In the presence of Didier Roth-Bettoni

If there is one word that can apply to Barbara Hammer, it would definitely be pioneer: pioneer in the early 1970s of an avant-garde cinema mostly reserved for men; pioneer of a feminist cinema filming women’s bodies and pioneer of a lesbian cinema affirming the representation of lesbian sexuality; pioneer, in short, of queer culture. All of her work will be built around these dimensions: formal research aimed at creating visual poetry that emanates from all her films, and denunciation of the invisibilization of women and especially of lesbians on the screen and in society. All of this can be found in her Trilogy of Invisible Stories, great feature documentaries shown in this retrospective. Relentless and happy activist, taboo breaker, essential and little-known filmmaker, Barbara Hammer died of cancer last March. DRB

In the presence of Didier Roth-Bettoni

Jarman the poet, Jarman the photographer, Jarman the filmmaker… It was under the impetus of La Becque artist residence and their capricious and fantastic idea to recreate in La Tour-de-Peilz the garden that Derek Jarman grew around the cottage in which he lived before being taken away by AIDS- that this selection of iconic films was made, taking part in a tribute program from spring 2019 to 2020. More focused on his “punk” works, this triptych does not rule out the unique experimentation nor the lyricism. The films will be presented by Didier Roth-Bettoni, journalist, film critic and author of Sebastiane or Saint Jarman, queer and martyr filmmaker, published by Erosonyx in 2013.

This year LUFF sets out to explore the grey and undefined zone of the educational film, pruned twig of the documentary genre, to extract one of the most interesting nuances: where the addition of elements specific to fiction ends up clouding the issue and transforms the product into a hybrid and autonomous entity. Do not expect, however, childish preventions or cheesy melodramas with outdated messages. The films of this selection seem to have literally gone off the rails to join a more ambiguous section, where noble activism stands alongside the most vicious exploitation, while the content draws the form towards the limits of what is acceptable. In the end, a question remains: How far do you have to go to deliver a message?

In the presence og George Fifield

Defined by the press as an" underground director working secretly in a television station." For more than half a century, Fred Barzyk has disrupted the peaceful hum of Boston’s public television station, WGBH-TV, with his innovative ideas. When he wasn’t himself directing atypical works, he used the experimental laboratory of the station, allowing iconoclastic artists to enjoy access to the latest technologies in order to develop a personal approach to the television medium. George Fifield, video art specialist and close friend of the director will introduce the sessions, while cathode-raytube extensions will broadcast an anthology of his works in the hall of the Cinémathèque.

Fred Barzyk in L'OFF:
> The Barzyk avant garde TV lounge

In the presence of Richard Kovitch

In 1970, Penny Slinger and British director Peter Whitehead isolate themselves in the beautiful mansion of Lilford Hall with the intention of directing a surrealist film. The film will never be finished, but the young artist exploits beautiful and gloomy photograms to produce what may be the major work of her career, An Exorcism, a series of ghostly collages with erotic emanations charged with feminine sexuality. The fascinating images filmed at Lilford Hall, their exploitation and Penny Slinger’s atypical life and career are at the centre of Richard Kovitch’s fascinating documentary Penny Slinger: Out of the Shadows. For its part, The Other Side of the Underneath, a dizzying feminist spiral in which Penny Slinger became involved as an actress and head decorator, is the ideal cinematic complement to discover her universe.

In the presence of Rose Pietola, VAFT director

Turku, a medieval Finnish city in the west of Helsinki, has been hosting a festival dedicated to video art since 2016: VAFT. If the event offers some installations scattered throughout the city – and ina sometimes surprising way (the public library serves as a projection screen for a monumental animated loop during the nights of the event) – above all, it has the audacity to extract these works from their original settings in order to offer them a cinema hall framework, imposing an immersive and collective perspective. Here are two programs illustrating the work of film selection that has the particularity of being systematically concocted with the participation of a local artist: What the VAFT?, a colorful international selection, and The Finnish Collection, which brings together a variety of calm and airy Finnish videos.

VAFT website

In the presence of Katherine Bauer

As part of an expanded screening setup featuring Katherine Bauer’s precious work on 16mm films, LUFF dedicates a focus to this artist at the crossroads between cinema and installation. Several films will be presented, including an original piece: as many testimonies of the filmmaker’s oniric cosmos, between exploration of myth and folklore, erotism and nature. This cinerama will articulate itself with a carte blanche to the New York Film-Maker’s Coop of which Katherine is none other but co-president.

More Expanded Cinema with Katherine Bauer:
> Carte blanche to Film-Makers' Coop

In the presence of Katherine Bauer

The Film-Makers’ Coop is now the oldest and largest artist-run organization devoted to the dissemination of moving image art. Founded in 1961 by a group of 22 artists including, among others, Jonas Mekas and Flo Jacobs as the New American Cinema Group, the Film-Makers’ Coop mission is to provide visibility for works of art of all structures and forms from all cultural, gender, ethnic backgrounds. The three double projection pieces presented in this carte blanche incarnate distincts ways in which the double projection dispositif shapes the films content through the expanded structure. KB

Site web

More Expanded Cinema with Katherine Bauer:
> The In-Between Cosmos of Katherine Bauer – Program 1
> The In-Between Cosmos of Katherine Bauer – Program 2