[spectre] Microcinema Launches New DVD Label, Catalogue, and Online Store

[Joel S. Bachar]

MICROCINEMA INTERNATIONAL ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF DVD LABEL, DISTRIBUTION
CATALOG, and ONLINE STORE

The Blackchair Label and other independent “micro-labels” to be 
featured in
the Blackchair Collection

San Francisco, CA – December 12, 2003 - Microcinema International is
announcing the launch of its own independent DVD label and distribution
catalog featuring compilations of international short film, video and 
moving
image arts, and underground feature films – all available from a new 
online
DVD store at www.microcinema.com.  The BLACKCHAIR LABEL will draw 
heavily
from the over 1000 international short films and videos that Microcinema
International has presented since 1996 through its flagship screening
series, INDEPENDENT EXPOSURE.  The BLACKCHAIR COLLECTION catalog will
include DVD compilations, feature-films, and individual works, produced 
by
international filmmakers, curators, and “micro-labels.” The BLACKCHAIR 
LABEL
will feature two lines of custom-produced compilations including:

1.	THE BLACKCHAIR SESSIONS – limited edition collections of works 
created by
some of the most preeminent film and video artists from around the 
world.
Each Blackchair Session is curated and designed by the artist(s), making
each title a unique and compelling discovery of the moving image arts.  
The
first Blackchair Session released under the label is SYNESTHETICS – 9 
Short
Films by award-winning Cleveland, Ohio filmmaker and musician, KASUMI.

2.	INDEPENDENT EXPOSURE DVD Compilations and DVD Singles - 
reasonably priced
compilations of Microcinema’s nine-year old INDEPENDENT EXPOSURE 
series, as
well as individual films and videos by international artists packaged as
“DVD Singles.”  The first release under the BLACKCHAIR LABEL will be a
compilation of films and videos for children, and future BLACKCHAIR 
LABEL
compilations will include a compilation of animated works and 
a “Greatest
Hits” collection.  ICARUS OF PITTSBURGH, EVAN MATHER’s and KIRK 
HOSTETTER’s
award-winning documentary about the tragic devotion of a Pittsburgh 
Steelers
fan is the first DVD Single to be released under the Blackchair Label.


The BLACKCHAIR COLLECTION has obtained the worldwide DVD rights to
distribute titles on the OTHER CINEMA DIGITAL label, which recently 
released
its first title, SPECTRES OF THE SPECTRUM by filmmaker and agitprop 
genius,
Craig Baldwin. SPECTRES OF THE SPECTRUM is an energized science-fantasy
allegory on autonomous resistance against the globalization of the
communications industry, and a critique of America's military-industrial
horror show. Other Cinema Digital is a new artist-run enterprise that 
will
be releasing DVD features and compilations from its stable of makers for
wide-scale dissemination to private collectors and cineastes. 
EXPERIMENTS IN
TERROR, Abstract and Experimental Horror is the their latest release, 
and
upcoming Other Cinema Digital releases available from the BLACKCHAIR
COLLECTION will include THE SUBJECT IS SEX, curated by Stephen Parr, and
RAINBOW MAN/JOHN 3:16 by WEATHER UNDERGROUND director, Sam Green.

The BLACKCHAIR COLLECTION also has obtained worldwide DVD distribution
rights to titles on six additional micro-labels including:

1.	“ALL-TIME GREATEST HITS,” a compilation of short films and 
videos on the
PERIPHERAL PRODUCE label from Portland, OR, and featuring works by 
Miranda
July, Matt McCormick, Animal Charm, Sam Green, Bryan Boyce, and others.
2.	“D-TONATE” on the D-Fuse label from the U.K. is a collaboration 
between
filmmakers and musicians such as Scanner and Ken Ishii, who have
reinterpreted 9 films in 5 different ways, enabling random access from 
the
viewer.
3.	 “RELINE” – A Video Artist DVD Compilation on the Reline label 
from San
Francisco features 9 works by video artists employing custom software 
and
modified hardware to create work that focuses on graphic abstractions.
4.	“BRANCHES,” “FACES AGAINST GLASS,” “FUNKY OIL,” and “SOPHIE: 
MOVING
PHOTOGRAPHS” from the O. Ltd. label in the U.K. are described as “moving
image artworks.”
5.	“SPY IN THE HOUSE OF LUDD” on the Berserker Rage label, Ithaca, 
NY, is a
compilation of short works by filmmaker Simon Tarr, including a short 
which
is to be viewed with the included 3D glasses. “RUBICON,” also on Tarr’s
Berserker Rage label, is his first feature film and is described as 
a, “a
stunning, sweeping technohistory of the human race from birth to
obsolescence.”
6.	“URBAN VISIONS,” an urban odyssey experienced through 11 short 
episodes,
and “SIGNALDRIFT – A Day Under the City,” a collaboration between video
artist Brandon Bauer and electronic musician Franz Bucholtz, are both 
on the
LOWAVE label out of Paris.

	 “The production and distribution of DVD titles are the logical 
next steps
for us.” says Patrick Kwiatkowski, Founder and Business Director for
Microcinema International, “After years of screening Independent 
Exposure
around the globe, we now can provide an effective and economic 
distribution
avenue for artists to connect directly to audiences, and vice versa.”

	Joel S. Bachar, Founder and Artistic Director of Microcinema 
International
adds, "We couldn't be more thrilled to finally have this opportunity to
introduce the moving image arts to a global audience through these DVDs,
which are a perfect delivery medium for this type of content."
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About Microcinema International – www.microcinema.com
Microcinema's mission is to curate, exhibit, distribute and promote
innovative international moving image artists whose deeply personal and
culturally relevant works are typically marginalized by the mainstream
entertainment industry.
Microcinema's Independent Exposure is a touring screening program of
independent films, videos, and digital art that has been in existence 
since
1996. Independent Exposure is screened worldwide at various 
microcinemas and
alternative venues and festivals around the world. Microcinema has 
presented
the short film, video and digital works of over 1000 artists in 42 
countries
plus Palestine and Antarctica.

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