#paracinema

[schlock-luster-video]

It Must Be The Neighbors (1966))

[elcinerevelado]

03 de marzo. 18.30h. Entrada gratuita

Things Said Once - Esperanza Collado

Performance y conversación posterior

Lectura coreografiada que involucra el uso de libros, rollos de películas, plantas, diapositivas de 35 milímetros y un proyector de películas de 16 mm. El texto representa una oda al cine como experiencia e incorpora varias citas de pensadores y cineastas a partir de la investigación de la propia Collado sobre formas de paracinema. Según la autora “Things Said Once es una declaración de arte y un elogio para el cine en reconocimiento a su historia y nuestra responsabilidad en el presente”. Escrito como un poema, el texto se construye en torno a una comprensión del cine como experiencia en sus dimensiones espacial, temporal y comunitaria. A nivel formal se presenta como una performance, una lectura en un entorno elaborado que incluye gestos, acciones corporales y objetos a través de los cuales se revela el propio texto.

Esta performance, en diferentes versiones, se ha representado y ha ido evolucionando desde 2015 en espacios de arte como Taipei Contemporary Art Centre (Taiwán), Lajevardi Foundation de Teherán (Irán), Centro Cultural de España en Montevideo (Uruguay), Centro de Cultura Montehermoso (Vitoria), la Cinematek de Bruselas (Bélgica), Galeria Microscope de Nueva York o el CCCB de Barcelona y en festivales como Oberhausen (Alemania), Bristol Experimental and Expanded Film (Gran Bretaña) o Punto de Vista (Pamplona).

El 9 de febrero del 2014, Esperanza Collado inauguró la primera edición de El Cine Rev[b]elado con la performance Ensayos de la evaporación (We only guarantee the dinosaurs) 10 años después regresa a este ciclo, cerrándolo en una suerte de bucle, y compartiendo una nueva performance que continua su práctica e investigación dentro del cine-expandido y de quienes forman parte de ello.

Se repartirá a todes las asistentes un fanzine; Things Said Once, dibujado por Paula Guerrero con textos de Esperanza Collado y diseñado por Jaime Narváez. Al finalizar la performance, los comisarios mantendrán un encuentro con la artista, 10 años después de…

[trashfilms]

I just finished VelociPastor, and it’s a full 10/10.

[evildead2electricboogaloo]

What If I’m Gay? (1987) dir. Jeffrey D. Brown

[steensmediariver]

[toddjurgess]

Werner Nekes demonstrates the Lumières’ Kinora machine (1898). The flipping photo cylinder puts the operator in charge of the image’s flow, but the image is still of a singular bit of space-time, a lot like the processes used by Nekes to make the image and on the gif-software used to make these images.

from Nekes’ Media Magica 1: Film Before Film (1985)

[meat-wentz]

yeah why not, let’s do the cult film essay, hell, i’ll do citations too:

recently i’ve been thinking a lot about the space mcr has cultivated and how alike it is to the space fostered by and around cult film. cult cinema is a tricky thing to define, because it encapsulates a lot but also requires specificity and it proves to be rather hard to pin down. like camp, cult is a sensibility. academically, many cult films embody the concept ‘paracinema’ as defined by jeffrey sconce. sconce writes:

“Paracinema is [...] less a distinct group of films than a particular reading protocol, a counter-aesthetic turned subcultural sensibility devoted to all manner of cultural detritus. [P]aracinema represents the most developed and dedicated of cinephilic subcultures to ever worship at ‘the temple of schlock.’“ 

(Sconce, ‘Trashing’ the Academy, pg. 101, 1995)

there are some notable things about cult film, common threads to be pulled or pieced together to determine if something is truly cult or not. more often than not these will be found amongst all cult films: repeat viewings, perverse readings, transgressive subject matter, a certain “quotability” or recognition outside of the filmic space amongst its followers (think of it as a handshake between viewers, you say “antici” and those in the in-group will respond “pation” while those in the out-group will not have the same response), but most importantly, cult is recognized by ritualized viewing habits. the following may be found in cult films, but not all films that have these are cult, and not all cult films have these: poor production quality, crash-and-burn reception, disastrous distribution, cult actors and actresses, behind-the-scenes myths, legends, and lore, and an underground reputation spread by word of mouth. most importantly, cult is rebellious, it rises against the status quo and challenges the society it was born from. and it utilizes that transgression to offer a safe space to gather, to communicate and to foster communal efforts in maintaining these spaces. cult film is a place where we choose to set aside all that is ‘acceptable,’ to welcome all outsiders of the world, we choose to be different and to accept difference as something worth effort, praise, maintenance and love.

