Zbigniew Rybcznski's "Media"
Come for a collection of experimental short films by Zbigniew Rybczynski, hot dogs, popcorn, beverages, and Contraband contraband!
$5 suggested donation.
Ambient + Studio, Friday August 15th 7pm
Pre-show at 7pm.
Feature presentation at 8pm.
Zbigniew Rybczynski is a Polish cinematographer, experimental filmmaker and inventor. Having received multiple awards, including MTV video awards and the first Emmy for an HD production, Rybczynski was also the first Polish filmmaker to receive an Oscar for his film "Tango". Aside from being a pioneer in the HD format, Rybczynski holds several patents for Chroma key software and motion control technology. His innovative short films of the 70's and his creative music videos of the 80's laid the groundwork for directors such as Darren Aronfsky, Gaspar Noé, Michel Gondry and many others. Rybczynski's work represents a rare and crucial link in the history of experimental filmmaking.
"MEDIA"
Zbigniew Rybczynski's "Media" is the first volume, in a three volume DVD series, showcasing the work of this internationally respected Polish filmmaker. Volume One covers Mr. Rybczynski's early years, between 1972 and 1978, creating animated films within the Polish studio system.
"Media" consists of ten short films, with durations ranging between 1':35" and 10':27". All were created utilizing a conventional film camera in conjunction with an animation stand. The use of the animation stand permits the filmmaker to subject his exposed film to a wide variety of post-production treatments, including: frame-by-frame time alterations, the spatial arrangement of many different image sources into one frame, colorization processing by the hand-painting of individual frames and by the application of moving mattes of various shapes to frame sequences, pixelization techniques, and image compositing through the use of traveling mattes.
Mr. Rybczynski's humanizing vision for these various treatments, always maintains that they be thoroughly integrated with what he intends to communicate to his audience. Happily, most of these films tend to defy easy, or "conventional" interpretation. Their amazing vitality, robust sense of conceptual invention, wry survival humor and non-conclusive endings all work to inspire a call for many quality sessions of repeated viewing.
Two of Rybczynski's films, in particular, work to dig their way deep into the psyche: "Soup", with it's uneasy surrealistic meditation on domestic angst and "Tango", which suggests a need to transcend the unsatisfying personal routines of our daily lives.
Zbigniew Rybczynski's self-release of this three DVD series, in 2003, was a major event for fans of avant-garde film. Their distribution now, in 2006 - through Microcinema, brings these captivating works to an even wider audience. This is pioneering work, clearly ahead of it's time, and richly deserving of your attention
