Part of Spring/Summer 1997
& Homoscope…so different, so appealing!
Gay, Short, Experimental curated by Matthias Müller
Saturday, June 7, 7:30 pm sharp
On Friday, June 6th Pleasure Dome presents Europe’s finest experimental filmmaker bringing his multi-award winning shorts to Toronto. The program includes the world premiere of his long awaited new movie Pens&lrquo;¹o Globo; Müller’s haunting lyric about AIDS -The Memo Book; his 50s Hollywood montage flick Home Stories; his homo-erotic reverie of sailors Sleepy Haven; a furitive boy/boy coupling in Scattering Stars; and a boy’s coming-of-age in Alpsee. Eight years in the making, these stunningly produced minatures demonstrate why Müller’s regarded as the most important German filmmaker of his generation.
The following evening Matthias will host a program of the tastiest German gay avant-garde work of the past decade. Included is the North American premiere of Michael Brynntrup’s The Lover Film, fresh from its stunning debut at the Berlin Film Festival, a Greenawayesque cataloguing of his many partners. Also included is Caspar Stracke’s hypnotically surreal Sad Sack, a pair of shorts from Stefan Hayn, the legendary Uli Versum, JÅ¡rg Kronsbein and much, much more. Come and find how different German love can really be.
Notes:
Scattering Stars
The Films of Matthias Müller
Aus der Ferne – The Memo Book, 28 min., 1989
Home Stories, 6 min., 1990
Sleepy Haven, 15 min., 1993
Scattering Stars, 2 min., 1994
Alpsee, 15 min., 1994
Pens&lrquo;¹o Globo, 15 min.,1997
Matthias Müller was born in Bielefeld, Germany in 1961. He studied German Literature and Fine Arts at the Bielefeld University and graduated in 1987. From 1987 on, he studied with Birgit Hein and Gerhard Büttenbender at the Braunschweig School of Art. Matthias MŸller has compleated over a dozen films since 1980. As a filmmaker and experimental film curator MŸller has exhibited extensively throughout Europe and North America and has won numerous awards including the Best Germam Film at the 1997 Oberhausen Film Festival. In 1985, he co-founded the Alte Kinder film co-operative. Since 1984, MŸller has collaborated with Berlin-based composer and musician Dirk Schaefer on virtually all of his films.
Homoscope…
so different, so appealing!
Gay, Short, Experimental
curated by Matthias Müller
Zitrusfrüchte 2, Uli Versum, 6 min., 1985
Fontvella’s Box, Stefan Hayn, 17min., 1992
Sad Sack, Caspar Stracke, 22 min., 1992
Loverfilm, Michael Brynntrup, 22 min., 1996
Mike’s Neuer Kronleuchter, JÅ¡rg Kronsbein, 3 min., 1985
Zitrusfrüchte 2
“Zitrusfrüchte 2 is both an eccentric self-portrait of the artist Uli Versum, who is the protagonist of his own work, and a puzzling, bewildering homage to the exaltation of the acting style and the mannerisms of the early days of cinematography. Versum calls his film a film of found ideas. And most of Versum’s films are dedicated to the art of appropriation.
In Zitrusfrüchte 2, Versum juxtaposes everyday stereotypes and cinema clichŽs with fairy tale motifs (the poisonous apple) creating a bitter-sweet melodrama on rapture, frustration and death by doing so. ” Matthias Müller
Fontvella’s Box
“Fontvella is facing hard times. Not only did her last performance fail completely, moreover her wardrobe is ruined by a biker. Nothing works for her. Transformed by magic into a cow, she follows the man of her dreams and tumbles down while walking in her sleep…”
Stefan Hayn
Sad Sack
“At Coney Island beachside Pascal is encountering the world, that asks him to carry it over the East River. Meanwhile Aaron is sitting at home in his cage, listening to the same old record over and over again. Pascal, who has brought the world with him, returns. As usual, Aaron is angry. They start fighting and all discs get smashed. Suddenly everything becomes senseless and weightless. Pascal just flies away whereas Aaron starts crying out all body liquids. Finally he gets drowned in his self-pity…”
Caspar Stracke
Loverfilm
“An uncontrolled dispersion of information. This film is based upon true occurrences. Any resemblance to individuals, dead or alive, is not only intentional by unavoidable. The viewer is also responsible for images made public. Excerpts from my diary and the relevant books of German law.” Michael Brynntrup
Mike’s Neuer Kronleuchter
“Mike has got a new chandelier – and JÅ¡rg has just purchased a new
Super 8 camera with an automatic zoom. Both try out their precious new toys. The film portraits performance artist Mike Gembus. It was shot only a few weeks before Mike died of AIDS ten years ago. The film became the source for Matthias MŸller’s THE MEMO BOOK later.”
Jšrg Kronsbein/ Matthias Müller
