Serge Gregory
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Contact Information*:
Seattle Washington USA |
Position: Board Member Contact Type: Artist |
| Affiliation: Northwest Film Forum | |
| web: http://www.vaskino.com | |
BIO / FILMOGRAPHY
FILMS
COMPILATIONS
SCREENINGS
PRESS
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Bio:
Over the past 12 years I have made 10 short films in several genres—dramatic, documentary and experimental. The films have been exhibited both in the U.S. and abroad in festivals, on television, and in museums, galleries and alternative venues; three of the films have been acquired by archival collections. While many filmmakers produce short films as a stepping stone to longer forms, I embrace the short film as an end in itself—a form that gives me the freedom to put aside the pressures of the marketplace, to develop my craft, to explore different styles and genres of filmmaking, and build a body of work. The subject matter of my films falls into two broad categories: 1) narrative shorts that explore time and memory; and 2) non-narrative shorts that use black and white images, sounds and time to paint cinematic landscapes of Seattle and the Northwest. Among my narrative shorts are “Christmas (2000),” based on a Nabokov short story; “Passion (2002),” a meditation on lost love; and “Tientsin Diaries (2006),” a fictional documentary on Europeans in China. My most recent film “When Herons Dream” (2009) belongs to the category of landscape films that I started to make in 1999 with “Flow,” which was influenced by silent city symphony films such as “Man with a Movie Camera” and “Berlin: Symphony of a City.” In 2002 I attended a workshop given by the great New York landscape filmmaker Peter Hutton that inspired me to make “Foster Island” (2004). The narrative thread in "Foster Island" is thin and allusive. The camera eye takes us through a wetland that is revealed to be under a freeway leading to the city. The city itself is empty, haunted. We descend from the skyscrapers to a stream in the middle of the city, where old photographs float by, images that people have left behind. My intent is to provoke thoughts about what is transient and what is eternal in our city. Andy Goldsworthy has said: "A landscape doesn't have to involve land. Time is a landscape." “When Herons Dream” follows the natural structure of the seasons and the cycle of birth and death. The film abstracts the familiar world of the heron through black and white cinematography (it was shot on reversal film) and a complementary acoustic sound design by Susie Kozawa and Esther Sugai using found objects as well as both original and traditional instruments. My hope is that the viewer imagines that these are the images and sounds that would come to a heron in a dream. December 2009 Filmography/Awards Info: FILMOGRAPHY When Herons Dream, HDCam, B&W, 10:30 minutes (2009) Imagines the perspective of a great blue heron as it moves through the seasons and a Northwest landscape shaped by water. Sound design by Susie Kozawa and Esther Sugai. Tientsin Diaries, DV, B&W, 30 minutes (2006) In the 1930’s Westerners in Tientsin’s European concessions lived an exotic adventure largely insulated from the horrors of China’s civil war and Japanese occupation. 'Tientsin Diaries' is a fictional documentary about the courtship of Misha and Natasha, whose Oriental idyll begins to unravel with the outbreak of WWII. Using actors, family photographs and newsreels, the film recreates the lost world of Russian exiles against the backdrop of the disintegration of pre-revolutionary China. Foster Island, 35mm, B&W, 6:30 minutes (2004) A brief journey through Seattle as a haunted landscape in which the natural world reasserts itself and the only signs of people are the images they have left behind. With an original score by Jeff Greinke. Production was made possible by a grant from the Cultural Development Authority of King County. On "Foster Island": "A montage of beautifully stark black-and-white images, 'Foster Island' summons to mind the Russian film "The Return"....One of the few festival films awake to cinema’s expressive possibilities, 'Foster Island,' in just under seven minutes, is magnificent." N.P. Thompson, Movies into Film Passion, 16mm, B&W, 5:11 minutes (2002). A filmmaker recalls a women he loved years ago and offers a meditation on memory, regret and the creative process. With music by Jeff Greinke and former Sky Cries Mary vocalist Anisa Romero. Premiered at the Little Theatre, Seattle, July 20, 2002. Northwest Film & Video Festival, Portland, Nov. 8, 2002. Independent Exposure, February 2003. On "Passion:" "Memory itself, lost love printed on celluloid," Matt Fontane, The Stranger "Polished, evocative," Brian Miller, Seattle Weekly The Barn 35mm, B&W, 1:30 minutes (2001). A trailer for the Grand Illusion Cinema commissioned by the Northwest Film Forum. In the 1960s in rural Russia, a boy sneaks into a barn where a group of workers is watching a film with no redeeming social value. Regularly plays before features at the Grand Illusion. Acquired by Quentin Tarantino for his personal collection. 