Come celebrate local filmmaking with our quarterly James River Filmmakers Forum on Saturday, February 25, 8 p.m. at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond. This is a free event — donations encouraged!

In particular, come support these filmmakers:

Todd Raviotta, Untitled, animation photomontage, 6 minutes

Austin Journey (Lynchburg, VA), The Human Condition, 12 minutes

Hannah Sutherland Memories of Aging, Coney Island, sci-fi, 5 minutes

Evelyn Fisher, The Wanderer, experimental, 6 minutes

Joseph Weindl, clip from Antihero, comedy, 20 minutes

Carlton Kotalo, clip from Alien Face Bashers, sci-fi comedy, 10 minutes

The inaugural James River Shorts film festival was a resounding success. A special thanks to guest juror and experimental filmmaker Roger Beebe for making James River Shorts one of the stops on his Fall 2011 ONE to EIGHT REDUX tour.

James River Shorts got underway on Thursday, November 10, with an eclectic program of shorts. Special thanks to Bob Kaputof, Joseph Caldwell, Christopher Harris, Fred Styles & Katherine Barnier, Mark Strandquist and H. Paul Moon for participating in our opening night’s screening. As a bonus, audience members were treated to a special tribute screening of the late George Kuchar‘s classic film, Hold Me While I’m Naked (read his NY Times obituary). We were all dazzled by the brilliant color and condition of the 16mm print provided by Canyon Cinema, one of the principal distribution sources for independent, experimental and avant-garde film today. Thanks to Dominic Angerame and the rest of the Canyon staff!

Our main event was the Friday, Nov. 11 screening of James River Shorts finalists’ films at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. More than 250 people attended a fabulous evening featuring 14 films from around the country.

Congrats to all the filmmakers selected by the James River Shorts jury as finalists. Again, they are:

The Treezilla!, 6 min., Shawn Hambright & Joey Tran (VA)
A Brief Vacation, 10 min., Ben Rinehardt (VA)
Eyeliner, 4 min., Joanna Priestley, (OR)
Mijo (My Son), 9 min. Chithra Jeyaram (MD)
Phosphena, 4 min., Maya Ederlyi (CA)
The Pervert, 4 min., Adam Rosenberg (VA)
Watercolors, 13 min., Ann Deborah Levy (NY)
Faces, 2 min., Duy Nguyen (VA)
The Good River, 18 min., Shannon Lynch (18 mins.) (CA)
Solo Piano NYC, 5 min., Anthony Sherin (NY)
Another Dress, Another Button, 3 min., Lyn Elliot (MO)
The Leaf Woman and the Centaur, 3 min., Jordan Bruner (NY )
Monarda, 8 min., Walter Ungerer  (ME)
Dolls vs. Dictators, 11 min., Martha Colburn (NY)

And the winners were …

1st prize ($600):  Solo Piano NYC by Anthony Sherin (NY)

2nd Prize ($400):  Mijo (My Son) by Chithra Jeyaram (MD)

3rd Prize (tie, $250 each):  Another Dress, Another Button by Lyn Elliot (MO) and Phosphena by Maya Ederlyi (CA)

VA Filmmaker Award (tie, $250 each):  The Treezilla! by Shawn Hambright & Joey Tran and Faces by Duy Nguyen

People’s Choice Award (voted on by the audience): Solo Piano NYC by Anthony Sherin (NY)

We closed out James River Shorts with Roger Beebe’s amazing “expanded cinema” performance of FILMS for ONE to EIGHT PROJECTORS and a beautiful music+film event featuring Jonathan Vassar & The Speckled Bird performing live with films by Matt Flowers and Kevin Gallagher.

Thanks again to all the filmmakers, all of you who came out to watch and experience, and to the Virginia Film Office, TVJerry/Jerry Williams, VMFA, Linden Row Inn and the Visual Arts Center of Richmond for helping make James River Shorts possible.

Come out and support local filmmakers at James River Film Society’s quarterly James River Filmmakers Forum on Thursday, November 17 at 8:00 p.m. at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond. After the screening JRF Forum organizer Jeff Roll will moderate a panel discussion/Q&A with the filmmakers and audience.

