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Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Film / Events NoDa Film Festival returns with The Battle of Algiers
Posted By Manoj P Kesavan on Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 10:24 AM
Charlotte isn’t a great place to be if you are a film buff (especially since the takeover of all independent theaters by Regal). Many notable independent films and documentaries never play in town, and we never get to see them unless and until they are released on DVD.
It is in that context that our frequent contributor Jeff Jackson started the Noda Film Festival in early 2006. Starting with African-American Film, in 2 years’ time we were treated to seven exciting and different fares, which became popular far beyond the imagination of the founder. But then it also fell victim to the same affliction that many such non-profit grassroots ventures suffer from in this town — as the attendance kept rising, the funding and volunteer help kept dropping, until finally the series was put on hold.
So it is great news that the festival is returning this weekend after a hiatus of nearly 2 years. The reborn NoDa Film Festival won’t be a “festival” in the conventional sense, but a series made up of a single special film shown every few months. The first one would be this Sunday (April 25), and it will start with a (literal) bang with the legendary and controversial 1966 French war film, The Battle of Algiers — a movie that won three Oscar nominations including the Best Director, pretty rare feat for a foreign language film even now, and extremely unusual then. Banned in France soon after its release, it soon became one of the most influential movies of all time. This realistic recreation of a historic insurgency apparently became a must-see for all rebel/guerilla groups around the world, from the Black Panthers, the IRA and the Baader-Meinhof Group, to the more recent and dangerous ones like some of the Al-Qaeda factions. It also became a valuable lesson for those who fight such insurgencies, as the Pentagon screened it in 2003 in connection to the Iraq war. (Watch the trailer here.)
The new series of Noda Film Festival is done in collaboration with God City — perhaps the most promising and exciting young artists’ collective of this region — and The Light Factory, the premier film and photography institution in town. The festival, however, still seeks and needs your support beyond attendance. Get in touch with them if you can volunteer or help in any other way. It’s in all our interests to keep it going.
Info: “The Battle of Algiers” @ The Neighborhood Theatre, NoDa. Sunday, April 25 at 4:00pm. Cover: $3. More info at www.nodafilmfestival.org.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Visual Art / Events Sculptor James Clark in it for the long haul
Posted By Barbara Schreiber on Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 8:19 AM
This past Friday night, Center of the Earth gallery combined a birthday party and some front-porch-style shooting the breeze with a body of work inspired by the sweep of art history, random news snippets and chance encounters.
This was opening night for A Sculptor’s Life, a 40+ year retrospective of work by 87-year-old artist — and birthday honoree — James Clark, who makes Cubist-inflected wood constructions that are both muscular and sensuous.
A conventional interview with Clark is a challenge, but you can pull up a chair and take notes while he engages in a charming monologue about his methods and the things large and small that inspire him. Born in New York City, Clark received a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. His early work referenced nature, but he was eventually pulled into the then-dominant mode of abstraction. But then “Pollock came along, and I realized all had been said, so I went back to the figure ... I wasn’t exactly making the figure, but I was making natural forms. There was really no point in continuing with abstraction.”
Emotion is thick in this work. Many pieces have innocuous titles, which only heighten the sense of unease. At “Burger King” (1985) depicts what at first looks like a couple standing at a table in a cocktail lounge, but Clark says that it was inspired by the server at a Burger King near his home in Pennsylvania who seemed unaware of her odd, suggestive posture. “Girl Trying on a Beret” (1994) pairs an ordinary gesture with a facial expression that could be interpreted as alarm or resignation.
Many of these constructions have abraded, pitted surfaces and a thick, waxy finish. Some of the wood looks salvaged. But, Clark explains that if something isn’t working, he tears the piece apart to determine what went wrong, then rebuilds it or uses the wood in another work, thus accounting in part for these alluring surfaces. (And speaking of alluring surfaces, make sure you get a 360-degree view of Clark’s figures, because most of them sport fine little posteriors.)
Everyday grief is a thread running through much of Clark’s work; for example, “Broken Heads” was inspired by a Philadelphia Inquirer article about innocent bystanders killed in the inner city in a single year.
Clark lived and worked in New York and Pennsylvania before moving to North Carolina to be closer to family. After several years in Raleigh, he moved to Charlotte two years ago. Despite his brief tenure here, Clark is something of an icon in NoDa. He works in his studio most every day, but when he’s not there you can often find him on his front porch near the Smelly Cat Coffeehouse or walking his dog Milou in the neighborhood.
James Clark: A Sculptor’s Life runs through May 29.
The Vol. 5 of the Pecha Kucha series, which Point 8 Forum organizes, will be this Thursday (April 8) at 7:30 at the Dharma Lounge. The event will feature 10 presentations on a variety of topics ranging from ecology to Brazilian wrestling, as well as music and dance performances. More details @ www.point8.org/pechakucha.