the rocky horror picture show remains the paradigm of cult film precisely because of the space it has maintained by the viewers themselves within their repeated and ritualized viewing habits. it remains legendary even amongst the out group, but it is a momentous occasion for the in group. all these years later, fans gather in costume, callback lines memorized, prop bags at the ready, prepared to grasp at the chance for improvisation, ready to dance, sing, and laugh with abandon. it is a space unlike any other filmic space, it disregards politeness, it disregards the cultural and societal norms of mainstream cinema, it disregards silence, respect, and expectation. it is a space of interaction, a dialogue between film and viewer, between film and community, a space of appreciation displayed by being as loud and raucous as possible, as messy as possible, of presenting oneself larger than life, of emulating the screen in direct response to it. if we were to place cult into the realm of worship, the theater acts as cathedral, the screen as altar, and the film as sacred text.

for a moment let’s consider the word “ritual.” it has much in common with the term “cult film,” in that they can mean many things at once, tending to become all-encompassing terms that lose meaning due to the broadness of their definitions. peter mclaren in his essay “rethinking ritual” describes how ritual functions for those who partake:

“[Rituals] refer to the sacrality inherent in mankind’s own ordinariness and everyday life. A group’s or community’s rituals become, inter alia, the symbolic codes for interpreting and negotiating events of everyday existence. Rituals do not merely reflect, they articulate.”

(McLaren, Rethinking Ritual, pgs. 271-272, pg. 274, 1984)

rituals function as ways to process the world around us, therefore they require redefinition of space, participant, intent, and action as needed to fit the world as it evolves. mclaren comments “rituals are not confined to a compact proscenium or church chancel; they are natural social activities,” (pg. 271). we tend to structure our day-to-day lives around our routines. by incorporating media into these routines, we find a way to continue the realm of worship and ritual outside the so-called sacred space and into our private and interior lives, offering space to process how these media experiences function in our everyday understanding of the world and where we fit into it.

ritual can not only be considered as a physical habit or process of thought, but also as a reflexive dialogue between oneself and the object or presence they have ritualized. it allows for the viewer to process the place it has in their lives, to speak to and about it in a way that imbues meaning outside of its original spatial context. those rituals then extend outward to the group or community, allowing for shared ideas, interpretations, and actions. in cult film, there is the film space (the actual text) but there is the canonical fan space (the theater, and the communal spaces outside the theater). for instance, there is no actual call from within rocky horror itself to throw rice, it is not something demanded of the audience, however it has become canonical to the fanbase itself as a particular way of involving themselves within the film space, as a way to display their dedication and affection towards the film, and as a way to involve one another in the culture they have fostered out of that love. see, it is the fan reaction that makes a cult film a cult film, it is the space in which they provide for themselves to keep the film alive, to imbue it with life outside the screen, outside the theater, and within the lives of the fans and the communities surrounding it. rocky horror to this day, has maintained the longest theatrical run of any movie in history. and while the film itself is influential, it is the fans that have kept it in theaters for the past 47 years.

