v4 20: 3rd Annual Wallabout film festival

For my design project yesterday I worked on a workout bench that was also very modern and attractive for small living quarters where it can not be put away. Unfortunately the design ended up looking like a dentist chair.

I was also attending the Pratt Institute 3rd Annual Wallabout film festival hosted by the Pratt Film Dept and the CritViz Dept (if I left anything out I apologize). The Wallabout film festival is a for student films from around the globe. This year the event was held at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) a couple a blocks from my house. There were 16 films shown in 2 segments I was only able to attend the second showing. The 8 films I saw were all excellent and ranged from emotional to whimsical. I decided I would write about the 3 I enjoyed the most in the order they were presented.

Jello & Gunpowder directed by Maxwell Cohn
This was a very cool film and great way to start the 2nd viewing. The film is more of music video of back and white patterns flashed at you as if you were staring through a kaleidoscope at a black and white TV. Still not sure how the director created the patterns and images that he did so I will just except that it was from blowing up jello molds with gun powder.
Here is a link to the film: http://vimeo.com/16579125

Dar kouche baad miayad (the Wind is Blowing on my Street) directed by Saba Riazi
The description of this film in the program is simply "A young girl in Tehran accidentally gets left on the street with no head scarf" but there is so much more to it. This is a world as an American I no so little about except what we are spoon fed by our media. The director masterfully captures the discomfort of this girl having her head and feet exposed in public. For something so foreign to me it was also very real.
Here is a link to the film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whZf79D5mmQ

Oops directed and edited by Chris Beckman
This is very cool the director took YouTube videos of people dropping cameras, throwing cameras and doing activities that create shaky videos and cut them all together in a seamless smooth transition that take you from backyards to oceans and nightclubs to mosh pits.
Here is the link to the film: http://vimeo.com/13788278

Find out more about these films and the Wallabout film festival here: http://wallabout.org/