Its content is experimental, but its success is proven.
“Experiments in Cinema,” UNM professor Bryan Konefsky’s brainchild, returns for its annual showing at the SUB Theater on Friday, bringing a tour de force of film novelty to the state. Konefsky said the festival introduces various perspectives on cinematic experimentation.
“A film is shown if it’s interesting, and if it challenges me in ways that make me rethink, at a very fundamental level, what a movie is, what a movie might be,” he said.
Alex Payne, director of the Southwest Film Center, said Konefsky often chooses films that challenge audiences.
“Bryan chooses films that aren’t necessarily mainstream or even easily viewable in some cases. Or easily digestible or understood,” he said.
Running for its sixth consecutive year, the festival has in the past brought international filmmakers, and it continues to do so.
Konefsky said the festival creates a global community for experimental film. He said global connections will inspire and nurture an upcoming generation of homegrown filmmakers.
Filmmakers will be at the event to answer the young filmmakers’ questions.
“Ours is not a Sundance Festival where you’ve got movie stars and there’s this distance,” he said. “Our filmmakers come here because they want to meet people. They want to engage. They’re not prima donnas.”
Most of Friday’s films are fewer than 10 minutes long.
Payne said the general public can immerse themselves in experimental film by watching short films.
“If you don’t understand something or you don’t get where the director is coming from, you get to the end of that one and start with something new,” he said. “I think it makes it easier to become familiar with the genre.”
Championing small, low-budget films, Konefsky said a film should be only as long as necessary to tell the story. He said 3D movies can be made for $100.
“Imagine if all art cost $1 million to make,” he said. “We would be culturally bankrupt. I’m really interested in no budget, low budget, never mind the term independent. I’m interested in un-dependent cinema.”
UNM student and filmmaker Taylor Lane is the only undergrad with a film in the festival, but other students are involved in the production. His film is composed of 5,000 images taken from Google Earth.
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“Experimental film is all about putting strict limitations on yourself,” he said. “It’s finding a different way to tell the same story.”
Konefsky said today’s independent filmmakers are “traveling
troubadours,” sharing their experiences through experimental cinema.
“Experimental filmmakers, I mean, none of us make any money out of it so the playing field is leveled, and there’s no competition,” he said. “It’s just about, ‘Hey man. What’s going on?’”
Lane said he can’t understate the originality of “Experiments in Cinema.”
“Other festivals are narrative, like movies you would actually watch,” Lane said. “These motherf*****s are breaking all the rules!”
