Resfest in Australia for the first time
Author: Michelle Pirovich
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Following the success of a taster program at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) last year, the full RESFEST 2003 program will be screened from Thursday, December 4 - Monday, December 8.
Now in its seventh year, RESFEST 2003 begins in San Francisco each September. Its innovative program screens in Los Angeles, New York, London, Barcelona, and Tokyo and other cities ahead of its Melbourne debut.
RESFEST 2003 showcases the year's best short films, music videos and animation through a mix of screenings and events. Festival producers received over 1,500 short film submissions this year, from which they have created five shorts programs ranging from By Design, showcasing experimental design films, to Off the Map, a program of inventive shorts about geography presented in association with National Geographic.
The Festival also includes two music video programs, as well as a retrospective of the works of visionary director Michel Gondry and a program of rare works from Spike Jonze.
Daft Punk and Leiji Matsumoto's animated musical feature Interstella 5555 and Helen Stickler's skateboarder biography, Stoked, also screen as part of RESFEST 2003. Both films had sell-out screenings at ACMI Cinemas at this year's Melbourne International Film Festival and are back by popular demand.
Jonathan Wells, Festival Director of RESFEST, said: "Our founding vision - of becoming a truly global festival showcasing the best work by both emerging and established creators - is definitely embodied in this year's stellar event."
Program includes:
Short Films
The RESFEST 2003 Shorts Program will showcase over 60 shorts from filmmakers around the world in five shorts programs. Each program includes seven to 20 shorts, including:
RESFEST Shorts #1, featuring the world premiere season of Johan Kramer's The Winner Of Resfest 2003, Virgil Widrich's Fast Film and Jorgen Leth's The Perfect Human: Cartoon
RESFEST Shorts #2, featuring Mark Waites' 72 Faced Liar and A Ninja Pays Half My Rent from Steven K. Tsuchida;
RESFEST Shorts #3, featuring Lionel Bailliu's multi-award-winning Squash and Matt Goldman's The Perpetual Life Of Jim Albers;
By Design featuring work from Tronic, Pleix, MK12 and Airside; and
Off the Map featuring Mino Muto's Footstep and Twenty2Product's Yangshuo.
Music Videos:
Two RESFEST 2003 programs will focus on music videos.
Videos That Rock celebrates directors who translate guitar and vocal energy into some other form and features Pin by Tunde Adebimpe for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs; Lost Cause by Hammer and Tongs for Beck; the brand new House Of Jealous Lovers directed by Shynola for the Rapture and many others.
Cinema Electronica looks at the most dynamic electronic music videos of the past year and will feature Mashin' On The Motorway created by Ben Stokes for DJ Shadow; Funky Squaredance created by Roman Coppola for Phoenix; Nature Is Ancient created by LynnFox for Björk; and much more.
Michel Gondry Retrospective: This retrospective presents leading music video creator Michel Gondry's earliest work, his groundbreaking commercials and a smorgasbord of music video magic, including Gondry's latest for The White Stripes' The Hardest Button to Button.
Spike Jonze Rarities: A special program of rarely or never-before-seen work chosen by Spike Jonze from his archives including the world premiere season of Torrance Rises.
RESFEST 2003 Tickets and session times
Visit the acmi site for session times and ticket sal Tags