James River Film Festival Notes

This notice about the 13th James River Film Festival came in today from the Richmond Moving Image Co-op's James Parrish:

Naked Testimonials: The Films of Martha Colburn
(2 hour program) Thursday (tonight), 7:30 pm, at Plant Zero Art Center. Admission: $5

Experimental animator Martha Colburn makes things move and morph using a variety of techniques to create colorful, layered patchworks of bizarre and striking imagery -- soldiers in Iraq receiving delicate cosmetic surgery, skeletons superimposed over couples making love, spiders with women’s faces and shadowy phalluses. Combined with her hypnotic soundtracks, Colburn’s visuals emerge as “naked testimonials of our times, and of her generation’s” according to avant-guru and filmer, Jonas Mekas, who connects Colburn’s work to the found-image-collage tradition of Stan Vanderbeek, Dick Preston, and Bruce Conner in the 1960’s. Colburn’s dynamic, self-taught style has found its way onto screens in museums, galleries and microcinemas worldwide! Join us for this very special evening of Colburn favorites followed by a Q&A session with the filmmaker.

Born in Pennsylvania, experimental animator Martha Colburn divides her time now between Holland and New York City, and has exhibited her films at the Sundance, Rotterdam, and New York Film Festivals, the Museum of Modern Art, and galleries in Europe, New Zealand and China.

For more information about the film festival visit the RMIC web site or call (804) 232-7642. Festival programs are available at Chop Suey Books, Video Fan or Plan 9 Music.