(Re) Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3 (x3) with Mark Street - Fri. Nov. 8th - 8PM

Oddball Films Media • Nov 3, 2013



Oddball Films welcomes New York filmmaker Mark Street and Uzi Sabah for a unique, multi-sensory program of recontextualizing the moving image, including a performance of (Re) Taking of Pelham 1,2,3 (x3).  This live performance involves the side by side projection of three narrative films of the same title (made in 1974, 1998 and 2009).  During the show, the sound will be mixed from each of the three films so that details are brought to the fore from each of the narratives along with improvisation from Live Musicians.  At times the three films converse in a purely visual way:  subway shots mirror each other to create a visually arresting tableau.  At others the plot points prod and tease each other, allowing taut moments to be refracted in triplicate. The train hijackers seem like uncanny copies of each other, the three heroes trade moments of sang froid  and exasperation.  In addition, Street will be screening Trailer Trash (2009), a skewed take on film detritus: 35mm movie trailers rescued from the trash and affected by hand and digitally, holding up a funhouse mirror to the industry of expectations and Vera Drake Drowning (2012), the trailer for the Mike Leigh film after a year underground, buried in the filmmaker's garden. The vagaries of nature (snow, rain, ice, sun) yield a scrupulous document of the passing of time, with a soundtrack made up of ambient musique concrete and snippets of music sung by women.  And Uruguayan filmmaker Uzi Sabah will be here as well, live projector-mixing his piece Magia Negra/Corazon, the over-lapping images from 3 16mm projectors made up of educational films that create a haunting image of black magic and ritual.
Magia Negra/ Corazon

Date: Friday, November 8th, 2013 at 8:00PM.
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco
Admission: $10.00, Limited Seating, RSVP to: 415-558-8117 or RSVP@oddballfilm.com




(Re) Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3 (x3)
As remakes go, these adaptations of  Morton Freedgood’s novel are similar.  The incident(s) take place on the subway, the hero(oes) are confined to the control room, the villain(s) both sly and vengeful.  However, when compared in real time these thrillers reflect varying sorts of cultural anxieties, and views of the city.  Walter Matthau’s (1974) hero is long suffering and wry in the face of a city covered in graffiti, while Denzel Washington (2009) inhabits a slick and sanitized metropolis.

In the 1974 version the hijackers demand $ 1 million, in 1998 their counterparts want  $ 5 million and by 2009 it’s up to $ 10 million.   Other things are inflated over time, too; technology explodes, surveillance is increased and police presence becomes more martial.

About Mark Street:
Trailer Trash
” … a cartographer of interior landscapes forged from film chemistry, optically printed materials, documentary/diary footage and journal entries.”
LA Filmforum
” Provocative…engaging…Street leaves us with the very real sense that you take your possibilities and limitations with you wherever you go.”
Los Angeles Times
Vera Drake Drowning

Mark Street graduated from Bard College (B.A, 1986) and the San Francisco Art Institute (M.F.A., 1992). He has shown work in the New York Museum of Modern Art Cineprobe series (1991, 1994), at Anthology Film Archives (1993, 2006, 2009), Millennium (1990,1996), and the San Francisco Cinematheque (1986, 1992, 2009). His work has appeared at the Tribeca (5 times), Sundance, Rotterdam, New York, London, San Francisco, New York Underground, Sarajevo, Viennale, Ourense (Spain), Mill Valley, South by Southwest, and other film festivals.

His work ranges from abstract hand-manipulated pieces to work that involves found footage, to feature length improvised narratives. Each film attempts to investigate new terrain, and avoids being confined by a specific look or mood.



About Uzi Sabah:

Sabah debuted as a VJ for the rock band Elefante in 2001, working with both digital (Laptop and software) and analog (8mm, super 8mm, 16mm and slides) systems and began making several found footage music videos structuring existing images to achieve new meanings.  Since 2002, he has been part of the experimental lo-fi pop act “Steve Austin Astronauta” and since 2005 as a part of the audio-visual collage project “Perdedores”. His visual improvisations and environments in the Montevideo underground scene include venues such as the Cinemateca Uruguaya, Sala Zavala Muñiz and Teatro Solis and events such as La Noche de los Museos, urban interventions for Mafia RMX colective, Espacio AMORIR and Engelman–Ost art gallery.