1 Reel Film Festival at Bumbershoot, August 31, 2002. Retrospective at "Short Spots: Serge Gregory," April 17, 2001, Seattle Art SAM Museum. Part of “Distinguishing Features,” a screening series of regionally produced films followed by a moderated discussion between the filmmakers and the audience. Produced by Warren Etheredge of The Warren Report. Oma: A Korean Journey DV, color, 33:28 minutes (2000). A documentary about a group of adopted Korean children who tour the country of their birth and meet their foster mothers. “First Person Cinema” series at the Little Theatre, Seattle, September 13-14, 2001. Christmas 16mm, color, 11:40 minutes (2000). Based on a short story by Vladimir Nabokov. Partially funded by a Special Projects Grant from the King County Arts Commission. After burying his son, a father makes a winter visit to the family’s summer home. Premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival, June 5, 2000. On "Christmas:" "An elliptical and observant adaptation," Todd Haynes, director and jurist for 2000 Northwest Film & Video Festival "Outstanding and deeply evocative...perhaps one of the finest adaptations of Nabokov to date," Jamie Hook, The Stranger "Gorgeously filmed, resonant...a Nabokov adaptation you won't be able to take your eyes off," Christopher McQuain, Willamette Weekly Other showings of "Christmas:" Bellevue Art Museum Film & Video Festival, July 28-29, 2000 The Little Theatre, Seattle, July 27-29, 2000 One Reel Film Festival, Seattle, Sept, 3, 2000 Independent Exposure, Seattle, Sept. 29, 2000 Northwest Film & Video Festival, Portland, Nov. 4 & 10, 2000 Seattle Art Museum, April 17, 2001 Library of Congress, December 2001 Flow 16mm, black & white, 6:00 minutes (1999). Acquired by the City of Seattle for its Moving Images 2000 collection. A montage of one morning in the life of Seattle. Premiered at The Little Theatre, April 14, 1999. "Well-paced, well shot, and put together with intelligence," Andy Spletzer, The Stranger. "Highly recommended...poetic look at Seattle on a wet morning," John Hartl, Seattle Times. Other showings of "Flow:" Independent Exposure, Seattle, April 22, Sept. 23, 1999 The Little Theatre, Seattle, June 17-18, 1999 Showbox Theatre, Seattle, July 2, 1999 One Reel Film Festival, Seattle, Sept. 4-5, 1999 Seattle Underground Film Festival, Oct. 15, 1999 Northwest Film & Video Festival, Portland, Nov. 10 & 12, 1999 Best of the Northwest Tour, Alaska, Washington, Idaho and Oregon, January—December, 2000 Satellite Festival, EMP, June 1, 2001 Independent Exposure "Experimental" Program, numerous microcinema venues in North America and Europe, including “Festival de Cinema Independent” (Barcelona, November 1999) “entermediale”(Prague, June 2000), “Crash” (Mexico City, October 2000), “transat video” (Trouville-sur-Mer, September 2000), “La Enana Marron (Madrid, October-November 2001). Seattle Cine-Visions, curated by the Seattle Arts Commission, The Seattle Channel, December 2002. Album 16mm, black & white, 8:30 minutes (1997). A personal documentary of a boy who enters the world of pre-revolutionary Russia through a family photo album. Theatrical run: Grand Illusion Cinema, Seattle, October 17-30, 1997. Distributed nationally by Offline to public access stations including TCI in Seattle. "This wonderful film links past generations and becomes itself a preserved memory." Offline 2009 Claire Short Ireland Residency from Artist Trust When Herons Dream: Judge's Award, 36th Northwest Film & Video Festival Jury's Citation, 29th Black Maria Film & Video Festival This Contact appears in this database if Microcinema International has screened a film directed by the Contact, a film directed by the contact is featured in a DVD distributed by the Blackchair Collection Shop, or featured an organization or activity linked with the Contact. This database is used for commercial as well as informational, non-commercial purposes. It is a historical archive of Microcinema International's activities. Inclusion in this database and archive in no way implies a continuing formal relationship or affiliation with Microcinema International or the Blackchair Label nor an endorsement of its activities by the Contact. Contact details are not displayed in order to protect privacy. If you wish to contact this artist please see their website as listed above or write Microcinema International and we will be happy to forward your e-mail.
Microcinema Interview/Article:
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