The Wild Triumphs of Martha Colburn (Experimental Animation)

Conversations at the Edge at the Gene Siskel Film Center - Thursday, 6pm
For well over a decade, Martha Colburn has been making short anti-establishment works that are political without being statements. Full of chaos and a punk-rock aesthetic, her films critique modern life with cut-out puppets and found-footage but avoid intellectual elitism. If her imagery didn't come at you so fast, her films might be described as fun. Instead, they're cathartic capsules of directed anger. This program packs 15 films into 75 minutes, offering a good overview of the development of Colburn's practice. In the early LIFT OFF (1993) and EVIL OF DRACULA (1997) female sexuality is at the forefront, as images from magazines are manipulated into sexy astronauts and bloodsuckers. The animation is raw, and the low-fi soundtracks are reminiscent of a monster truck show announcer. Colburn also paints over the images, sometimes adding body parts, and often giving us rotating spirals. More sophisticated jointed puppets populate SPIDERS IN LOVE (2000) and CATS AMORE (2002) as arachnids with human heads and erotic dancers with cat heads seduce their targets: boy spiders and dogs. Lust and objectification are projected onto Colburn's humanoid puppets and their animated audience, celebrating red-hot sexual attraction. Her newer work is more overtly topical, covering plastic surgery (COSMETIC EMERGENCY), the "cowboy" military in Iraq (DESTINY MANIFESTO), and methamphetamine addiction (MYTH LABS). This later work is less busy, displacing rapid-fire guitars with piano, strings, and classical vocals on the soundtrack. There is an elegance in form at times, despite the still crude manner of the puppets' movements. Also screening: WHAT'S ON? (1997), MEET ME IN WICHITA (2006), DON'T KILL THE WEATHERMAN (2007), ONE AND ONE IS LIFE (2009), ELECTRIC LITERATURE (2009), JOIN THE FREEDOM FORCE (2009), TRIUMPH OF THE WILD (2009), and DOLLS VS. DICTATORS (2011). Colburn in person. (1993-2011, approx. 75 min, various formats) JH - Cine-File.info