On December 17Th, Flux ended 2009 with what was arguably their best event yet in the Hammer screenings series. Given their impressive track record of well-crafted events, this was no mean task. Yet they managed to fill the evening with videos that were all enjoyable followed by equally as enjoyable presentations. With the night’s pièce de résistance being a live performance by Mia Doi Todd, accompanied by a band which included independent film maven Michel Gondry on drums. 

This past November, Flux had participated in the 5Th Protoclip Independent Music Video Festival in Paris, France and three of the award-winning videos from the festival were screened, with two of them making it into my “favorites of the night” list – Dans L’herbe directed by Olivier Martin, and Beware the Killer! by Jesus Hernandez. 

I Say Fever directed by Stefan Nadelman, the Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck collab., Heaven Can Wait (Director’s Cut) by Keith Schofield, and the utterly colorful, Open Your Heart by Michel Gondry round out my favorites for the evening. 

Following Michel Gondry’s presentation video on the making of Open Your Heart the talented Mia Doi Todd took the stage, accompanied at times by a band. – a band that included Gondry on drums. Other times she stood alone, her beautiful voice floating angelically against the strumming of her own guitar. It was undeniable that Mia’s haunting performance won her many a new fans – myself included. 

Also screened that night were two of NASA.’s music videos, Gifted and A Volta, off their latest album The Spirit of Apollo. The video for each track on the album is helmed by a different director including Logan, Three Legged Legs, and Syd Garon some of which have been previously screened at Flux events. 

The filmmaker presentations began with Stefan Nadelman who had flown in from Portland and who’s comedic presentation chronicled his journey from super-nerd to nerd-animator. Then Kevin Phillips spoke about his work on the utterly bizarre Mum video, Sing Along, that begs you to find psychological themes in it. 

Up next was director Keith Schofield who, since he’d already spoke about his Wintergreen video for Can’t Sit Stil, decided to show another new video instead. The video comes across as a “how-to for drugs,” instructing viewers on how to make meth, downers, and hallucinogens. Since its release, it has attracted the negative attention of talk show hosts who bemoan how readily available this type of information is online. The truth is its all fake (from the names of the drugs to the instructions on how to synthesize them)! 

Following Michel Gondry’s presentation video on the making of Open Your Heart the talented Mia Doi Todd took the stage, accompanied at times by a band. – a band that included Gondry on drums. Other times she stood alone, her beautiful voice floating angelically against the strumming of her own guitar. It was undeniable that Mia’s haunting performance won her many a new fans – myself included.

Some of you might no doubt recall a past Flux event where Gondry had also performed on drums while star of his most recent project (The Green Hornet), Seth Rogan, provided vocals. Here again the ensemble worked. So well in fact that I am sure we can look forward to future performances of Gondry on the drums.

As expected, there was a huge crowd – after all Michel Gondry was going to be there. Though the filmmaker was not the focus of the evening there was no denying his drawing power. To be fair the entire line-up was equally spectacular, drawing a huge audience which resulted in the Hammer setting up an overflow room.

One of the best features of the event was the ‘after-party,’ held in the Hammer courtyard, where audience members had the opportunity to meet the filmmakers as they mingled freely. Many of the filmmakers stayed till late, engaged in conversation long after the Hammer cafe had closed operation for the night and most of the museum was all locked up – testament to the great time they were having. (Displays of acrobatic prowess in the form of handstands and back-flips probably also had something to do with it as well.)

Together with their event/screening of Terry Gilliam’s, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, earlier in the month, Flux thus brought an eventful 2009 to a spectacular and colorful end.

And although I didn’t make it out to their Super 8 exhibit, it received such high praise it’s already on my to-do list for next year: Another amazing event to look forward to from the genius of Meg and Jonathan Wells (founding Creative Director and Curator of Flux.)

Already starting off the year with a bang, Flux did an advanced screening of Youth in Revolt at their Cinema Tuesdays event at the Montalban on January 5th. And for all of you animators out there, Flux is currently accepting entries for their 2010 screening series.***
All photos are courtesy of Flux.net and Marla Aufmuth.

via Sunil Rampersad, 31 December 2009 11:30am | |