Thursday, October 21
"Reveling in Technology: Film as Immersive Experience"

ALIENS and TRIBUTE TO STAN WINSTON with special guest SIGOURNEY WEAVER (CUL, 7:30pm)
Winner of four Academy Awards, U.Va. alumnus Stan Winston is universally acknowledged as film’s foremost practitioner of creature and makeup effects. Sigourney Weaver will join Winston for a presentation and discussion of Aliens and clips from their upcoming Galaxy Quest (produced by U.Va. alumnus Mark Johnson). Winston will present highlights of his work and will be honored by illustrious colleagues Sponsored by TNTand Sprint.

MINIATURE TECHNOVISIONS and KILLING JOE (REG, 7pm)
This program features the best short films submitted to this year’s Virginia Film Festival. The films in part one of tonight’s program make remarkable use of special effects, including Jeff Walker’s My Big Heart and Chris Clements’ Digital Gremlins for Windows. Part two highlights the breathtaking Killing Joe by Mehdi Norowzian, an accomplished coming-of-age story shot in stunning black-and-white.

A MECHANICAL MEDIUM A Live Performance by Zoe Beloff and Ken Montgomery (VHT, 7pm)
Moving-image artist Zoe Beloff and sound artist Ken Montgomery will present a performance for Kodascope B 16mm, Stereo Slide projector, 78 rpm phonograph and other sound making machines. The artists will resurrect Thomas Edison, extending his search for a machine to communicate directly with the dead (in his words, "A Mechanical Medium").

THE TINGLER presented in Percepto! (REG, 10pm)
(1959) Coroner Vincent Price discovers that fear causes a creature to grow on people’s spines. Only screaming can subdue it. Irrepressible showman William Castle marketed this film by creating a special process called "Percepto," guaranteed to jolt you in your seat and make YOU scream.

THE MAN WITH THE MOVIE CAMERA (VHT, 10PM)
(1929) Vertov’s masterpiece exemplifies the montage aesthetic of the Soviet avant-garde of the twenties. It is a city symphony, a documentary of a composite Soviet city presented with cinematic exuberance, and an investigation of the cinematic process itself. Shown with artist Fernand Leger’s only film, the experimental classic Ballet Mecanique (1924).

Friday, October 22

HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE (CUL, 10am)
(1953) This memorable comedy of three man-hunting women features great ensemble work by Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe and Lauren Bacall. Exemplifying the ‘50s assertion of cinema’s immersive superiority to television, the film shows off stereophonic sound and the wide screen - this was the first feature film shot in Cinemascope .

THE GENERAL (REG, 10am)
(1927) The close ties between the 19th Century inventions of trains and film, both creating panoramic views for an immobile voyager, are evident in this program of silent classics, including Buster Keaton’s comic masterpiece, The General, a Civil War tale of an engineer and the train and girl he loves equally. Also on the program are Louis Lumiere’s Train Entering a Station, Edwin Porter’s The Great Train Robbery, plus a new experimental film by Austrian Peter Tscherkassky, L’Arrivee.

TECHNOTOONS: TECHNOLOGY AND THE ANIMATED FILM with Terry Lindvall (VHT, 10am)
Curated and presented by Terry Lindvall from the Animated Film Archives of Regent University, this amazing compilation of international animated films includes Koko’s Earth Control (Fleischer, 1928); L’Idee (Bartosch, 1932); Duck Dodgers in the 24 and 1/2 Century (Jones, 1953); Wizard of Speed and Time (Jittlov, 1980); Technological Threat (Kroyer, 1989); To Be (Weldon, 1991); Tin Toy (Lassiter, 1989).

MEDIA DUCK: KIDS AND TEENS MAKING MEDIA with Marie Maciak & Kamila Kowalska (Downtown Artspace, 11am)
Marie Maciak (aka Maria Caramel), a video mixer and Kamila Kowalska, an avid editor will present a mix of digital video compositions by kids at the Ross School in East Hampton and discuss communicating using digital cameras.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (Director’s Edition) (CUL, 1pm)
(1977) Now, finally, the Definitive Director’s Edition, which restores cuts made for Spielberg’s "Special Edition" and the full impact of Richard Dreyfuss’ obsessive quest to identify a shape that leads from a pile of mashed potatoes to a mountain to a Mothership. A TNT New Classic!