i suppose for all this, this is what i mean when i say that the space that mcr has cultivated is special. long after the break up, fans have not only altered the space from its original context (the first decade of the band), but they have kept it alive, founded communities that have kept the meaning alive, read through a long history of lyrics, interviews, visual cues and contexts, album narratives, etc, and refigured how they function within our everyday lives, maintained the space for a return. it’s why you’ll see fans start the “everybody in the whole place, whole place,” chant before mama. it’s why we all come here to write our analyses, to join the streams nightly, to find the common themes amongst different eras, songs, videos, etc. it’s why we show up in parade jackets and killjoy masks and ballet shoes, x’s over our eyes, sharpie shirts at the ready. mcr was a place for misfits, they were a place for outcasts, they were a place for ferocity and catharsis. this is of course, is not to diminish any of the work that the band has done to reach their return, it is only to point out that this time feels special not only for them, but for us, to cherish this moment with them. all of that work put into maintaining that life, figuratively and literally (our own lives and theirs), has paid off. we get to share this moment together. it’s special. it’s so special. and the space that’s been cultivated is one that still stands as a beacon to those who need it. much like your life might be changed when an older sibling sneaks you out of the house for your first rocky horror show, your life might be changed when that older sibling hands you the black parade. it’s the reason we feel it so fiercely. because we kept the love alive. we fed it. we cared for it. we found what it meant to us and we didn’t let it go. as i’ve noted before, it’s hard to define. it’s hard to pin it down. it’s a sensibility, a notion, something that’s stirred in you that nothing else has ever stirred before. and it’s the act of maintenance, of understanding the importance of your efforts, your love, the work that goes into keeping something present for so long. and it’s a dialogue. it’s between us and the band, it’s a form of recognition, to see hang ‘em high and mastas and heaven help us and burn bright and desert song. we see them. they see us. both of us...have maintained that love.

anyways. this was kind of a frenzied essay. there might be some edits i have to do but here you go. half of this was taken from an essay i wrote in 2019 for, get this, my cult film class, but i’m repurposing it because I JUST HAD TO GET IT OFF MY CHEST OKAY. thanks for reading all this. <3

[theliterateape]

Quatrains Out of Synch - A notebook of four line poems

by Dana Jerman

I thought of

a good prompt:

Begin. Keep going. End.

3 parts. Like anything.

-

On my birthday

John Giorno only thought

of a poem,

but he didn’t write one.

-

A dance, a tic, a grin

sur le vif

in media res

on the spot.

-

Dad wants a new love

Bedtime in Trumpistan

He’s left his arms in the closet with

The Brass Ring Catcher’s Little Black Book.

-

Some Jazz, a tease

to Latin. Word of

the day after a 

storm: orphic.

-

Making some Christmas happen

A few cards thrown around

the green jacket

the white marshmallows.

-

Here, I rehabilitate

the failures of my imagination

opening tombs, to

let the light reclaim.

-

Can’t kick this headache

Sedentary living and beer

Meanwhile, time, busy

working its angry miracle.

-

A mantra for dessert:

Blush will catch up to you

While you wear black

and eat white cake.

-

Old soundtrack nostalgia

Not drunk but romantic

Furthest from rude

is this idiot smile.

-

The composite of

the town I grew up in-

Dreaming preloads it

with the same old young characters.

-

All of January

My nose draining

The cold like a knife.

Bright sun: weak star.

-

Every damn chance

in the whole world

that the people’s hero

is knocking on your door.

-

What has brought me here?

A healthy condemnation for school

Not much sense or care for too much money

And one true love.

-

Hours creep by

music playlists continue

chocolate before sandwhich

Busy without being busy at all.

-

Someday I’ll look back

on a holiday spent propped

in a bookstore with a fuzzy

sweater, whisky, and this soundtrack on repeat.

-

Paracinema:

up all night

too much popcorn-

no work tomorrow.

-

Alarm out, I brought

the dream with me:

A casino with the slots and seats

set impossibly high along the walls.

-

Remind me to wash

the windows

on the first

warm day.

-

Echoes of voices and music

From an unknown destination

Siren song on New

Years Day in Chicago.

-

‘Fighter’ rhymes

with ‘writer’

for a 

reason.

-

Found books

are a call to action

Last stand for

the invisible hand.

-

I wanted to call them “Tatters”

Couplets written after Harryette Mullen

Like: Shredded rainbow-

dried blood in a unicorn tooth.

-

Sore neck in the AM

Not a busy morning

put ginger on my toast

for the first time ever.

-

It would have been a perfect night

in front of that fireplace in the

house about to be sold. But my

companion and I had no words.

-

The mental eye

deep in hypnotic recall

all senses employed

time catapulting reverse.

