November
10, Tuesday, 7:30PM
Disordered
and
Refigured
LOCATION:
Carpenter Center, Harvard University.
24
Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Tickets: Suggested
donation $5
Balagan is excited
to present a program of innovative
works that explore the delicate and
complex nature of the human body,
mind and spirit. Films in this program
probe issues of physical & mental
illness in our society, using provocative
formal strategies that strive towards
making sense of the trials and tribulations
of these remarkable individuals.
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Fwd:
Update on My Life (9
minutes, Video, 2009)
Directed by Nicky Tavares
A hybrid live-action and animated documentary,
FWD: Update on My Life follows Dr. Deanie
French, a professor and pioneer of internet-based
learning and web accessibility, who
decides one day to take a holiday from
her heavy dosage of mood stabilizers
and go on the Atkins diet. With
newfound energy, she promptly leaves
her husband and sets out starting up
multiple businesses, making 10 new "special
friends," and directing a documentary
about her life.
In this experimental biography, director
and "special friend" Nicky Tavares pieces
together the humorous and tragic life
story of Dr. Deanie French through a
collection of interviews, personal emails,
electronic greeting cards, and machinima
footage, exploring Dr. French's complex
psychological and professional relationship
with the internet and technology.
Alternating and probing notions of the
the virtual and the real, FWD: Update
on My Life reflects upon our idea of
reality as it nimbly navigates Dr. French's
fluctuating perceptions of the universe.
Nicky Tavares is a multimedia artist
whose work explores digital culture
and the presentation of the self.
She received a B.A. in photocommunications
from Saint Edward's University and an
MFA in Film and Video from Massachusetts
College of Art. She currently
teaches in the Computer Animation program
at Mount Ida College.
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Estranhos
Poemas: Escritos de Claudina Pereira
Strange Poems: Writings of Claudina
Pereira
(9 minutes, Video, 2009)
Directed by Jessica Gidal and
Marcelo Gobatto
Estranhos
Poemas: Escritos de Claudina Pereira
(Strange Poems: Writings of Claudina
Pereira) is an experimental documentary
short about the life and poetry of Claudina,
a psychiatric
patient is southern Brazil.
Claudina's
writings mingle with the decaying environment
of Hospital São Pedro, reflecting not
only that her words are shaped by nearly
30 years in the hospital, but that the
hospital itself is transformed by her
presence.
Jessica Gidal is an editor, documentarian,
and curator based in Boston, where she
currently works in Educational Productions
at WGBH. She is finalizing Estranhos
Poemas: Escritos de Claudina Pereira
(Strange Poems: Writings of Claudina
Pereira), which she co-directed, edited,
and collaboratively shot while living
in Porto Alegre, Brazil. She edited
several episodes of the "Screening
Room with Robert Gardner" DVD series,
as has worked on other documentary productions
for FRONTLINE and the Discovery Channel.
Aside from producing her own personal
projects, she has created videos for
community organizations and has curated
several programs of animated documentaries
for film festivals in the US and Canada.
Prior to her work in film/video, she
worked for several years in community
development organizations in California
as well as India.
(www.gidal.net/jessica)
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Itna
Mujhe Pata Hai (This Much I Know)(24
mins, HD Video, 2008)
Directed by: Bridget Hanna
This Much I Know is the story of a
teenage girl, struggling to define
her life and her illness in a marginal,
environmentally devastated neighborhood
in Northern India. Inflected by her
love of Bollywood music, and driven
by frustration over the quality of
health care available to her, this
project investigates the relationships
between environment and medicine,
and between the subject and the filmmaker,
as it attempts to understand one young
woman's experience. Artist
Biography: Bridget Hanna is filmmaker
and doctoral candidate in Social Anthropology
at Harvard. Previous to entering graduate
school, she taught video production
and worked on various human rights and
media projects such as The Milosevic
Trial Archive and the Bhopal Media Project.
Her current research and video work
is in India, exploring a phenomenology
of pollution and toxics related illness
experience. Her short film This Much
I Know (sonumsong.blogspot.com), about
a young girl struggling to live, and
celebrate, her life in a slum polluted
by medical waste, is showing in film
festivals. Her current project, The
Colony of Lords looks at the daily life
and experiences of the children and
grandchildren of Bhopal gas disaster
survivors, many of whom are subject
to various sensory disabilities.
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