The dates are final but the programs are subject to change, please, get on our mailing list by sending an e-mail to balagan@rcn.com and you will be able to receive regular updates about our programming.

Fall 2004

September 9 , 2004, Thursday, 7:30PM
New England Beat
Balagan begins the 9th season with the program of recent shorts from the New Enlgand filmmakers: Robert Todd, Alfred Guzzetti, Bob Harris, Saul Levine, Nancy Andrews, Ann Steuernagel, Alice Cox.

September 23 , 2004, Thursday, 7:30PM
Echoes from the Flaherty Seminar - in person – Margarita DeLaVega, executive director of the Flaherty Seminar
This year, Flaherty Seminar (http://www.flahertyseminar.org) – a one-week film viewing retreat spiced with impassionate discussions among filmmakers, critics, scholars, curators, librarians and students, celebrated its 50th anniversary. This program is an eclectic selection of shots presented at Flaherty by this year's curator Susan Oxtoby. Among aritists and films featured are: Bocas de Ceniza (Mouths of Ash) (2003-4) by Juan Manuel Echavarria (Colombia), Journeys (2003) by Vinayan Kodoth (India), Standard Gauge (1984) by Morgan Fisher (US).

October 14 , 2004, Thursday, 7:30PM
Filmmakers from the West Coast: Matt McCormick in person
Balagan welcomes Matt McCormick, a Portland Oregon filmmaker who has made several award winning short films. He is also the founder of Peripheral Produce, an internationally recognized video distribution label specializing in short experimental work, and the director of the Portland Documentary and eXperimental Film Festival, Portland’s premiere venue for experimental, documentary, and otherwise obscure contemporary cinema. Matt has had three films screen at the Sundance Film Festival, and has received awards including Best Short Film from the 45th San Francisco International Film Fest,Best Short Film from the 2002 Ann Arbor Film Festival and others. He has screened at such venues as the Seattle Art Museum and the Lincoln Center, and his film ‘The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal’ was named as one of the ‘Top 10 Films of the 2002’ by both The Village Voice and Art Forum magazine.

“In the last few years, Matt McCormick has emerged as one of our strongest independent filmmakers, doing work that’s both ingenuous and humorously absurd...” Fred Camper, Chicago Reader

October 20 , 2004, Wednesday, 7:30PM (reception at 7PM)
BIG BALAGAN 1: Peter Kubelka: The Metaphoric Films in person

and

October 21 , 2004, Thursday, 6:30PM
BIG BALAGAN 2: Peter Kubelka: The Metric Films in person
Location:
Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), 640 Huntington Ave., Boston

Two screening/lectures with Peter Kubelka, one of the most distinguished figures in the history of 20th century avante-garde and independent filmmaking. His films are an innovative demonstration of cinematic possibilities. Moreover, as an artist or theoretician he has also worked in architecture, literature, music, painting and cuisine. He has been also a curator at the Austrian Film Museum in Vienna that he founded in 1964. His teaching on the topic of food preparation as an art form at the Frankfurt School of Fine Arts led to an extension of his title as Professor of Film to that of Film and Cuisine. Over the past 40 years he has lectured at museums, universities and institutions throughout the world, and has been awarded the Austrian State Prize for his life's work.

"Peter Kubelka is the perfectionist of the film medium – the world's greatest filmmaker which is to say, simply: See his films! ...by all means/above all else... "– Stan Brakhage

October 28, 2004, Thursday, 7:30PM
Bushwacked II
In the spirit of the upcoming elections, this program of shorts reminds about the mishappenings of the last four years under the Bush Administration as well as draws parallels to the similar situations faced by different people around the world. Among the artists featured are: Reza Parsa, Bryan Boyce, The Speculative Archive (a.k.a. Julia Meltzer & David Thorne), Jino Choi and others.

November 9, 2004, Tuesday, 7:30PM
BALAGAN at the Boston Jewish Film Festival

November 18, 2004, Thursday, 7:30PM
Magic Lantern Presents: “The Re-Enactment Show” Curated by Ben Russell
Come on down for a night of re-interpretations as we plumb the depths of what experimental film has to offer in the time-honored tradition of the Re-Enactment. Not only do we have the Civil War, but we’ve got Indian street kids in Bollywood musicals, celluloid visions torn from the funny pages, and remakes of cinema classics and avant-garde masterpieces. - Ben Russell

Featuring: I’m Bobby by Xav Leplae (32:00, 35mm, 2003), Across the Rappanahock by Brian Frye (10:00, 16mm, 2003), Electrocute Your Stars by Marie Losier (8:00, 16mm, 2004), Passage a L’Acte by Martin Arnold (12:00, 16mm, 1993), Mary Worth by Various Directors (15:00, 16mm, 2001)

December 2, 2004, Thursday, 7:30PM
Fine Line: Art and Politics

December 16, 2004, Thursday, 7:30PM
Experimental Feature in Focus I: "Baghdad in no particular order" (2004) by Paul Chan
tentatively