Notes to a Toon Underground May 5, 2007

Music Meets Movies at the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival in Distinctive Live & Onstage Events.

In this unique program, musicians will unveil world premieres of newly composed scores to historic and contemporary animated shorts. Featuring 15 animated films made between 1912 and 2005 by six different directors, and with 11 musicians providing live accompaniment, it’s safe to file this program under “This Will Never Happen Again.”

The Cameraman’s Revenge
The characters in this melodrama of infidelity—which clearly influenced the Brothers Quay—are all played by actual insects that Starewicz painstakingly manipulated. On his way to work, Mr. Beetle ducks into The Gay Dragonfly, a burlesque club where he meets a hot dragonfly. (Wladyslaw Starewicz, Russia 1912, 13 min.)

Devil’s Canyon
Featuring outrageous voiceover narration, (“Montgomery was drinking famously again . . . Frederick was eating dirt and lying about it”) this short trails after majestic El Caminos, “played” here by mechanical horses on assembly. (Kelly Sears, USA 2005, 7 min.)
The Joy of Sex
Remember those drawings in The Joy of Sex? Now think of them in motion. Blech. (Kelly Sears, USA 2003, 3 min.)
Crucial Crystal
New age + new metal + new music = new you. (Kelly Sears, USA 2004, 4 min.)
Populi
This audacious epic usually is accompanied by the “Mars: Bringer of War” section of Holst's Planets. For this program, Russo has asked the musicians to play something closer to Black Sabbath. (David Russo, USA 2001, 9 min.)
The Tower
A man enters a tower only to be tortured by it. Eventually, a balance of power is struck. (Emily Hubley/Georgia Hubley, USA 1984, 11 min.)
Anchoring this program are nine silent films made between 1974 and 2005 by Jim Trainor, master of elemental, R. Crumb-like psychedelia and morphological evolution. Many of Trainor’s films have screened at SFIFF, and The Fetishist won a 1997 Golden Gate Award. Ranging from beautiful to astonishing to grungy to profoundly simple, Trainor’s 16mm silent films never fail to amaze. Screening: Antrozous; The Bat and the Virgin; Blood; From Microbe to Man; Leafy, Leafy Jungle; Minor Deities; A Net; Torn Up; and Plants.

The musical lineup includes Marc Capelle, Devin Hoff (of Good for Cows), Jason Lytle (of Grandaddy) Ches Smith (of Good for Cows, Xiu Xiu and Ceramic Dog), Jamie Stewart and Caralee McElroy (of Xiu Xiu), Carla Fabrizia (of Sekar Jaya Gamelan), Tommy Guerrero, Monte Vallier and Gadget (of Jet Black Crayon) and avant-garde legend William Winant. These musicians will unveil world premieres of newly composed scores to historic and contemporary animated shorts.

Notes to a Toon Underground, Saturday, May 5, 8:30 pm at the Castro Theatre
Tickets: $20 general/$15 San Francisco Film Society members
Part of the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 26 – May 10)
For tickets, visit www.sffs.org or call 925.866.9559.

The 50th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 26 – May 10) features several special film programs with live musical accompaniment at the historic Castro Theatre. From iconic rocker Jonathan Richman debuting an original score for a 1921 silent Swedish classic to a 13-piece ensemble performing to Guy Maddin’s latest avant-garde feature narrated live by Joan Chen, the International seeks to let audiences experience film in new ways.

Official Website: http://www.sffs.org