to An Autumn Afternoon (1962), the last film by Yasujiro Ozu, released in Brazil with a perfect title for his work: “A Rotina tem seu Encanto” (Routine has its Charm).
Carlos Adriano (São Paulo, Brazil, 1966).PhD in Film by University of São Paulo (USP, 2008; Fapesp’s Fellowisp [São Paulo Research Foundation]). Post Doctoral in Arts / Communications and Semiotics at Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP, 2014; Fapesp’s Fellowisp). Post Doctoral in Film at USP (2017; Capes’s Fellowisp [Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel]). Retrospectives and tributes: Festival do Rio (2002); 56th Locarno Festival (Filmmakers of the Present, 2003); Belo Horizonte Short Film Festival (2004); 16th Videobrasil (curatorial axis Cinema+Arts+Vídeo, 2007). Films exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, and in the Tate Modern, London. Films shown at festivals: Bilbao, Bologna, Cairo, Cartagena, Chicago, Havana, Leuven, Lussas, Madrid, Oslo, Osnabrück, Paris, Philadelphia, Pordenone, Rotterdam, Toronto, Ulaanbaatar. Filmography: Suspens (1989) / A Luz das Palavras (1992) / Remanescências (1997) / A Voz e o Vazio: a Vez de Vassourinha (1998) / O Papa da Pulp: R. F. Lucchetti (2002) / Militância (2002) / Um Caffé com o Miécio (2003) / Porviroscópio (2006) / Das Ruínas a Rexistência (2007) / Santoscópio = Dumontagem (2009) / Santos Dumont Pré-Cineasta? (2010) / sem título # 1 : Dance of Leitfossil (2014) / sem título # 2: la mer larme (2015) / sem título # 3 : E para que Poetas em Tempo de Pobreza? (2016) / Festejo Muito Pessoal (2017) / sem título # 4 : Apesar dos Pesares, na Chuva Há de Cantares (2018)
The Stream VIII – Hiroya Sakurai – Japan – 2018 – 7 min
“This work is a ballet using the sound and the movement of the algae and water. With the waterway as the theater, I filmed the choreography of the algae that flows in the water.
In episode VIII of The Stream, I focus on the origin of the stream in the waterway at the rice field. The stream is produced by a man-made pump, which draws underground water to the surface and carries it to the rice field. The water in the rice field then drains through a huge drainage pump station that feeds into a large river.” HS
Hiroya Sakurai was born in Yokohama, Japan. Professor, Seian University of Art and Design. Sakurai’s work can be found in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada and J.Paul Getty Trust. Sakurai was awarded at “35th Asolo Art Film Festival (2016)”, Italy, “39th Tokyo Video Festival”, 18th FILE 2017 in São Paulo (2017) and 56th Ann Arbor Film Festival (2018).
We Were Hardly More Than Children – Cecelia Condit – USA – 2018 – 9 min
We Were Hardly More Than Children tells an epic tale of an illegal abortion as lived by two friends on a frightful journey through a world that has little concern for their survival.
Since 1981, Cecelia Condit has created videos and heroines whose lives swing between safety and terror, beauty and the grotesque, innocence and cruelty. Her work puts a subversive spin on the traditional mythology of women in film and the psychology of sexuality and violence.
Girls Grow Up Drawing Horses – Joanie Wind – USA – 2018 – 7 min
A woman explores gender roles, heteronormativity, and the life of her deceased grandmother through horses and other visual metaphors.
Joanie Wind is a visual artist and filmmaker from Tucson, Arizona. She received her MFA in Interdisciplinary Art from Eastern Michigan University in 2015. She now teaches art in the Detroit area and exhibits her work internationally.