The lineup for the November 2011 James River Filmmakers Forum is:

Ken Hopson – Lo-Fi Soundtracks – Music Videos- 6 minutes

Jasce Burrow – Samsara – dark sci-fi – 15 minutes

Kevin Haraldo, Randy West, & Bryce McCormick - Adventures of S-Team - Comic adventure – 9 minutes

Belinda Haikes – Finch/Crow/Cardinal – experimental animation – 6 minutes

John Hendershot - Press Play – experimental animation – 8 minutes

Dr. Shawn Utsey – Until the Wells Run Dry: Medicine and the Exploitation of Black Bodies (excerpt) documentary – 15 minutes

MONO NO AWARE direct filmmaking workshop.

Due to low enrollment and the Richmond Marathon (what were we thinking?!), we’ve decided to cancel and reschedule this and the Super 8/Hand Processing workshop during our 19th James River Film Festival, April 12-18, 2012. Stay tuned!

HAND PAINTING ON FILM “DIRECT FILMMAKING” WORKSHOP @ VisArts
Saturday, Nov. 12, 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Direct Filmmaking Workshop
Instructor : Steve Cossman of MONO NO AWARE

In this workshop students will learn to manipulate the surface of the film using a variety of direct film-making techniques; painting, scratching, collage, and masking in order to create an experimental film on 16mm. This intensive workshop is designed to introduce, explore and master (on some level) the ability to articulate movement through the tactile gesturings of this beautiful cinematic language. The course will meet for 5 hours beginning with a brief history of filmmakers using these methods along with their contemporaries. After instruction students will get their hands dirty almost immediately. The goal is to have each participant create a short, well developed direct film work, that we will screen at the end of the session. Students will walk away with hands on experience of direct filmmaking, a finished film work, the knowledge to continue to work in this practice at home and a list of venues to pursue for exhibition. All materials will be provided for. Workshop limited to 12 participants; will run with 8.

Visit the VisArts Calendar page to register (scroll down page).

hand processed, hand coloured super 8 film strip collage from the Aphids 2008 collaboration with Ensemble Offspring 'Waiting To Turn Into Puzzles'. Images created by Louise Curham as ground for musical notation by composer David Young. Project is copyright Curham and Young 2008.

Due to low enrollment and the Richmond Marathon (what were we thinking?!), we’ve decided to cancel and reschedule this and the Hand Painting/”Direct Filmmaking” Workshop during our 19th James River Film Festival, April 12-18, 2012. Stay tuned!

SUPER 8 MM FILMMAKING & HAND PROCESSING WORKSHOP @ VisArts
SATURDAY, NOV. 12 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. (films processed between 4-6 p.m.).
Instructors : Sean Hanley & Joshua Lewis of MONO NO AWARE

Learn the art and craft of 18 frames per second filmmaking. This will be a hands-on class designed for the beginner that covers the basic aspects of Super-8mm filmmaking: cameras, story, timing (exposure), editing in camera and sound options.   Students will conceive, shoot and edit their own silent one-reel films in one afternoon.  After the shoot we’ll dive straight into hand-processing. Hand processing fosters a particularly intimate understanding of film as a material object and can produce a variety of effects that cannot be achieved by professional lab services. In this part of the workshop, students will be given all of the information necessary to start their own home operation. We will go over key chemical reactions, mix our own chemistry, and each student will take their 50’ roll of film through each stage of the reversal process. All chemicals and equipment will be provided. Participants should wear old clothing.  Finished projects will be presented at the conclusion of the course as part of the festival.  We will also discuss alternatives to projection and how to promote your short film work with a list of S-8 friendly film festivals. Class limited to 12 participants; will run with 8.

Visit the VisArts Calendar page to register (scroll down page).

James River Shorts 2011 wraps with a treat: Live music + film performances courtesy of Jonathan Vassar & The Speckled Bird, including the premiere of the brand new music video (directed by Kevin Gallagher) for their single “Turn to Face the Wind.”  +  Stick around for the James River Shorts after party with music by Jonathan Vassar & The Speckled Bird. Admission FREE. Cash bar courtesy of VisArts.

From Ann Deborah Levy's 16mm film "Watercolors."

James River Shorts 2011 continues with a screening of James River Shorts finalists on Friday, November 11, 6:30 p.m. at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. To purchase advance tickets visit the VMFA’s website.

