214

Today I spoke for about 3/4 hour over a web cam with June Madeley's media course in St. John New Brunswick. She showed three of my Toxic films then I said stuff like

"I will be using the term “experimental” to refer to a large range of alternative approaches to media, with a focus of celluloid film. The term experimental is often contested due to its inaccuracy; an experienced “experimental” filmmaker generally works with known variables with predetermined, calculated outcomes and is doing no more experimentation than a narrative or documentary filmmaker may be. Another term often used is Avant Garde, but this too is often criticized. Its original usage is military, referring to a troop which goes in advance of the main army, and was brought into use as a reference to innovative artists in the early 20^th century. While some artists feel the term lends respectability to their craft, others are uncomfortable with the association with military and some feel that the term continues to be tied to early 20^th century art and the labeling of current practitioners similarly is both pretentious and ostentatious. Other terms have also been used without ever managing to unify the entire arena under one banner. “Independent”, “fringe”, “non-mainstream”, “micro”, “alternative”, “art film” and other labels are equally inaccurate and are have been used to describe a range of non or less commercial cinema that has been created outside of the large television or studio systems but continue to be based in traditional dramatic or documentary approaches. The continued debate about semantics is best left for another paper. I will henceforth use “experimental” to refer all this milieu and all quotation marks will be dropped from this point on. "
.... and so on, and so on...
June says some of them must have been listening since she saw them checking out Michael Snow's Wavelength on Youtube. It is a really horrible unwatchable copy ..... and not enough
of it (there is only the last 10 minutes of the total 45).

101

I wrote a review of Alex MacKenzie's film work I saw at the Antimatter festival in Victoria and have created a new blog, Experimental Film Review, where I will post such reviews. It won't be updated every day as I have neither the time nor the availability of material to review to maintain that. Enjoy.

Ten days and counting

I saw Chuck Gilhooly today. Chuck and I were in film school together back in the mid-80s. He came from one of those neighbourhoods where people didn't usually go to university. When the rest of us started to think that we were being radical, painting a campus room black or staying up all night or stashing some Kahlua in a locker, we could just look at Chuck and know we were all just lame. I never saw him do anything illegal or even immoral, but I never had a doubt that he'd done things I'd ever dreamed of. Perhaps it was all imagination, but I doubt it. Anyway, Chuck got out of the film biz, it was never kind to him. He's an electrician now, which is probably more satisfying in some ways. He's getting some software and a computer to work on some videos on his own. Go ahead and Google him, nothing seems to come up even though he did a brilliant film called "Steel Motion" back in '93. I wrote an article on it that you can try to find under articles on my web site, even though Google doesn't see it. It is a powerful, visceral 16mm film about the rhythm of the train and about his connection to his father who worked his life on the rails. He taught Chuck to love but to respect the trains. He's going to bring me a copy tomorrow, I've not seen it in over a decade but it still makes an impression on me.

minus eleven days

Greetings. My name is Gerald Saul, I am a professor of film production at the University of Regina and I'm setting up this blog to chronicle my activities for the forthcoming year as I embark upon my first sabbatical which it to begin in 11 days.
The image here is of me portraying a robot defending the earth from alien urban renewal in a hand processed 16mm workshop film called "Conquest of the Vanquished Urban Renewal Experts From Another World" which I made with a keen little team consisting of Anna Hansen, Jade Duckett, and Gabe Boyko. In this film, we dared to tell the naked truth about international plots aimed at forcing us to live in better houses. However, the powers that be are intent on silencing our voices to the point that our film lost out in the competition against a film about a guy looking for the bathroom. You decide who's being paranoid. If you are brave enough, contact the Saskatchewan Filmpool Co-operative and demand that they put the vote of best film to a new ballot.

During this next year I will be creating a number of 16mm films as well as some videos, some super-8 projects, and at least one screenplay. As well, I am going begin work on a book about experimental filmmaking. There are a lot of other things on my to-do list such as updating my rather stagnant website: www.geraldsaul.com
Thanks for joining me on my inaugural posting.
Gerald Saul, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada