FILM
Gen Art is a nonprofit that likes to party. Funny, then, that its film fests have a rep for showcasing cerebral documentaries likeHands on a Hard Body, about a contest to win a pickup truck.
This year's show, screening in New York and online at iFuse.com, features a series of microshorts that are smarter than the one-liners in an oxygen bar. David Birdsell's quirky vignettePhil Touches Flo uses faux-Morricone theme music, a cart-before-the-horse narrative, and a touching close-up of an ugly dog's face that trumps Tarantino. Matthew Konicek'sThings to Remember About Daumier is a blur of vintage grade-school filmstrip images that leave the viewer with a vague feeling of intellectual nausea. Yet Daumier is more than a lovely bit of abstraction: Invoking the 19th-century French satirical artist, the short brings Daumier's social outrage into the McLuhan age, suggesting that at times organized education is nothing more than a parade of crude cartoons and fuzzy lies.
Gen Art Film Festival: April 26 to May 2, New York. Gen Art:www.genart.org. iFuse:www.ifuse.com.
STREET CRED
Dark Passion
I Am Not Just a Camera
Culture Clouds
VCs Unveiled
French in Action
Watch My Shorts
The Blast Shall Come First
ReadMe
Music
Wired at Heart
The Wink-Wink Factoid Conspiracy
Show Your Faces at the Door
Lost and Found
Just Outta Beta
Consuming Images
Go, Speed Racer, Go
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