Congratulations to the filmmakers:

The Treezilla!, 6 min., Shawn Hambright & Joey Tran (VA)
A Brief Vacation, 10 min., Ben Rinehardt (VA)
Eyeliner, 4 min., Joanna Priestley, (OR)
Mijo (My Son), 9 min. Chithra Jeyaram (MD)
Phosphena, 4 min., Maya Ederlyi (CA)
The Pervert, 4 min., Adam Rosenberg (VA)
Watercolors, 13 min., Ann Deborah Levy (NY)

Intermission

Faces, 2 min., Duy Nguyen (VA)
The Good River, 18 min., Shannon Lynch (18 mins.) (CA)
Solo Piano NYC, 5 min., Anthony Sherin (NY)
Another Dress, Another Button, 3 min., Lyn Elliot (MO)
The Leaf Woman and the Centaur, 3 min., Jordan Bruner (NY )
Monarda, 8 min., Walter Ungerer  (ME)
Dolls vs. Dictators, 11 min., Martha Colburn (NY)

Immediately after the screening guest juror and experimental filmmaker Roger Warren Beebe will assist the local jury in the James River Shorts awards presentation — giving out up to $2,000 in cash awards. The audience will have the opportunity to vote for the People’s Choice Award.

To purchase advance tickets visit the VMFA’s website.

From George Kuchar's "Hold Me While I'm Naked."

James River Shorts kicks off Thursday, November 10 at 8:00 p.m. at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond with an eclectic screening that includes:

- 5 very short shorts by VCUarts Kinetic Imaging associate professor and filmmaker, Bob Kaputof. Films include: Birds of Hong Kong, Bob In Front of the Camera, I Visited Italy Once, I’ll Change Someday and A Sea Turtle is Like What.

- A tribute to the life and career of George Kuchar (1942-2011) with a 16mm screening of his 1966 classic, Hold Me While I’m Naked. Ken Kelman had this to say about the film: “A very direct and subtle, very sad and funny look at nothing more or less than sexual frustration and aloneness. In its economy and cogency of imaging, HOLD ME surpasses any of Kuchar’s previous work. The odd blend of Hollywood glamour and drama with all-too-real life creates and inspires counterpoint of unattainable desire against unbearable actuality.”

- A screening of five James River Shorts “films on the bubble” — films that weren’t selected as James River Shorts finalists (which will screen Friday, November 11 at the VMFA) but the jury asked that we program. Films included are:

Boots, 7 min., Joseph Caldwell (VA)
Descending Figures, 3 min., Christopher Harris (FL)
Bluegrass Skyline, 30 min., Fred Styles & Katherine Barnier (VA)
Convention, 5 min., Mark Strandquist (VA)
Time Crunch, 5 min., H. Paul Moon (VA)

Tickets may be purchased in advance via Eventbrite (bottom of this page) or at the door 30 minutes prior to the show.

H.P. Lovecraft‘s 1926 short story, Pickman’s Model, was published in the October 1927 issue of Weird Tales. In 2007, Giovanni Furore adapted it into a short film of the same name. Here’s a teaser for our Oct. 20 Halloween Horror Showcase screening:

Join us for JamesRiverFilm@VisArts Third Thursdays’ Halloween Horror Showcase featuring the short film Pickman’s Model (dir: Giovanni Furore, 30 min., 2007, in Italian with English subtitles) based on H.P. Lovecraft’s short story by the same name, written in 1926 and first published in the October 1927 issue of Weird Tales.

The main feature of the evening is the 1988 cult classic, Pumpkinhead (86 min.), starring Lance Henriksen (Millennium, Near Dark, Aliens) and directed by master visual effects artist Stan Winston, a Richmond native! Actual Pumpkinhead props will be on display, provided by horror film historian Doc Gillespie of Goblin Market in Hollywood and Diabolik.

Participate in our horror trivia contest with DVD prizes from Fangoria magazine, and enjoy free popcorn, Halloween candy and other treats. Cash bar courtesy of VisArts.

Admission is free; however treats (donations) are encouraged!

The evening was curated by Jeff Roll (James River Film Society), Phil Ford (WRIR-97.3 LPFM, Richmond Independent Radio), Bobby Morgan (Geeks of Doom) and Doc Gillespie.