20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH introduced by Stan Winston (REG, 1pm)
(1957) Today’s premiere creature effects creator Stan Winston tips his hat to his influential predecessor, Ray Harryhausen. The exceptional effects and intelligent script make this one of Harryhausen’s best showcases, featuring a fast-growing Venusian monster who returns to Earth with spaceship pilot William Hopper.

ANDY WARHOL: ROBOT with producer Lewis Allen (VHT, 1pm)
Lewis Allen gave Andy Warhol a chance to create a robot to take his place. The Andy Warhol Robot documents the project that began with Warhol’s collaboration and is now nearing completion. Also on this program are two rediscovered Warhol films on the theme of television. Soap Opera (1964) appropriates TV commercials into a silent Warhol domestic drama, and Outer and Inner Space (1965) features Edie Sedgwick interacting with her pre-recorded video image. As in The Chelsea Girls, Warhol designed this to be an immersive double-screen experience.

SPECIAL EFFECTS (WOMEN IN PERIL!) (REG, 4pm)
Selected from independent film entries to this year’s VFF, this wide-ranging program features images of women imperiled by or reclaiming the technologies of special effects. Janet Wondra’s Apotheosis is a silent comedy about unrequited love and spontaneous human combustion. M. Frank’s Purgatory tracks a woman in a world moving backwards. Peter Tscherkassky’s Outer Space tears apart the celluloid image of Barbara Hershey, while Morgan Freeman’s The Cherry Picker stars Janeane Garofalo as a film technician you don’t want to mess with. Cosponsored with the Women’s Center.

KEEPERS OF THE FRAME with speaker Godfrey Cheshire (VHT, 4pm)
(1999) The issue of preserving films has become even more urgent as the very medium of film seems to be on the brink of extinction. Following the screening of this new 52-minute documentary on the art and science of film preservation and restoration, a panel of archivists and critics will discuss the qualities of the film medium, and what will be gained and lost if digital exhibition replaces film prints.

THE MELIES PROJECT with live accompaniment by Phillip Johnston and the Transparent Quartet (CUL, 7:30pm)
Composer and performer Phillip Johnston presents this dazzling tribute to the pioneer work of French film wizard Georges Melies, best known for his 1902 A Trip to the Moon and other classic "trick films." This special screening will be a treat for young and old fans of new music, classic films, and creative fusions that span generations of art forms. A Newcomb Hall presentation.

POLYESTER an IFC presentation in Odorama! (REG, 7pm)
(1981) The Independent Film Channel has retrieved the Odorama "scratch and sniff" cards that enable us to present John Waters’ disgusting classic in its full sensory grossness. Divine stars as Francine Fishpaw, rescued from her nightmarish family by drive-in movie owner Tab Hunter.

BETTER LIVING THROUGH CIRCUITRY (VHT, 7pm)
(1999) Filming on a Sony digicam and edited on a Power Mac, Jon Reiss demonstrates the amazing potential of these inexpensive technologies in this kaleidoscopic tour of techno/rave culture, featuring DJ Spooky, Roni Size, Moby, and many more performers and scenesters immersed in states of musical, spiritual, and chemical stimulation.

DIAL M FOR MURDER in 3D! (CUL, 9:30pm and Midnight)
(1954) J. Hoberman calls it "the most visually compelling of studio stereoscopic movies," and here’s a rare opportunity to see Hitchcock’s tale, featuring Grace Kelly as a society woman whose jealous husband arranges the perfect murder, in its original 3D.

THE CORNDOG MAN with director Andrew Shea (REG, 10pm)
(1998) The Corndog Man is a refreshingly original dark comedy that explores the degenerative effects of racism. Andrew Shea’s second feature, which premiered at Sundance in January, features Noble Willingham as a redneck boat salesman pursued by a mysterious stranger who chooses phone harassment as his weapon. As Dial M for Murder and Scream also demonstrate, telephones can be terrifying devices.

