Queensland Film Festival and the IMA present The Rare Event, a free screening of three films that explore the relationship between art and knowledge, theory and lived experience. The films take a subversive, magical and surreal approach to dissecting our understanding of the world.
The screening will be accompanied by a panel discussion exploring how both film and contemporary art draw on the concept of magic in its execution and staging. Panel members include curator Ellie Buttrose, artist Chantal Fraser, and curator of Netherworlds, Amy-Clare McCarthy.
The Rare Event | Mixed | 11am | 18+
Invocation of My Demon Brother | Kenneth Anger 1969 | 12 minutes
Assembled by Kenneth Anger from scraps of his film Lucifer Rising, this short presents strobing scenes of occult ritualism with a soundtrack composed by Mick Jagger. Courtesy of the NFSA
The Rare Event | Ben Rivers & Ben Russell 2018 | 48 minutes
On the surface, The Rare Event is a documentary of a three-day forum, featuring an impressive cast: Albert Serra, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Étienne Balibar, Timothy Morton, and Jean-Luc Nancy, amongst others. However, Rivers and Russell have produced a structural analysis of a philosophical discussion in-the-round, with surreal elements like a wandering ‘green man’, immersive sound, and digital imaging. Courtesy of LUX
L. Cohen | James Benning 2018 | 48 minutes
A 45-minute single take of Oregon farmland capturing a solar eclipse as darkness engulfs the landscape. Relentlessly static imagery is accompanied by the drone of unseen planes, then the scene is bathed shadow as animals begin to howl. “The banal and the breathtaking coexist.”—Erika Balsom. Courtesy of James Benning
