INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION PROGRAM 2

energy fools the magician

• Alamo Drafthouse Downtown, Tuesday, 9:30PM
• Alamo Drafthouse Downton, Sunday, 6:00PM

ULTIMA THULE

USA 11:00 16mm
DIR Janie Geiser
Somewhere in the ionosphere, a lonely airplane sails the azure sea of electrons in this haunted flight to the edge of beyond. As compasses spin helplessly upon the face of the deep, fearless Janie Geiser takes us on an intoxicating ascent to a dazzling who-knows-where above the clouds. -- Spencer Parsons

BITTER

USA 3:30 16mm
DIR Tamara Tracz
"Don't be bitter. Bitter is bad." Or, maybe instead, be aware of your lack of scope and make sure you take that into account when you decide to choose how you will feel. A Brazilian music video of sorts about the connections between interpreting and feeling. -- Sean Gallagher

CAT'S AMORE

THE NETHERLANDS 3:00 16mm
DIR Martha Colburn
When the moon hits your eye like the deconstruction of female sexuality by way of the feline.... Cat's Amore. -- Thomas Beard

YES? OUI? JA?

GERMANY/AUSTRIA 4:00 16mm
DIR Thomas Draschan
Oh yeah, this decadently analog, hand-scratched totem of celluloid bin diving plays with our ideas of femininity, its power and pleasures. This ever-playful music film consistently surprises with its brisk and intelligent edits, gloriously saturated aquatic imagery, electric animation, and kitsch commerciality. -- Cauleen Smith

OUTLINE

U.S.A. 5:30 35mm
DIR Sandra Gibson
Witness the birth of the celluloid universe! A big bang kaleidoscope of primary colors, psychedelic strobing black streaked brush strokes through particulate matter. Stained glass smashed to shards, outlined in black. IT'S FUCKING GORGEOUS AND THE VOID WILL STARE BACK AT YOU IF YOU PEER WITHIN! -- Kyle Henry

JOURS EN FLEURS

U.S.A. 4:30 35mm
DIR Louise Bourque
Menstrual fluids create a fitful terrain of abstract forms. Patterns of texture, transparency, and sound suggest organic cycles of growth and decay. -- Julia Halperin

FAST FILM

AUSTRIA/LUXEMBOURG 14:00 35mm
DIR, WR, ED Virgil Widrich PROD Virgil Widrich, Bady Minck CIN Martin Putz SOUND Frederic Fichefet
Origami outrageously folded from the still and moving images of Hollywood history spring to life with horse chases, run away trains and fighter plane battles in this innovative eye candy import from Virgil Wildrich (maker of the Academy-Award-nominated COPY SHOP). Thrill as the great heroes take on the great villians to save the heroine locked in a heavy, steel box made from the now frightfully malleable film frame. -- Sean Gallagher

CINEPOLIS: LA CAPITAL DEL CINE

MEXICO 22:00 VIDEO
DIR Ximena Cuevas
When aliens arrive in Cinepolis, will they know the difference between the plot of the movie and the pre-show pitch for the snack bar? Will they realize the magic words are not "Klaatu barada nicto," but "Disfruta Coca-cola?" Ximena Cuevas, counterinsurgent, stages an invasion on the invaders who most fear being invaded. We come in peace. You go in pieces. -- Spencer Parsons

PULLED FROM COMPETITION DUE TO POTENTIAL LITIGATION FROM McDONALD'S CORP, WHO HAVE LABELED XIMENA CUEVAS A "TERRORIST."

LIVE TO TELL

CANADA 5:30 VIDEO
DIR Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay
Madonna falls into the gap but still has a tale to tell, courtesy of Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, the Busby Berkeley of solitude. He sees the writing on the wall and fills the bricks with lonely chorines who sing and dance by themselves, unaware that they're all a part of the same gorgeous musical number...and even the same guy. -- Spencer Parsons

THE STAIRWAY AT ST. PAUL'S

UK/NETHERLANDS 8:00 VIDEO
DIR Jeroen Offerman
When confronted with true genius, the rest of us can only wish we had the same idea. Some of us may even convince ourselves that we had that very same idea first, if only we had made the necessary time in our busy and important lives to put that crystalline thought into action. But these are lies we tell ourselves. It's the genius who gets the whole job done. Jeroen Offerman is a fucking genius. -- Jason Cortlund

PAPILLION D'AMOUR

BELGIAN 3:00 VIDEO
DIR Nicolas Provost
Nicolas Provost turns the shards of Rashomon's broken mirror to reflect one another and stares deep into their infinite regress, hallucinating the night-terrors of a butterfly still slumbering in its chrysalis. If romances often exult in the transformative powers of love, it is rare that they express so viscerally how much that change can horrify or hurt. -- Spencer Parsons