THE MUSIC FILMS OF JEM COHEN (E-BOW, THE LETTER - Director's Cut, etc.) April 11, New Orleans

["Dennis Moore" <clayboy56>]

ZEITGEIST MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ARTS CENTER

http://www.zeitgeistinc.net/2007/03/zeitgeist-multi-disciplinary-arts.html

Wednesday, April 11 @ 7:30 p.m.
THE MUSIC FILMS OF JEM COHEN plus KELLI SHAY HICKS in concert. This
compilation features 11 of Jem Cohen's collaborations with musicians.
Made on 16mm, Super 8 and Video, the works include the music of
R.E.M., Gil Shaham and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Void, Elliot
Smith, Jonathan Richman, Miracle Legion and Olivier Messiaen. $10
general / $8 members.

NIGHTSWIMMING
R.E.M. long-form video, "Full Moon Version", 1995, 8:15, 16mm/Super 8
After seeing my film, Drink Deep, which revolved around rural swimming
holes, R.E.M. asked me to make the video for "Nightswimming." We
wanted to make something erotic that broke away from the crass
formulas of MTV--to offer different kinds of bodies, male and female,
and to extend the liberating possibilities of "skinnydipping" to
people altogether outside of the predictable demographic. Later, when
the band was collecting pieces for a home video release, I asked if I
could expand the project into more of an independent film, and to
include a section that would retain the spirit of the piece, but
without music. (It was always my intention to pull "music videos" as
far away from being commercial promos as possible).

COUNTRY FEEDBACK
R.E.M., 1991, 4:40, Super 8
One of R.E.M.'s most personal songs, and my favorite, which made the
project particularly interesting and difficult. I saw it as a
reflection on regret. I learned a lot about editing here: holding
shots back, stripping things down, waiting.

E-BOW, THE LETTER
R.E.M. Director's Cut, 1996, 5:22, 16mm/Video
The song, written in the form of a letter, invokes travel and memory,
apprehension and hope. The video was shot in L.A., New York, and
Prague, but I wanted to blur the distinctions between the cities
because regional distinctions are rapidly disappearing as corporate
presence becomes increasingly dominant. Because of the nature of the
job, I was unfortunately unable to entirely avoid lip-sync, but I made
sure that all of the instruments were plugged in and I encouraged the
band to play, read, and hang out as if they were in a normal practice
room. Patti Smith's presence is critical in the video, as it has been
in R.E.M.'s approach to music. We got on a tram with her in Prague and
shot without permission. It occurred to me later that the reason I
loved the shot of the two girls (who just happened to be in the Prague
train station) was that they reminded me of her, as a New Jersey
teenager en route to the big city, "following her star."

WINTER MOVEMENT (FOUR SEASONS)
Gil Shaham/Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, 1996, 6:40, 16mm/Super 8
Classical music video for Deutsche Grammophon
I was interested in showing classical musicians as human beings:
intense and passionate. The Orpheus Orchestra, which functions as a
leaderless collective, were a great subject. We filmed guest violinist
Gil Shaham talking about Vivaldi's work, and went out on the New
York's wintry streets asking random passersby to read Vivaldi's poetic
footnotes describing the music's progression.

WHAT DOES AWAY MEAN?
Public Service Announcement, 1989, 0:30, Super 8
Done as part of C-Hundred Film Corp's "Direct Effect" PSA series.
Music by D.C. punk/metal band, Void.

LUCKY THREE
Elliott Smith, 1997, 11:30, 16mm
An independent film portrait of singer/songwriter Elliott Smith in
Portland, Oregon in 1996, wherein he plays three songs. The songs were
done live acoustic--in his old studio, a living room, and a bathroom
(it was quiet in there). It's also a small portrait of Portland,
Oregon. The songs are "Between the Bars", "Angeles", and a cover of
"Thirteen" by Big Star. This is Elliott as I remember him, at his
simple finest as musician.

I WAS DANCING IN THE LESBIAN BAR
Jonathan Richman, 1996, 3:00, 16mm
Shot live at New York's Knitting Factory. Jonathan Richman needed his
first video. I didn't want to do any lip-sync, and neither did he, so
we shot a live performance in New York and I also stopped people on
the street and had them dance to the song on a boombox.

YOU'RE THE ONE, LEE
Miracle Legion, 1989, 4:00, Super 8/Video
An early effort for a friend's band that never quite got their due.
Small town/Big town Super 8 and moments from a show at the old CBGBs.

TALK ABOUT THE PASSION
R.E.M., 1988, 3:40, Super 8/Video)
My first (non) music video, with some images borrowed from THIS IS A
HISTORY OF NEW YORK. (I was asked to make it from that work, but chose
to shoot some additional material specifically for the video).
Shooting on an abandoned elevated rail structure above the city, I
encountered a man who had set up his home in the shadow of a docked
battleship. It concerns homelessness and military expenditure,
counting and accountability. Knowing it would be broadcast, I made an
attempt (perhaps naove) to foreground the political.

BELONG
R.E.M., 1992, 5:00, Super 8/Video
The simplest convergence of landscape (the train trip out of New York
through the Jersey Meadowlands) with live, non-sync concert footage;
plus fragments of Super 8 aerials I shot from a small plane in
Florida. The intro refers to events in Eastern Europe and China's
Tiananmen Square. In 2005, shooting on the same train line through the
same windows, I would have my film confiscated and turned over to the
FBI. The once innocent bridges, parking lots, and abandoned fields
were now "infrastructure" and a supposed national security concern.

VOCALISE
Olivier Messiaen, 1995, 5:20, 16mm/Super 8
Chung/Bastille Opera Orchestra
I was invited by Deutsche Grammophon to make another classical video.
Impressions of Messiaen's bird and color obsessions, in another bid to
bring classical music into the everyday world.

KELLI SHAY HICKS is a brilliant singer/songwriter from Nashville who
plays the guitar and autoharp and whose debut CD - Bucked is a
collection of her songs recorded by Jem Cohen in abandoned urban
spaces in upstate New York.
__________

The 4th Annual New Orleans Human Rights Film Festival will be held at
Tulane and other venues city-wide April 12 - 22, 2007.

The Reel Identities: LGBT Film Festival is coming to Zeitgeist in June 2007