This is birdRed, a portrait of Chicago media producer
and artist, bR/SMPTE. From the open portfolio "Haiku Harvest: Moments of Truth" by papercam films and
12th Round.
The
portfolio uses various filmmaking metaphors and paper emulsion techniques and focuses on vignettes of life lived largely in
small moments on the streets of Chciago.
"Meditation for a Lonely Flute" Produced and Directed by
Donna Cameron. TRT: 4 minutes. 2013, 1995. Music
Produced and Composed by Fredrick Kaufman. Flute: Adeline Tomasone. Distributor: The Museum of Modern Art Circulating Film Library. Meditation for a Lonely Flute, a film directed by Donna Cameron with music conceived by Fredrick Kaufman while in service
with the Israeli Army during the Yom Kipur War,
was selected by MoMA (Museum of Modern Art,
NY) to be shown at Lincoln Center on February 1st as part of a tribute to Cameron's
mentor, filmmaker Shirley Clarke.
"This chromatic vision
of the desert transcends the bloodshed, the cold and the heat of the moment and meditates on the magic of the surrounding
desert's sounds and sands." -Fredrick
Kaufman)
World Trade Alphabet
is a celluloid 35 mm film that uses “Cinematic Paper Emulsion”, a technique invented and patented by Cameron. In this work each letter representsone phoneme of our spoken
language, and each letter is one
3-second shot of the film." Writng" was introduced to the western world with
the invention of a wedge shaped character system “cuneiform” by the Sumerians (Phoenicians)
c. 4000 BCE. On their travels, the Phoenecians needed a simplified
system to improve the speed of world trade transactions. (Cuneiform had 600+ symbols!) They invented a 22 character writing system (c. 900 BCE). With each glyph representing one consonant or vowel, their system was unique.Traders of all nations
easily learned it. The Greeks and Romans modified the original
shapes of the letters and added four others and the writing system a brand name. (“Alphabet” comes from the first two letters of the original
Phoenician alphabet “aleph” and “beth”.) Alphabet, and thus, ancient Phoenicia (now the site of modern day Syria, Iran, Iraq, Israel and
Jordan) paved the way for democratic thought and international
tolerance in an ancient, thriving global market. We can follow their lead, and strive for understanding between diverse nations,
and acheive peace. "With her film "World Trade
Alphabet", a richly textured, rhythmic and lyric study, Donna Cameron meditates on the essential formulations
of an alphabet, the code of all communication." -Circulating Film Library, MoMA, NY.
"DIE
Honeybee" Produced and Directed by Donna Cameron.
DIE Honeybee is directed/edited
by Donna Cameron with music by Pierre Henri ("La Reine Verte"). The film honors the Bee, an insect vital to agricultural
crops and markets worldwide. The film was purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, NY for
the permanent Film Archive collection and has been screened at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the Directors' Series,
NYU, Artisphere, VA and the MoMA. The split screen envisions four seasons in the life of a honey bee, from larvae
to flight, and uses found footage from the 20th century German World War period. Cinematic paper emulsion (U.S. patent,
2001) by Donna Cameron. "The film opens on an unknown beekeeper, the screen splits to black and white and
color as he touches his hive. The story of the life of the honeybee from larvae to adult stages and the coincidental blooming
of the earth are braided into a color paper emulsion montage; each shot was hand dipped in various
honeys and optically printed, yielding a variety of honey tones from pale yellow to deep amber."
BRAVO MARTY !!
Donna Cameron Documentary was on the
scene to capture this inclusive moment for the legendary director!
Learn more about Mr. Scorsese's journey
to his current status as an eminent film preservationist- as well as a most gifted mainstream filmmaker with roots in the New American Cinema underground of the 1960s- arguably, the best, yes! Bravo
Marty- where would we be without you!
October 1, 2015 at the 53rd NYFF at Alice Tully Hall.
A Diary Excerpt featuring George Stoney & Co.'s anniversary screening and panel discussion at MoMA
of this special milemarker in race relations in New York area schools.
In 1969-1970, Bellport High School in Bellport,
Long Island was the scene of angry confrontations between the affluent white students and financially challenged students
of color who together attended the town's high school. Riots
ensued. The school was closed and a police presence followed. Betty
Puleston and Lynne Jackson documented the events and, in 1973, issued their groundbreakling documentary, "Race or Reason: The Bellport Dilemna". The film was endorsed by Puleston's
paramor, iconic filmmaker George Stoney (also known as the "Fabler of Cable Television"). Thirty years later, on
February 27, 2009, the riotersreunited at MoMA for a public screening/discussion of the film, part of a two-day program
"A Tribute to George Stoney", co-hosted by MoMA and the New York Film Council.
June, 2014 concert at Barbes
in Brooklyn.
Love this music. Place is great too! Stéphane Wrembel, dreamer, poet and guitarist is live in concert with
friends!
Dreams drums songs and strings
to remember forever! Thanks! Merci bien!
Yep, that was a time.
Excerpt from 2004 trans media experimental work, "Transpo" by Donna Cameron. This diary
excerpt features Mike Kuchar talking about a recent trip to South America,
Dominic
Angerame screening rushes of an earthquake ravaged San Francisco highway, Andy Sloan starring in his middle school play as
"Nicely-Nicely Johnson" in their
memorable rendition
of "Guys and Dolls", Donna Cameron escaping into cinematic paper
animations and everyone emerging from the underground, backdropped by the
IND subway tunnel under the recently attacked World Trade Center (Yellow tape reads "Do Not
Stop") -We rode by daily, remembering it all, never forgetting, leaving work
and
school in NYC, going home to Brooklyn under the East River. "As in a dream, a song- I remember-" HOME MOVIE SUPREME! Distributed by MoMA Circulating Film Library.
Summer IS...
The Houston Street One Man Band just gets out there and plays, one shoe off, one shoe on.
Everything from the street to the kitchen sink is a percussion instrument. This guy rocks!
Paper emulsion cinema. The Brooklyn Bridge in eerie turquoise light
just before dawn. Cinematic rhythms of the winds, East River and traffic in NYC prevail.
Evokes the essence of a universal primordial heartbeat, cultural
displacement and wandering sorrow. Mournful riffs on sax conjure up memories of a distant ancestry.
Dedicated to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, especially, friends
in New Orleans. Films: "Brokn Bridge", "Lieder". 16 mm, "Live Reel". Directed by Donna Cameron.
Distributed by The Museum
of Modern Art, NY ; The Filmmakers' Coop, NY; Canyon Cinema, San Francisco, CA.
Samir's soulful sax leads us through paper evolutions of alphabet notes: and the significance of letters in language.
The middle film, "Peterborough Forest" salutes the wonders of all Earth's natural forests,
the living creation of the sun, from which
Henri Matisse, a biomorphic artist by philosophy, drew some of his deepest inspiration. Dedicated to environmental stability
and world peace in the Middle East.
Films:
"World Trade Alphabet Film", "Peterborough Forest", "Jazz Elegy". 16 mm, "Live Reel".
Directed by Donna Cameron.
Distributed
by The Museum of Modern Art, NY & The Filmmakers' Coop, NY, & Canyon Cinema, San Francisco, CA.
Steed Taylor & Donna Cameron
Road
Tattoo in US Capital
This animation of a memorable day in July records the making of the Steed Taylor (www.steedtaylor.com)
road tattoo, "Daughters and Sons Knot".
We loved the work! nThe project honors DC area soldiers killed in our
recent wars. It's on the 800 block of Vermont Ave, between I Street and H Street.
Funded by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
