Monday March 25, 7PM,
FACES
Two works by Stephen Dwoskin
80 minute program
Admission $6
Still from Lost Dreams by Stephen Dwoskin (2003) – © Estate of Stephen Dwoskin
In conjunction with the first major NY retrospective of works by Brooklyn-born filmmaker Stephen Dwoskin, Kissing the Moon at Anthology Film Archives (March 15 – 24) co-organized by Microscope’s own Andrea Monti, we are very pleased to present Faces, a program of two works exploring the depths of the female face. What is concealed in the creases of the skin, in a look, an expression, and how can a face carry on its surface all the memories, hopes, thoughts, emotions of an individual? In Face Anthea, a single, 60 minute close-up of the face of a filmmaker’s friend, the viewer is forced into the prolonged observation of a woman silently looking at the camera as though she were keeping an unspeakable secret. The other featured video, Lost Dreams gathers moments of intimacy spent by the artist with different women in what appears to be before or after sexual intercourse. The work is approached with great disenchantment, and pervaded by the melancholy of the ones who, perhaps, can no longer dream.
Stephen Dwoskin, who moved to London in the 1960s where he remained until his death last summer was influential in both American and European experimental cinema. He suffered from polio since the age of 9 and his struggle increasingly became an element of his highly personal work.
A dvd box collection of works by Dwoskin is available for purchase at the gallery.
For more info check: DWOSKIN DVD BOX
PROGRAM
Lost Dreams
film & video, b/w, sound, 2003, 20 minutes
A patchwork of film snippets and extra footage. Puppy love and young dreams become memories that are once again embraced and, if briefly, poetically honored. Often implicating the viewer in a voyeuristic situation, Dwoskin uses the camera as an extension of the eye – looking and capturing spontaneously as it relates, responds, feels about the other (the model), the eyes being the extension of the ‘mind’. In this film, these staged meetings take place in retrospect. (Rotterdam Film Festival)
Face Anthea
digital video, color, sound, 1990, 60 minutes
Either in its natural state or with its embellishments of makeup, jewels, and hairdos, nothing can restrain the imagination from the most forms of speculation. All the senses are concentrated in this one head: eyes, ears, nose, lips, tongue and the skin which covers all with its network of vibrating nerves. One imagines the senses, the counterpart of our own, ready to respond with all the various moods, suggestions and agreements. Through the eyes alone, when placed in contact with our own, a visual dialogue and interplay is embarked upon. And when the lips, two bodies fitting together in perfect harmony, break into a smile, they invite further exploration. Then, with the engagement of time, this dialogue shifts from speculation to realization. The face transforms from its abstract suggestiveness to the singular projection of seduction. It is no longer anyones face; it is the face of one particular person. S.D.
Full program and a brief introduction to the Stephen Dwoskin retrospective at Anthology Film Archives can be found at www.anthologyfilmarchives.org
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Steve Dwoskin was born in 1939 in Brooklyn, New York City. He contracted polio at the age of 7 and was left disabled. After studying art (under professors de Kooning and Albers), he attended New York University and the Parsons School of Design, and was a regular in Greenwich Village with the likes of Andy Warhol, Allen Ginsberg, and Robert Frank. He discovered experimental cinema alongside Maya Deren and was influenced by the transgressive underground films of Jack Smith and Ron Rice. He later published the book FILM IS… on this genre, in a highly personal and activist style. After working as a photographer and graphic designer, Dwoskin worked as an art director for CBS while at the same time producing his own films using found footage. The first of these, ASLEEP, was awarded a prize at the Venice Biennale. In 1964, he moved to the UK and was the driving force behind an independent cinema movement there (the London Film-Makers’ Cooperative). In the 1970s, he directed feature films which earned him recognition outside the experimental film movement. After working for a time on subjective documentaries on artists such as photographer Bill Brandt or the Ballet Nègre company, his film-making became increasingly introspective as his mobility diminished. Stephen Dwoskin died in July of 2012 from complications of his disease.
Stills from Face Anthea by Stephen Dwoskin (1990) – © Estate of Stephen Dwoskin
Below: Still from Lost Dreams by Stephen Dwoskin (2003) – © Estate of Stephen Dwoskin
