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FDM/Porter Visiting Artist: Sarah Christman

Mon, Oct 14, 2013, 7:00 pm
Location: 
Communications 150 (Studio C)

"As Above, So Below"
Four Films by Sarah J. Christman

Sponsored by Film & Digital Media, and Porter College

Since 2006, Sarah J. Christman has made "a series of superbly crafted and thoughtful essay films on the zones where humankind manipulates nature in unexpected ways, affecting our memories, daydreams, personal histories, and perceptions of the world" (Adam Hyman, Los Angeles Filmforum).  In films that defy easy categorization, Christman records both routine and remarkable events, revealing new worlds that have been hiding in plain sight.  Christman's work has screened widely at festivals, museums, and mircocinemas such as the Museum of Modern Art, Rotterdam International Film Festival, European Media Art Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, and the Los Angeles Filmforum.  She is an Assistant Professor in the Film Department at Brooklyn College. 

GOWANUS CANAL (16mm, 7 min, 2013)
Just below the surface of one of the most contaminated urban waterways in the United States, microorganisms thrive amidst the toxic waste.  

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (16mm, 50 min, 2012)
For thousands of years, alchemists toiled to synthesize rare substances and universal cures, to manipulate the speed of natural processes.  Today, a woman has her husband's ashes transformed into a memorial diamond.  Precious metals are extracted from obsolete electronics.  What was once the world's largest landfill - now also the final resting place of the World Trade Center's remains - is being converted into a public park.  The film intimately examins various transmutations, both microscopic and massive, that reshape matter and its meanings.  

BROAD CHANNEL (16mm, 14 min, 2010)
Over the course of four seasons, the nuances of everyday activity are examined along one narrow stretch of public shorline in New York City's Jamaica Bay.  

DEAR BILL GATES (16mm, 17 min, 2006)
A simple correspondence evolves into a poetic visual essay exploring the ownership of our visual history and culture.  Combining original and archival film, video and images from the internet, Dear Bill Gates draws unexpected connections among mining, memory, and Microsoft.