Martyrs
blog length’d thoughts on Pascal Laugier’s Martyrs If Helen taught me anything it was this: life is horror. It can be other things too—but in between all those other things; Happy Hour at the Catacombs, Knut Hamsun novels, Twilights Zone 4th of July TV Marathons, feeding my cat, Free Comic Book Days at the Time Warp or the general comfort that comes from the fact that science has already discovered a consistently effective cure for the clap, there is always the horror. Even when you’re not thinking about it, it never goes away. And fuck Pascal Laugier for fucking r...Read more
fresh blood
Hello, hello, hello to the illiterate public. Please allow me to introduce myself: twenty-two years aged, Colorado born and raised, attending CU Boulder, studying film theory and production. I have a focus in avant-garde and experimental art cinema. I will proudly and affectionately offer you new and exciting exposure to the world of cinema. For your personal consumption and enjoyment, hopefully I will expose you to valuable, and interesting cinema both past and present. Cinema is special because it is an optical illusion. The meshing of thousands of stills through spinning shudders and projected light create the illusion of movement upon our co...Read more
The ill Film of Tomas Mankovsky
Despite the CGI machine continuing to plow its way through Hollywood, the art of stop motion film still retains its power to drop jaws. "Sorry I'm Late" is a perfect example of what happens when concept, ingenuity and excecution meet in a project. Curious how it works? Watch the credits at the end of the film or for the real nitty gritty on the evolution of the process, Writer/Director/Animator Tomas Mankovsky reveals all, with screen test footage and descriptions, here, proving monetary limitation can actually lead to innovation and an even more compelling creation. ...Read more
PDX Fever
Greetings Illiterati. Your friendly neighborhood film editor is here blogging from the amazing Portland, OR. (okay, okay, I wrote this blog from Portland but now I am back in amazing Colorado). "But why are you in Portland, Isis?" "Good Question. It is because I just attended the BEST FILM FESTIVAL EVER !" "What film festival was that?" "The PDX Film Festival !" Ok. But Seriously. The Portland Documentary and Experimental Film Festival was hands down one of the greatest experiences I have had. Boulder is home of the late, great Stan Brakhage and has a pretty dense population of experimental film lovers, but the Portland locals gave us a run for ou...Read more
Hate to Love YouTube
The other night I had an uncontrollable urge to show my friend a short film I knew he would love. I hopped on youtube, pulled the film up, and pressed play. The quality was so horrible that I groaned to him that we should turn it off while he reassured me he could tell what was happening and was getting the gist of it. I squirmed, while he watched, and in the end he loved what I had shared and was pumped on the filmmaker. As the film editor here on illiteratemagazine.com it is my job to love on film so much that you, my ever loyal readers, will begin to love on film as much as I do. Because we are not in a classroom and I do not have an infinite reserve of 16mm and 35mm ...Read more
This Is The House Where I Grew Up...
I love Brent Green. You may hate him. There is something wrong with the films he makes, they appear hodgepodged together with nothing more than sticky tape, a camera that can't seem to keep its exposure right, and a crackling microphone - When I first attended a screening of his films half of the audience was shuffling in their chairs, annoyed every time another raspy cracked word fell out of his mouth, while the other half was glued to the screen. His mix of live action, animation, and performance is something that irks some and hypnotizes others. Which type are you? ...Read more
My Spoon Is Too Big!
When I found out Don Hertzfeldt was showing his most recent film at Sundance, I got ready to pack up my (friend's) car, sleep on some couches, and get my interview on. Unfortunately my co-conspirator missed the memo, so instead I am sitting in bed, rewatching Hertzfeldt's side splitting films on youtube, and wishing I was there. Hertzdeldt is absolutely one of the greatest animators of our time. Okay, okay, he is just drawing stick figures, but those stick figures have excellent comedic timing, can be insightful, and get the attention of festival judges across the globe. He still shoots everything on film, almost unheard of for animators nowadays, especially when you are competing w...Read more
filed under: film
tags: isis don hertzfeldt sundance couch surfing disney the animation show mike judge beavis and butthead rejected
So What is Experimental Film Anyway?
In my intro blog I promised to introduce you all to a whole new world of film. Sometimes, that might even mean *cue dramatic music* an experimental film. So I thought I would start off light. This film was introduced to me on the loverly Jeanne Liotta's class blog (watch for a feature interview with her soon!). It is an experimental film making fun of experimental film, honestly- how could you go wrong? Uso Justo by Coleman Miller is the perfect mix between humor, wit, and making fun of oneself to be the perfect film for my very first "real" blog post. Check out Uso Justo here - if you don't (or do) enjoy it, come back and comment your little film critic ass off...maybe you will say somethi...Read more
Welcome to the ILLITERATE Film Blog
Hi. My name is Isis and I love the moving image. I studied experimental film, animation, video, and installation art at the University of Colorado. Unbeknownst to me I was stumbling onto the legacy of Stan Brakhage - the founder of the program- and film for me was never the same. Suddenly there was an entire world beyond the theater, and even beyond narrative structure, that I never knew existed. I feel like I came into myself as an artist (with still much more growth to come) as well as learned to appreciate all different flavors of the moving image. While on a typical Friday night you might catch me at the local megaplex, that is not what this blog is about (okay, maybe it will be sometime...Read more
filed under: film
tags: isis film Stan Brakhage experimental film animation dreams memory love deterioration French