-

Do not knock-

Do not open-

Tiny writer

is dreaming.

-

All that summer trip long

I only had Reader’s Digests.

But I read them anyway.

It was all I wanted to do.

-

A confession and mirror

Aware of the furniture hex

No clunky frame or hidden desires-

I despise rolltop desks.

-

My life, your life.

Most of our deus

ex machina will

remain forever invisible.

-

hey sweet thing- maybe

there can be a code name- a word

we can link to sexiness to trick it into being

happiness.

-

A smart case, Death.

hanging around the night

with its patient wits,

its cigarettes, its camera.

-

Steam became smoke

salt to the walks

mulled plum twilight

smoke became steam.

-

I bite away half

the chocolate just to

see what it is. It’s my

box, I do what I want.

-

Now, I have to take

up all those bad

decisions- every move

I would not make- and build the unlikeable character.

-

It really is the end

of era in here.

but it doesn’t feel that way

to me. Not yet.

-

Early train. Sun

coming. A magic fireball

swinging a fixed line

across thin bare trees.

-

Monday afternoon-

wine at work

while reading

an Italian poet.

-

Quiet neighborhood-

snow looms late afternoon

Hours so songless, only the

bus driver dares go thru them.

-

Still air

at bedside

candles in silent vigil

no unsoft thing is here.

-

Dust, rust, mold.

Mars rotting is my crotch’s

monthly waves knotting goodbye-

a color, a flavor, a wash.

-

In the windows facing out

of the lamplit cafe beyond fireplace

and bookshelf, my good man stands and smokes

his last pipe of the day, first of the night.

-

Pink salt sky.

All morning to twilight.

Late winter city hurled

toward evening on a blossom’s hue.

-

Today they cleared the

trees in the back.

lovely summer shade

now gone to make way for…

-

The dead music of jackhammers

begins next door

in the snow flurries

and grey.

-

Snow thin as an abstract wish-

Bundled passengers stop and start

warm jazz soundtrack ambience

to this well-lit retail saturday late afternoon.

-

New Years Day close

as a star, a dream.

I will bless the decade

and ask for nothing.

-

A seemingly

inquenchable thirst

for alcohol

and good music.

-

Cataclysm of ideas

groovy songs amid bad

is the band name

Fever Chart taken?

-

Today is the day I awaken to

the knowledge that some poets

must think space is as good

as the next word.

-

A plum color and

an old lable.

Deep in the glass the scent

of my grandparent’s cellar.

-

Making dinner

lots of lights on-

jazz calms me down

as the snowy day spins.

-

Editing his book

listening to jazz

craving sex and the next

good line.

-

Fill in the blank:

Drunk as a — (Lucian Freud)

in— (Goya’s studio)

looking for— (God).

-

Wilde’s hand

low at his side

turned to shape

the Paris breeze.

-

My back itching

in that same place

where my husband gets

a little obstinate blackhead.

-

The week my father died

I threw many books into the fire.

Under those nights, blue as a dream,

past become prologue again.

-

Newest in self-care technology

a coat hangar with brains-

HAID: Home Abortion

Interface Device.

-

Love was the crag in

the way of my

youthful need

for seeing.

-

Draw a flag

on a bill

and burn

two crimes.

-

The annoyance of

an old mistake

come true, and here,

with consequences.

-

Cardinal crashing against

ex-boyfriends bedroom window

the spirit of my future husband

come to liberate my misspent love.

-

Kid eats my apple

coughs into the air

eats some more

smiles, runs and neighs.

-

Spare papers and pens

bag of cheeze curls

B-sides on repeat

good free afternoon.

-

Sighways…

long straight roads

Billboards for places

you don’t want to go.

-

Mother will say “morbid”

When I admit to

wanting to be buried

in her wedding gown.

-

“Bring a torch,

Jeanette, Isabella.”

Holding back tears at

my xmas retail job.

-

Remember the night

we were so alone and

sad and bored that we

chased a firetruck until it disappeared over a hill?

-

Old Story: “He makes me unhappy,

but I love him.

What should I do

this time?”

-

I want 1989.

The best night of

that year in the honkey-tonk

bar that later got torn down.