CIRCLE’S SHORT CIRCUIT with director Caspar Stracke (VHT, 10pm)
(1998) Stracke’s completely original film consists of five interlocked episodes, moving from documentary to essay to collage to simulated live-coverage to silent film, that describe the phenomenon of interruption in contemporary communications. The history of the telephone is given central importance, and is articulated by the brilliant theorist Avital Ronell. Stracke’s imagination and energy make this an exhilarating experience.

Saturday, October 23
"Liberating Technology: Terminators and Culture Jammers"

DR. STRANGELOVE (CUL, 10am)
(1964) Stanley Kubrick’s film depicts, with a dark comic ferocity, the apocalyptic consequences of humanity’s subservience to its own technologies. Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, and Sterling Hayden help Kubrick demonstrate (outrageously, but persuasively) the roots of out-of-control machinery in male sexual anxiety.

MY DOG SKIP (REG, 10am)
(1999) Based on Willie Morris' memoir of his childhood, this new Warner Brothers release stars Kevin Bacon, Diane Lane, and Luke Wilson.

SPEAKING PARTS (VHT, 10am)
(1989) Atom Egoyan’s characters are technological voyeurs, their relationships mediated and selves protected by video cameras and monitors. This may be Egoyan’s richest exploration of this theme, observing the relationships between a screenwriter, video-store clerk, movie actor, game show producer, and other media-fixated characters.

METROPOLIS (CUL, 1pm)
(1926) Fritz Lang’s classic sci-fi film about a futuristic city and its mechanized society. This is the controversial 1984 restoration featuring colortints and a score by techno music pioneer Giorgio Moroder.

THE ART OF FILM EDITING: THE REGAL SHOT-BY-SHOT WORKSHOP (REG, 1pm)
with noted feature film editor and ACE (American Cinema Editors) member BUD SMITH. Smith is a veteran editor who has often worked with director William Friedkin on such films as The Exorcist, Cruising, Sorcerer, etc. . Smith earned a British Academy award and an Oscar nomination for Flashdance (1983), and has produced several films. His first editing credit was for the cult classic Greaser's Palace, a recent credit was supervising editor on Darkman, and his current editing project is the new Keanu Reeves-Gene Hackman film, The Replacements. Smith will analyze clips drawn from several of his films, giving special emphasis to changes in editing technologies over the years.

VIRTUAL EQUALITY with filmmaker Lorna Thomas (VHT, 1pm)
(1999) Virtual Equality tells the stories of five New York City youth, ages 11 to 16, who are trying to get on the "Information Highway." Through engaging portraits of the students and interviews with their parents and technology experts, the film explores why low- income communities are rapidly falling behind in the "Digital Revolution." The film will premiere nationwide on PBS in 2000, and is presented here as the annual Curry School Forum on Media Literacy.

TRON (CUL, 4pm)
(1982)This ambitious sci-fi film creates a computer-generated, video game universe into which whiz-kid Jeff Bridges descends to chase program thief David Warner. Originally released in 70mm, the film’s computer effects were pioneering in 1982 and remain fresh today.

KEVIN AND JENNIFER McCOY: DIGITAL MEDIA PERFORMANCE (REG, 4pm)
Kevin and Jennifer McCoy are video/performance/Web artists whose works address the role of technology in artistic practice and everyday life. Fresh from creating their startling new website, Airworld, for the Walker Art Center, the McCoys will present a new multimedia performance.

MR. DEATH: THE RISE AND FALL OF FRED A. LEUCHTER, JR. (VHT, 4pm)
Errol Morris' latest film examines "execution technologist" and Holocaust revisionist Fred Leuchter.

TERMINATOR 2 featuring effects artist Stan Winston (CUL, 7pm)
(1991) Terminator 2 is particularly interesting for its melding of ILM’s computerized effects (Robert Patrick’s liquid metal villain) with Winston’s makeup and robotic artistry. This superb sequel to James Cameron’s sci-fi classic, featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, won Winston two Oscars.A TNT New Classic!

MAN OF THE CENTURY (REG, 7pm)
(1999) Here’s an upcoming Fine Line Features screwball comedy that lovingly embraces the black-and-white look and 1.33:1 square-shaped aspect ratio of classic Hollywood movies. The look is appropriate for its hero, Johnny Twennies, a Depression -era newspaperman out of time, oblivious to the modern world of sex and cynicism. Presented by Bravo. A Fine Line Features release.

