Voices New and Old
Despite the fact that it's in the middle of a move, 911 Media Arts is continuing its programming over at the Seattle Art Museum with a screening of a collection of nine short documentaries under the title New Voices 2004 (Sat June 19). The New Voices program teams emerging local filmmakers with film professionals for critiques and feedback in order to make short documentaries ready for PBS broadcast. This year's batch looks quite good, with one documenting one couple's 30-year addiction to being game-show contestants, and others looking at schizophrenia, a fallen lounge singer, a man who prefers the company of spiders, and more. There will also be a reception afterward at Il Bistro. The event is free, but you need to e-mail Gretchen Ludwig at gretchen@911media.org in order to reserve a seat.
New Voices 2004 is being presented in conjunction with TheWarrenReport's Distinguishing Features series, and as I was doing a little extra research on the event I discovered that Warren Etheredge is also hosting a script reading for the winner of the Seventh Annual Washington State Screenplay Competition. (Warren, please send us press releases of your upcoming events so we can give you free listings and sometimes write about it in places like this darn column; thank you and keep up the good work.) Anyway, the reading will happen Monday, June 21, at On the Boards, and a hearty congratulation must be sent out to Mark Titus for penning the winning script. It's called Dzonoqua, it's set on a remote Alaskan island, and it's about an ancient, destructive force that is awakened when the balance of nature is upset.
Whether you call it personal cinema or experimental film, one of the strongest voices over the last couple of decades has been that of Su Friedrich. Her latest is called Odds of Recovery and will be playing over the weekend (Fri-Sun at 8 pm) at Consolidated Works. Having believed that her left side was naturally bigger than her right, Friedrich was surprised when doctors found a 13-pound cyst on her spleen. Along with six surgeries to remove it, she was also treated for a hormonal imbalance--all while going through tough times with her partner. Lest you think this is a grim and all-too-serious affair, though, you should know that Friedrich has a sense of humor that she is unable to suppress.
Speaking of the Seattle Art Museum, on Sunday the Northwest Film Forum will be presenting at SAM, for one night only, the Neil Young "musical novel" Greendale, based on his latest album and shot on Super 8, which was then blown up to 35mm. At the Hugo House on Monday they'll be showing Drew Emery's The Bridge, a locally made documentary for everybody who wants to see 45 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered elders and youth in conversation. And over in Ballard, on the same night, the Sunset will be hosting a free screening of rare Kinks footage in honor of Ray Davies' birthday.
