Reading Response #10

Ray Privett & James Kreul, “A Cinema of Possibilities: Brian Frye Interview”
--How does Frye relate his work (including his film programming) to the following movements / concepts / genres:

Performance (and performance art):
In “Brian Frye Fails to Masturbate” he focuses the film on his performance on stage. The awareness of the performance is of paramount interest to Frye.

Minimalism:
Well in Anatomy of Melancholy he just takes the film and puts his name on it. By using minimalism here he is able to make the viewer become aware of and focus on the actors’ performances.

Fluxus:
He is interested in the post-modernist idea of Fluxus where the experience and creation of the art makes it art.

--How does Frye respond to the question about what he “adds” to films such as Anatomy of Melancholy?
By calling it a movie/film/work of art, it actually becomes a movie/film/work of art.

Scott MacDonald, “Maintenance”
--What are some of the reasons for rental income growth at Canyon Cinema between 1980 and 2003? How did Canyon distinguish itself from the Filmmakers Cooperative and the Museum of Modern Art?
Increased academic and public interest in independent and experimental film. Canyon created magazines/catalogues, with articles and art by/about independent and experimental filmmakers, that came out a few times a year.

--What problems and controversies did video distribution cause for Canyon in the 1990s? To what degree were the sides of the debate related to the age of the filmmakers on each side? Based upon the interview with Dominic Angerame at the end of the chapter, what was his position on the video debate?
Older filmmakers wanted Canyon to solely distribute film. Younger filmmaker’s and artists pushed for video to be incorporated in Canyon because they saw video as a continuation of the American avant-garde. Dominic Angerame posits himself in saying that he thinks the two mediums should be distributed separately.