At the Squeaky Wheel is a screening of films titled Between Pop Culture and the Avant-Garde: Little-Seen Films by Women from the Collection of Canyon Cinema followed by a discussion with Tess Takahashi.

Toronto based scholar and curator Tess Takahashi will be coming through Buffalo to present a guest-curated program Between Pop Culture and the Avant-Garde: Little-Seen Films by Women from the Collection of Canyon Cinema. Ranging from 1970—1989, the films display unexpected images by women that comment on how we present and perform ourselves, both in private and in public, in relation to oneself and to pop culture. The screening features works by Coni Beeson, Dana Plays, Alice Anne Parker Severson, Elizabeth Sher, Greta Snider, and Jean Sousa. Takahashi will lead a Q&A after the screening.

The films to be screened are:

• River Body (Alice Anne Parker Severson, 1970, sound, 7 min.): "A continuous dissolve of 87 male and female nudes. — Canyon Cinema Catalog"
• Women (Coni Beeson, 1974, sound, 13 min.): "'Of the many films Coni Beeson made for the National Sex and Drug Forum in the 1970s, Women is the most overtly critical of mainstream media representations of women. Canyon's Catalog describes it as 'a sardonic film about the clichés laid on women.' Her films often come with the following suggestions for use: 'with persons as young as high school age, in a variety of groups seeking to deal with feelings and values about sexuality. Its richness of imagery makes it useable alone, or in combination with other material." — Tess Takahashi"
• Grain Graphics (Dana Plays, 1978, sound, 6 min.): "'This short structural film feels like a playful dance that comments on the multiplicity of screens in our environment.' — Tess Takahashi"
• New Moon (Donna Cameron, 1987, silent, 11 min.): "'Second in a series of paper films made from strips of color Xerography. In these films, the filmmaker is concerned with the film as an object or motion picture 'soft sculpture' constructed of 16mm-sized strips. The paper (or emulsion) could be a kind of skin complete with hair and pores, half-tone dots, paper fiber — through which the world is viewed.' — Canyon Cinema Catalog"
• Swish (Jean Sousa, 1982, silent, 5 min.): "'Swish is a self-portrait taken at very close range.' — Tess Takahashi"
• Too Young (Elizabeth Sher, 1982, sound, 3 min.): "'To me, this film looks as if it was made by George Kuchar as a 13 year old girl making a music video in 1982.' — Tess Takahashi"
• Portland (Greta Snider, 1996, sound, 12 min.): "'The film is a documentary road movie about travel, the fallibility of photographs, and the merging of memory and imagination. (…) Portland reconstitutes the trip in a humorous mixture of footage from the journey (taken with a run-down Super 8 camera), interpreted re-enactments, and interviews with the involved parties. The result is a spirited look at independent women and fearless travelers.' — Canyon Cinema Catalog"

[source: Squeaky Wheel website, 2016-Nov-7]