-

Potato chips and

chocolate covered

anything help to

conspire comfortable magic.

-

East coast news.

I could smell the snow

coming toward the city

all day thru hi-clouds.

-

Echoes of construction-

At home the reverb

rattles my building,

my body, my teeth.

-

If I become a statistic

I’ll tell you

its worth it.

I’m not gonna live in fear.

[retentionalfinitude2]

“Part of the reason that [Tony] Conrad has not received wider recognition is that his production has not been containable within the various cultural movements or categories by which the period is commonly charted. Although they are alternately more central or peripheral to minimalism, Fluxus, early conceptualism, underground and structural film, paracinema or expanded cinema, artistic performance, video, and more, addressing his contributions within any one of these areas singly...does little to provide an understanding of either his work or the historical textures from which and in which it was produced. Instead, Conrad’s work has to be understood through the situations and dialogues, the networks and interconnections, of which it was a part. Any ‘consistency’ in his oeuvre will be located in the specifics of his interlocutions.” --Branden Joseph, Beyond the Dream Syndicate: Tony Conrad and the Arts after Cage

[marypickfords]

“If the operative criterion in paracinema culture is affect, the most frequently expressed patron desire is to see something “different,” something unlike contemporary Hollywood cinema. As A. S. Hamrah and Joshua Glenn put it, “Let’s face it: Hollywood films are cautious, uninventive, and bland, and young filmgoers are increasingly uninterested.” Paracinema fans, like the cineast elite, “explicitly situate themselves in opposition to Hollywood cinema” (Sconce, 381), and they do so in a way that academics would recognize as highly sophisticated. As Sconce notes, “the paracinematic audience recognizes Hollywood as an economic and artistic institution that represents not just a body of films, but a particular mode of film production and its accompanying signifying practices. Furthermore, the narrative form produced by this institution is seen as somehow ‘manipulative’ and ‘repressive,’ and linked to dominant interests as a form of cultural coercion”. Paracinema consumption can be understood, then, as American art cinema consumption has often been understood, as a reaction against the hegemonic and normatizing practices of mainstream, dominant Hollywood production.”

Joan Hawkins, from “Cutting Edge: Art-Horror and the Horrific Avant-garde”, 2000.

[maxconvex]

The infamous flying zombie head from Lucio Fulci's swansong 'Zombie 3' 1988. Fulci fell ill during filming and veteran exploitation hack Bruno Mattei stepped in to complete the shoot. Fulci disowned the film shortly before his death and it seems more like Mattei's, with plot and action sequences like his 'Hell of the Living Dead' which is one of the great bad zombie pics. Biological experiments cause the dead to rise and eat and it's all cheesy ironic fun if you are in the mood and there's a pumped up soundtrack and plentiful gore to help things along #zombi3 #zombieflesheaters #zombieflesheaters2 #zombie #undead #flyinghead #gore #fx #fxmakeup #horror #horrormovie #horrorfilm #horrorcinema #horrorblog #horrorcommunity #horrorgram #italianhorror #luciofulci #brunomattei #paracinema #420 #420friendly

[schlock-luster-video]

The Corvair in Action! (1960)

[elcinerevelado]

ECR_S06_E04 > ARTISTAS > ESPERANZA COLLADO

ESPERANZA COLLADO

Artista visual, cineasta y docente. Doctora por la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, donde actualmente trabaja como profesora. Su campo de trabajo e investigación se sitúa entre la instalación y la performance, poniendo en crisis el medio fílmico y sus condiciones de presentación para ello explora la inestabilidad de la proyección y realiza coreografías mínimas en torno a la sintaxis del cine. Sus películas en 16mm están concebidas para contextos performativos. Es autora de Paracinema: la Desmaterialización del Cine en las Prácticas Artísticas, cofundadora de la Asociación Artística LEVE y de Experimental Film Club, un espacio de exhibición fílmica en Dublín.

[trashfilms]

A US military film about the importance of personal hygiene.

I am obsessed with hygiene films from the 1930s - 1950s.

[evildead2electricboogaloo]

The Day My Kid Went Punk (1987) dir. Fern Field

[steensmediariver]