DENVER FILM CENTER NOW HOSTING "STUDIO GHIBLI" ANIMATED FILM RETROSPECTIVE!

The Denver Film Center is now in full swing with their Studio Ghibli Film retrospective, one of the greatest gifts to the city ever in the film center's history.  While many are familiar with the Japanese studios most recent popular films such as Ponyo and Spirited Away, a result of their collaboration with Disney, far too few are as familiar with the their most impressive early features, ones that are more inspiring and creative than just about all animated films on the market in recent times.  The great director Hayao Miyazaki is one of the quintessential reasons behind the success of the studio, the majority of films bear not only his directorial signature but his awesome ability to blend adult themes, strong female characters, supreme fantasy as well as reality and a dose of sublime wackiness that is really unparalleled elsewhere.  They are terrific for kids and adults alike, and have been breaking box-office records in Japan since they first appeared decades ago.

Each week the film center is showcasing at least two of the studio's films, from across their history, on the big screen with new 35 mm prints.  The majority of these films are available on DVD, and many ardent fans have only had the opportunity to view them in this format.  But on a large screen they simply transcend all previous limitations.  These are quintessential big-screen films, with artistic production values that really are unique in all of film history and still resonate fully today.

For a full rundown, visit the Denver Film Center website at http://denverfilm.org

And don't delay, this week Miyazaki's debut film "Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind" is playing and absolutely not to be missed.

Saturday, September 22, 2012 - 7:30pm

Plus Gallery to host Alison O'Daniel NIGHT SKY TOUR 2012

Plus Gallery is pleased to host Alison O'Daniel and her latest film project "Night Sky" on Saturday, September 22nd at 7:30pm as part of her US performance tour. "Night Sky" is a 75 minute narrative film that enacts a sensory experience on the bodies of the viewers with live accompaniment and parallel, overlapping stories: two girls - Cleo and Jay - travel through the desert while a group of contestants compete in a dance marathon.  Sound travels between locations through a hula-hoop window hanging unnoticed in the midst of the marathon contestants and simultaneously in the desert air.  Sound bleeds between the locations, and unique screenings with live musical or sign language scores performed by various musicians and sign language interpreters extends the narrative into the exhibition space or cinema.  Redefining sound and images through synesthesia and limiting or heightening the sensory palette offers hearing and deaf audiences a nuanced glimpse of one another's experiences without privileging one or the other.

This performance emphasizes music within the film by Ethan Grederick Greene, Lucky Dragons, and Evelyn Glennie with live sign language accompaniment by Lisa Reynolds.  Balloons will be provided for the Deaf audience spectrum.

"Night Sky" premiered at the Anthology Film Archive in November of 2011.  The current tour includes screenings at USA Lounge, the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque, NM, the Cleveland Museum of Art, MOCA Detroit, the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, and at NYU.  Plus Gallery is thrilled to be presenting O'Daniel's work as part of our experimental forum for the arts.

Alison O'Daniel works across disciplines, combining sculpture, sound-baths, painting, sports/dance teams, and films with live music or sign language accompaniment. Installations, films, and instances of the performative create a biographical imaginary that shifts bodily comprehension toward a physical and tactile language of perception. Her films enact a sensory experience on the body of the viewer through a combination of subtle and pronounced transformations of narrative filmmaking and the cinematic experience. Characters willingness to encounter the unknown becomes a model for the viewer's own rootless journey into language, relationship and environment.

For a preview of the film, visit https://vimeo.com/12865622