63.1,2 AUDIO-VISUAL

Audio/Visual For The Essay:

IN THIS ISSUE:

VIDEOS THAT ACCOMPANY THE FOLLOWING

Núria Araüna Baró and David Archibald
Ragged Cinema: Twelve Theses on the Making of Comrades together-apart / Camarades junts-i-a-banda (Araüna Baró and David Archibald, atalonia/Scotland, 2021), with accompanying video

Kiki Loveday and Susan Potter
Commentary: Something Out of Nothing—Making Traffic in Kisses (with accompanying video)

Matilda Mroz and Ivan Cerecina
A Montage of Surviving Images: Deportation footage in Varsovie, quand même… (1954) and Night and Fog (1956), with accompanying video

Varsovie extract: Image X:

Image X Comparison:

Audiovisual coda:

MM Serra
Tales and Visions (video only)

Collaborative Series from : 

MM Serra , Emily Singer, Michelle Borreggine 

Project: Tales & Visions Of Community With MM Serra

Overview

This series digs up the history, memories and values demonstrated by the uncommercialized, underground, and queer filmmaking community with in New York City from 1961 to the present. Through the visions and perspective of MM Serra’s interviews, we highlight the significant impact that this community has had on society and contemporary personal artistic vision

Context & Background 

Celebrating 60 years of The New American Cinema Group , MM Serra brings us a documentary series celebrating and exploring the uncommercialized experimental filmmaking community that deeply impacted the art scene of New York City and paved the way for personal vision and expression in film making and art. Through stories shared by friends, family and the individuals that make up the New American Cinema Group Movement, this series seeks to shed light on the creativity and voices that changed the way society addressed issues such as  sexuality, race, gender, religion, capitalism, branding, marketing and the perspective of normativity.

The history of experimental and queer expression have left their mark without clear correlation to their interconnections, impact on contemporary filmmaking, and American life. These artists were among the first to challenge race and gender censorship publicly, were pivotal to the counterculture movement in New York, and show the immeasurable bounds personal vision as a medium has to offer. 

Artistic Statement

We are exploring and expanding on the history of The New American Cinema Group that is celebrating its 60th anniversary. By sharing the stories of queer and radical underground filmmakers and artists that have left their mark with no recognition yet continue to influence contemporary culture. These visionaries were some of the first to challenge gender and race laws publicly, and lead the counterculture movement. The histories of the connections within this incredibly small community have not been explored and properly acknowledged therefore our documentation will not be lost.  We wish to research, understand and bring forward the history of progress in censorship and gender law within this visionary community. We will share their stories through a series of interviews within the community and family, friends and their archive. Through archival footage of films reserved by the NACG and personal archives we will show and explore the groundbreaking films and mediums that pushed boundaries and challenged the heteronormative narratives in society and art.  

Episode Outline 

Tales and Visions of The Community With MM Serra: To Jonas with Love: 

We find MM Serra at 181 Mott Street - an art gallery in the heart of Soho. The current exhibition : To Jonas, With Love, curated by Chuck Smith, Film Maker of Barbara Rubin and the Exploding New York Underground, Producer and close friend of MM and  Jonas Mekas. Through conversation MM and Chuck share their stories of  Jonas Mekas, the founder of The New American Cinema Group and arguably one of the more prominent/commercialized  experimental filmmakers of the underground film society. He was and is the great connector to the artist who came together to support one another in the underground. Through B Roll of the exhibition and footage from Jonas Mekas’s film excerpts and filmmakers discussed, Barbara Ruben, Marie Menken, MM Serra, Jack Waters, personal footage from friends and family - we get our first crash course in the history to the present of the experimental film community. 

MM Serra, Executive Director
NACG/The Film-Makers Cooperative
475 Park Ave South, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10016
212-267-5665
www.film-makerscoop.com