8 BEHIND THE WHEEL (Trace Burroughs, 2009)
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Ave. at Second St.
January 5, $6, 6:00
212-505-5181
www.newfilmmakers.com
www.anthologyfilmarchives.org
Abstract impressionist artist, animator, and filmmaker Trace Burroughs wrote, directed, and stars in 8 BEHIND THE WHEEL, which is screening on January 5 at 9:00 as part of the NewFilmmakers Winter Festival 2010 at Anthology Film Archives (January 2-6). Burroughs’s appropriately claustrophobic film gets inside the minds of eight drivers as they make their way through the cold, cruel world, either speaking out loud or having their thoughts broadcast to the audience in voice-over narration. Coming from all walks of life, the drivers talk or think to themselves — some reciting their lines a lot better than others — about pizza, weddings, chocolate, sex, drugs, violence, and other topics, but how real are these thoughts, and will they culminate in action? Burroughs (ENDLESS ORGY FOR THE GODDESS OF PERVERSION) mixes up camera shots with different angles so the visuals do not get too boring, adding a jazzy soundtrack and good use of color, especially in interstitials while going from driver to driver, giving audiences the feeling of being behind the wheel themselves, speeding down a barren highway. Also on the January 5 bill are documentaries about the space program, including Kevin Stirling’s ninety-minute MOON BEAT, along with four shorts.
The second annual NewFilmmakers Winter Festival consists of nightly programs of several shorts paired with at least one feature-length film, either narrative or documentary. On Sunday night, Clara Xing’s STAND UP, set in northern China, follows Arin Yoon’s fifty-minute doc AMERICANISM, about education in South Korea, Lin Hsin-Chin’s short WIND AND THE ROCK, and others. On January 4, the main presentation, Benjamin Pollack’s Twilight Zone-esque DARK ROOM THEATER, anchors an evening that also includes Eric Sazer’s A PORTRAIT OF DISCOMFITURE, John Goras’s GHOST TANK, and Garret Anton Harkawik’s CONTEMPT OF LIFE. On January 6, Thomas Hofbauer’s IN THE COMPANY OF STRANGERS closes out the festival following shorts that take place in the subway and Geoffray Barbier’s PARDON US FOR LIVING BUT THE GRAVEYARD IS FULL, which looks at the career of the Fleshtones.