HOME PAGE with director Doug Block (VHT, 7pm)
(1999) What is it about the Internet that makes people so willing to expose their private lives online? Filmmaker Doug Block searches out the practitioners of the online diary, meeting unforgettable characters like Justin Hall, Howard Rheingold, and Julie Petersen, and becoming a diarist himself (see www.d-word.com).

ALIENS with special guest Stan Winston (CUL, 10pm)
Aliens, sold out on opening night, will be reprised on the Culbreth big screen.

LOVE MACHINE with director Gordon Eriksen (REG, 10pm)
(1999) Eriksen’s latest feature is a portrait of five individuals seeking companionship over the Internet, and a subtle examination of the tactics used by a documentary filmmaker to create a buzz-worthy story out of their lives.

SPECTRES OF THE SPECTRUM with artist Craig Baldwin (VHT, 10pm)
(1999) S.O.S. is an experimental, black-comic science-fiction allegory about "electromagnetic autonomy" in the face of massive media conglomeration, made by the brilliant collage-essayist Craig Baldwin (Sonic Outlaws, Tribulation 99). Set in 2007, the film follows a young telepathic woman ("Booboo") and her father ("Yogi"), a technological outlaw holed up in the desert.

BARAKA (CUL, 10am)
(1992) Gorgeously shot in 24 countries (originally in 70mm), Baraka uses high technology (such as a a stunning computerized time-lapse photography technique) to escape and confront the mechanized world. It is directed by Ron Fricke, the man who shot Koyaanisqatsi, and is (arguably) far superior. Shown with Karen Aqua’s Ground Zero/Sacred Ground.

MODERN TIMES (REG, 10am)
(1936) Charlie Chaplin hilariously confronts the Machine Age, and holds out against the sound film by avoiding dialogue. The image of Charlie caught in the gears of a factory machine is only one memorable highlight of this comic masterpiece.

AUDIOVISIONS: COMPUTER MUSIC VIDEOS (VHT, 10am)
Today’s composers often use the computer to make new works from both recorded and synthetic sounds. As the machine’s command of visual images has grown, computer musicians have conceived truly hybrid works of sound and image. A program of short videos by composers from Europe and the US curated by Alicyn Warren, Assistant Professor, McIntire Department of Music and co-sponsored by the Virginia Center for Computer Music.

PLAYTIME (CUL, 1pm)
(1967) Jacques Tati’s famous character Monsieur Hulot wanders through an ultra-modern Paris of steel and glass skyscrapers, fearing and ultimately transcending its mechanized order. This comedic masterpiece, fills the frame with sight and sound gags, requiring the viewer to comb every corner of the large screen and attempt to keep up.

DIAL H-I-S-T-O-R-Y (REG, 1pm)
(1997) Buckle up for the unofficial chronicle of worldwide airplane hijacking! This pseudo-documentary by Johan Grimonprez takes you on a playful-subversive tour from the romantic hijacker-revolutionary of the sixties to the cynical, anonymous parcel bombs of the nineties. Its blending of archival footage and personal home-movie imagery investigates the media politics of contemporary catastrophe culture. Inspired by two Don DeLillo novels, White Noise and Mao II. Shown with HKG

ONE WITH EVERYTHING with artist Daniel Reeves (VHT, 1pm)
Featured artist Daniel Reeves premieres his latest film, a comedy about Buddhism (!) titled One With Everything. Shown with three of Reeves’s beautiful works of video art on the theme of spirituality, Sabda, Mosaic for the Kali Yuga, and Amida.

THE AD AND THE EGO...AND OTHER CULTURE JAMS presented by Mark Hosler of Negativland (REG, 4pm)
"Sonic outlaws" Negativland created the soundtrack and sound design for The Ad and the Ego, the "first comprehensive documentary on the cultural impact of advertising in America" (Neil Postman). Hosler, a founding member of the group, will discuss the film and present several videos of Negativland’s controversial audio collages. The band’s motto: "Copyright Infringement is Your Best Entertainment Value."