EXTREME ARTS/SICK:MELBOURNE
EXTREME ARTS/ SICK: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF BOB FLANAGAN, Supermasochist SUNDAY 9 SEPTEMBER
Session Times: Sidelines: 3.30pm Extreme Arts: 5.30pm Bookings: From the box office at Federation Square or call 03 8663 2583
Experimenta and ACMI Cinemas, Australian Centre for the Moving Image present two dynamic programs of films.
Sidelines is a program of films in which and art and sport collide, sometimes literally! The program includes the Australian premiere of the explosive feature film, Hell on Wheels, which caught the attention of Richard Sowada, ACMI’s Head of Programming at its premiere screening at the North By Northwest Film Festival in Texas, USA.
HELL ON WHEELS – Bob Ray, 90mins, USA, 2007 The forgotten sport of Roller Derby is making more than a comeback – it’s a downright explosion! With roots planted in Russ Meyer aesthetics, all-girl leagues are an international phenomenon. This rocking doc starts by looking at the early days of the Texas Rollergirls league but what the filmmakers capture is something well beyond the teeth and tats of the rink and infinitely harder. As the sniff of cash grows, there’s more double-teaming outside the rink than in and dreams fall apart in the most dramatic of ways.
The second feature film is Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner, Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist from Oscar nominated Kirby Dick.
Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist – Kirby Dick, 90mins, USA, 1997
A breakthrough doc from Oscar nominated Kirby Dick, Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist kicked and screamed its way through the international festival circuit accruing multiple awards including the coveted Sundance Grand Jury Prize. The film paints an engrossing portrait of Bob Flanagan who, at that time, was the world’s oldest known person with Cystic Fibrosis. Rather than be defeated, he turned his condition into an experimental artistic statement. Inspiring, bizarre, riotous, disturbing and outrageous, he film resonates in the most meaningful of ways. An extraordinary film and a most remarkable experiment.
“One of the funniest, most disturbing and poignant explorations of human nature ever made,” Merle Bertrand, Film Threat.
“Wildly original and audacious” “Always brilliant, if sometimes tough to watch, this landmark doc, made with the full collaboration of Flanagan’s widow, deserves to be seen on the big screen,” Emanuel Levy, Variety Magazine.
Extreme Arts and Sidelines are a series of Australian and international shorts curated by experimenta’s Liz Hughes and Emma McRae. Extreme arts: Eighteen Copper Guardians in Shao-Lin Temple and Penetration: The Perceptive, Kuang-Yu Tsui; Rhythm 10, Marina Abramovic; Hut/Hat, Roman Signer; Human Skateboard, PES; Remote Controlled Suspension, Stelarc.
Sidelines: En Juego/In Play, Eugenio Ampudia; A Guide to Recent Architecture: Fountains, Shaun Gladwell; Aqua Gym, Simon Green.
Full Price $13 / Concession $10 NB: The program is restricted to people aged 18+
Experimenta Playground is a highly interactive exhibition that features media artwork from over 40 Australian and international artists, including video installations, interactive artworks, short films and extreme art on screen. The exhibition is on display at the Arts Centre’s BlackBox venue from 25 August to 23 September.
Visit the website for more information on the exhibition and screening
programs, artist and curator talks http://www.experime