The real and the surreal–the documentary and video art–provide an interesting mix for ”Nuevo Video,” a four-part program of recently produced video to be shown from 7-9 p.m. Friday at The Center For New Television, 11 E. Hubbard St.
Presented by Women In The Director`s Chair, a nonprofit organization of women film- and videomakers, ”Nuevo Video” will premier three new videos produced by organization members, in addition to a video recently screened at The Illinois Film and Video Festival.
Interestingly, two of the videos focus on Central and South American themes. In ”Our Way of Being,” (28 minutes) producer Elisabeth Montgomery documents the history of ”The Circle of Workers,” a Colombian working class credit union founded by an elderly group of ”democratic and Christian”
women. The video was produced in cooperation with a Colombian television company, and has already been shown in Colombia.
”The School” (11 minutes), produced by Julia LeSage, is narrated by Lionel Quintanilla, a young resident of the village of Esteli, Nicaragua. Quintanilla tells of his childhood and schooling under Somoza as LeSage produces images of contemporary Nicaraguan youth.
”Forced Perspectives” (3 minutes), by Annette Barbier, is a short experimental work (the most recent of a series) that uses camera angles and architecture as metaphors for experience. In this video Barbier attempts to relate Carl Jung`s idea that houses and their levels represent layers of consciousness by focusing her camera on a ”time worn and almost empty apartment haunted by its former inhabitants.”
Janice Tanaka`s ”An American Serenade” (6 minutes) is a poetic and intimate experimental piece set to music. Tanaka is a Japanese-American videographer whose video work has been seen at exhibits around the world.
Those who attend ”Nuevo Video” will be encouraged to participate in discussions following the presentation of each video, says Ellen Myers, director of Women In The Director`s Chair. ”The really nice thing about a program like this is that the artists, who will be in attendance, will have an opportunity to get feedback about their work from the audience.”
Tickets for ”Nuevo Video” are $4 for the public and $3 for organization members. For further information call 281-4988.
