<nettime-ann> Courtisane festival 2015

Courtisane Festival

notes on cinema

1 > 5 April 2015, Gent, Belgium

Minard, Sphinx cinema, KASK, Paddenhoek

www.courtisane.be

Cinema, and its world of appearances shimmering in front of our eyes â isnât it meant to sweep us away to another world, where we can dream of being someone different? Perhaps, but we also like to think that there is more to cinema than what meets our eye. What we find before us is not a portal to unknown destinies. The screen remains a surface, yet it is one that allows a process of exchange between what we get to see and what we come to remember: the sounds and voices we hear, the dreams and hopes we foster, the apparitions before us and indeed, the world around us. We all hear, see, feel and âunderstandâ a film in as far as we compose it into our own cinematic poem.

Are not the films in this festival programme, in their various forms and shapes, meant to add up to some unique proposition? Perhaps, but we also like to think there is more to this festival than what we literally see in it. We are always en route towards something that never stops taking shape.

There are, of course, some silhouettes and outlines that can be discerned, and associations that can be made, for example, between the work of Pedro Costa and that of Thom Andersen, who come from different backgrounds but seem to have so much in common; between Andersenâs Los Angeles Plays Itself and the films of the L.A. Rebellion movement which feature in it; between Paul Robesonâs singing voice in Charles Burnettâs Killer of Sheep and his appearance in Oscar Micheauxâs Body and Soul, which is here infused with new life by William Hookerâs drums; between Costaâs Horse Money and the music of Jakob Ullmann, both of whom owe a great deal to Olivier Messiaen. But these are just some of the countless possible connections â or disconnections â that can be made in the context of this programme. To each his or her own resonances, as to each his or her own poem.

So here we are, amongst this collection of poems, in the midst of this chamber of resonances. And as we are all here, perhaps we can ask ourselves: what is it that we can do together?

* Selection 2015

A dialogue between new audiovisual works, older or rediscovered films and videos by artists and filmmakers who work in the expanded field of moving image practice.

With films by Wang Bing, Beatrice Gibson, Tony Conrad, Nam June Paik, Len Lye, Elke MarhÃfer & Mikhail Lylov, SatÅ Makoto, Jon Rafman, Sebastian Buerkner, CÃcile B. Evans, Melanie Bonajo, Joaquim Pinto & Nuno Leonel, Ruben Desiere, Basma Alsharif, John Smith, Sky Hopinka, Mike Stoltz, Mary Helena Clark, Claudrena Harold & Kevin Jerome Everson, Michael Robinson, Jean-Marie Straub, Virgil Vernier, Sebastian Brameshuber, Basim Magdy, Luke Fowler, Lav Diaz, ChloÃ Delanghe, Ute Aurand, Mary JimÃnez, Hollis Frampton, Sarah & Katrien Vanagt, Ernie Gehr, Rebecca Baron and Anouk De Clercq.

* Artist in focus: Pedro Costa

Also featuring films by Paulo Rocha and Georges Rouquier.

* Artist in focus: Thom Andersen

Also featuring films by Alain Resnais, Ernie Gehr, Morgan Fisher, David Brooks, Leighton Pierce and Ed Emshwiller.

* L.A. Rebellion

With films by Larry Clark, Billy Woodberry, Julie Dash, Charles Burnett, Barbara McCullough and Haile Gerima.

* performances (in collaboration with Vooruit)

William Hooker performing with Body and Soul, a film by Oscar Micheaux / John Wiese - Piotr Kurek - Pauwel De Buck / Jakob Ullmann