Streaming Festival 1^st edition

Special program: SubmarineChannel

Apart from many nice films chosen by The Streaming Festival, we've also compiled a nice little program ourselves. The artists that we've chosen are already represented in the 'sub.sonar' section on SubmarineChannel with another one of their short clips or animations, or they will be. Although this program is very varied, reflecting the eclectic nature of SubmarineChannel, the artists have one thing in common: they’re all madcap creators that have crossed boundaries and explored new territories. We hope that you will enjoy the show. A big thank you goes out to all the artists for participating.

Magic Lantern Deluxe by Doudouboy

Doudouboy's 3d animations evoke a wonderful, enchanting world sparkling with saturated Kodachroma-like colors. A captivating, humming soundscape adds even more charm to the overall atmosphere. It's almost like Doudouboy wants to take us back to when we were kids; to a time when we could be in total awe about a magic lantern (or even the cheap, made-in-China toy version of it). This "lantern" could magically transform even the silliest factory slide images into a fabulous fantasy world to dwell in.

SET-4 by Jan van Nuenen

Set-4 is made up of three short audio and video loops of not so interesting sports matches, taken from Euro Sport. Jan van Nuenen cuts those fragments up in thousands of pieces, creating a almost psychedelic symbiosis between image and sound, kaleidoscope style.

Wüstenspringmaus by Jim Finn

Jim Finn from Chicago makes videos about small animals, communism, love, and the disease-like spread of world capitalism. His house is a kind of MGM lot for experimental animal videos. He uses 16mm film and mini dv, as well as appropriated footage. Jim Finn?s first feature film, the communist love story "Interkosmos", premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival earlier this year. Wustenspringmaus or gerbil, is the prequal.

Wake up and close your eyes by Ryan and Sverre

Ryan and Sverre are a filmmaking duo with a strong focus on innovative styles and stories. They operate from two opposite sides of the globe, Amsterdam and Adelaide. "Wake Up and Close Your Eyes" is a cut-out animation created with printed photos and re-usable adhesives. It's the not so fictitious story about the advent of modern life and how in our culture all things beautiful and pristine are commodified and disneyfied. As Ryan and Sverre show: life on the mountain was quiet and peaceful. But what happened when one day, the forest began to stir?

Baghdad Disco by Arno Coenen & Transformer di Roboter

The collaborative live shows of visual artist Arno Coenen with the Berlin-based duo Transformer di Roboter are not to be missed. The Roboter's eclectic electronic music matches perfectly with Coenen's multi-layered 3d visuals. "Baghdad Disco" is a tongue-in-cheek disco track. For the music video Coenen mixed leaders for news programmes and advertisements with explosions galore with a central role for a golden kalashnikov, a 3d rendition of Saddam Hussein's chilling "toy", confiscated by US soldiers in Iraq. This golden gun has recently gone on show in the UK, where it rapidly became a top tourist attraction.

RIG by Brent Gustafson

Do not adjust your set. This is not a test. RIG is without a doubt the most crazy and experimental work in this program. Gustafson, new media artist and wiz-kid, has a thing for all things video games. With RIG, Gustafson plays three of the most spectacular Japanese scrolling shooters running on three different platforms (DC, PS2, GC) simultaneously through one video connection. Each shooter scrolls on a different axis: Rez on Z, Ikaruga on Y, and Gradius V on X. The overlapping sounds and the distorted video imagery resemble the video feedback experiments in old-school video art.

Billy by Bart Dijkman 

Billy is an animated video that tells the story of the Haggard family's fatal holiday in The Netherlands. The Haggards, an American family, wanted to spend time with their terminally ill mother in a quiet environment. We experience the dramatic turn of events through the eyes of little Billy Haggard. Bittersweet stage sets adorned with flowers form a glaring contrast with the poisonous conclusion of the story. Dijkman is an early adopter of the kind of these kind of pungeant, cynical narrative style and tragic humor that has become quite popular in Internet animation today.

Waterlanders (episodes 5) by M.I. de Heer

Two episodes from a series of seven "Waterlanders" (Waterworks) by the Berlin-based director/animator. In his work, De Heer combines animation and photography or film to create an interesting hybrid. In his stories he often displays a very dark and unsettling sense of humor, bordering on tragedy. But with "Waterlanders" De Heer takes a different narrative approach. These are "best-case scenarios". Or so it seems.

Salomé in Low Land by Christian Zagler  

This is the second film by this young Austrian director. In Salomé in Low Land, Zagler sets out to connect two worlds that don't seem to have a lot in common: the traditional and exalted world of classical opera and the contemporary, popular world of video games (of the 8-bit variety). The story of Salome is a biblical drama turned into a play by Oscar Wilde, then turned into an opera by Richard Strauss. High and low art merge in Low Land.

Tegeltjes by Maurice van der Bij

Almost every country makes some kind of traditional product that has come to represent its national culture. In Holland there's the decorative tile in Delft blue style, sometimes with a saying or some words of wisdom written on it. Animator Maurice van der Bij made this witty 10-second visual treat in which he plays around with this utter symbol of Dutchness.

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