What becomes apparent is the humour possible in material interactions and the tender and sometimes melodramatic symbolism of cut flowers. What begins as a reverence for natural beauty ends up pointing towards the abstract expressionism and colour field work of high modernism which, in many cases eschewed the banality of such “natural” beauty. The collaged soundtrack suggests weightier concerns, gently insistent behind the flatness of the utilitarian sounds of ripping tape.

Stephanie Barber (Riverhead NY, 1975). 30+ films since 1990; screenings at National Gallery of Art (Washington), MoMA (New York), IFF Rotterdam, Tate Modern (London), NYFF’s “Projections” and “Views from the Avant-Garde,” among others. Books include Night Moves (Publishing Genius Press, 2013) and ALL THE PEOPLE (Ink Press Productions, 2015). Resident artist at The Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College.

The music, “Blues in B-flat” by Volker Heyn, performed by cellist Anton Lukoszevieze, provides the framework for The Oblique. The title comes from an instruction in the score: “oblique down stroke.” In this film branches of magnolia extend into the empty cavity of the cello, the space where sound resonates.

“No comment as there is nothing or maybe too much to say about it.
Nothing but a short directive for the audience:
Do never sit up when you listen to blues” – Volker Heyn

Jayne Parker (Nottingham, UK 1957). Studies at Mansfield College of Art, Canterbury College of Art and Slade School of Fine Arts. Screenings and exhibitions at Jeonju IFF, Institute of Contemporary Art, Tate Modern and BFI (London), IFF Oberhausen, etc. Recipient of the Henry Moore Foundation 1871 Fellowship (2003). Collaborations with Anton Lukoszevieze, Katharina Wolpe and others. Interpretations of Messiaen, Oehring, Cage, Schumann, Feldman, etc. Fifth appearance at Media City. Lives in London, England.

“Facts are perceptions of surfaces.” – Susan Howe

“You cannot describe a house on fire until the actual event takes place. Perhaps there will be no fire. Either you’ll have to deny the description as a fiction, or burn the house in accordance with the script.” – Dziga Vertov

“You cannot put a fire out;
A thing that can ignite
Can go, itself, without a fan
Upon the slowest night.” – Emily Dickinson

Jonathan Schwartz (New York NY, 1973). Studies at Massachusetts College of Art. 25+ films since 2000; screenings at IFF Rotterdam, EXiS (Seoul), NYFF, etc; recent solo screenings at Austrian Film Museum (Vienna), San Francisco Cinematheque, etc. Fifth appearance at Media City.

“Emulating the butterfly’s patterns / And the repetitive indifference of leaves / Turning pink, color of the rose, so flushed / Orange color, color of trees / Ecstatic mists train us, no feeling / No feeling, only moving beginning / The pane crashed, baby falls / Between loose pelvis onto the sheet / Watches leaves blow wind onto window / Ecstatic poets bend over, watch the thin doctor / He’s in the light, this is a chore or task / Leaves blow the rose upside down up and down the street / Interior blowing toward muscles and thighs / Bending up and down, pictures of people / The butterfly replaces the hat” – Bernadette Mayer

John Price (Raritan Township NJ, 1967). Studies at Concordia University. 50+ films since 1992; screenings at IFF Rotterdam, Pleasure Dome (Toronto), TIFF, Palacio La Moneda (Santiago), etc. Underground Mines and Mobile Frames Commission Artists (2015). Seventh appearance at Media City. Lives in Toronto, Ontario.

A shrine made by many in honour and memory of Lucas Wheeler.

Robert Todd (Boston MA, 1963 – 2018). Studies at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts. 150+ films since 1993; screenings and exhibitions at Harvard Film Archive, “Views from the Avant Garde” at NYFF, Pacific Film Archive (Berkeley), Cinematheque Ontario (Toronto), etc. Fourteenth consecutive appearance at Media City. Greatly missed.

“The very cave you are afraid to enter turns out to be the source of what you’re looking for.” – J. Campbell

“Another lysergic experience of the intimate. The primal pulse of Schedelbauer’s images set the pace of an invisible rhythm, while we travel a path that might be a metaphor for a memory, for the ghostly road of our memories, somewhat linked to the appearance of a second patina of light, apparitions that mix themselves, images within images, a beating heart that tries to infuse life through its communicating vessels. Wishing Well is a fantastic experience of the erotic (the sensory), but it is also interlocked with the idea of commuting layers of significants in order to construct a different creature, a living, breathing being pulsing along the 24fps of cinema.” – José Sarmiento Hinojosa

Sylvia Schedelbauer (Tokyo, Japan 1973). Studies at Berlin University of Arts. 7 films since 2004; screenings and exhibitions at Berlinale, IFF Oberhausen, TIFF, NYFF, Stan Brakhage Symposium (Boulder). Awards include the VG Bildkunst Award (2007), the German Film Critics’ Award (2008). First appearance at Media City. Lives in Berlin, Germany.