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2004 DIGit Event Review
Best in Show Winner ($1000.00 Award)
“Lila: Eight to Thirteen,” is a 56-minute documentary by
Diane Brown that was filmed on the Upper Delaware River
and in Manhattan. It is a poignant, coming-of-age feature
documentary that focuses not only on a young girl’s
maturation process the but also on great parenting and
gender issues.
Best Narrative ($500.00 Award)
Dawn Westlake wrote, produced, co-directed and stars in the
anti war satire, “Thoroughly Modern Mili,” named Best Narrative.
Filming in the “mockumentary style, Westlake, named a
Platinum Filmmaker by Canon USA at DV Expo/West in
December, 2002, explains the goals of her digital film. “Mili is
an anti-hero in an anti-war comedy that pokes fun at the Bush
administration, war-mongering in general and the ‘don’t ask,
don’t tell’ policy of the U.S. military.” She began working
on this project on January 7, 2003, two days after her husband,
CBS News Producer Bruce Rheims was sent to Kuwait City, Kuwait
to report on the impending war with Iraq. He arrived home after
three and a half months in Kuwait and Iraq.
Best Experimental Work ($500.00 Award)
Matt Marello's collection of uniquely crafted shorts, won the
accolade of Best Experimental work the same month he was
honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship. Marello took snippets
of existing moving images, recreated context, removed the
characters and inserted himself in their place.
Best Animation ($500.00 Award)
“Far Away Eyes” won in the animation category. Its creator,
independent animator Mike Fisher, expresses his artistic vision
in animation because, in his words, “This is one medium that
I can afford! My trusty home computers (Dr. Doom, Batman
and Gort) allow me to generate thousands of animation
frames that I could never do by myself unless I hired an
army of artists.” Fisher says, “My animations usually have
an alien, a spaceship or a robot in them and sometimes
all three.”
Best Documentary ($500.00 Award)
“Burning Man: The Floating World,” created by San Franciscan
freelance filmmaker Philip Safarik, is an insider’s look at the
2002 Burning Man Festival, a celebration of alternative art,
community living, and freedom of expression held each
Labor Day weekend in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert.
The documentary is also part of Burning Man’s traveling
“Film Festival in a Box,” presently being screened
throughout the U.S. and Europe.
2004 EVENT REVIEW
Apple Computer
Keynote Address
Those who attended DIGit: Digital Media Exposition from April 23-25, 2004 in Narrowsburg were treated to an array of digitally created experimental, narrative, documentary and animated productions.
Apple Computer’s Michael A. Wong, Professional Video Products Guru presented the Keynote. He spoke about the awesome digital tools that Apple Computer has developed such as OSX, Firewire, Quicktime, iMovie, iDVD, Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro.
On Saturday, April 24, in addition to Mr. Wong’s keynote presentation, there were screenings in the Tusten Theater, and hour-long panel discussions exploring four topics in the evolving field of digital production.
Panel Members
At 11 a.m. “New Tools, New Rules,” focued on the changes that
digital tools have brought to the art world, and commercial video and film
industries. The panel consists of professor and media artist Daria Dorosh
and photographer and digital media artist Liza Phillips, and filmmaker
Diane Brown.
“Sound Design & Production” followed at noon and included panelist
Patricia Lee Stotter who composes music for television and documentary
films. She has received an Emmy Award, Emmy nominations, American Cine
Eagle, Apple Award, ASCAP Popular Awards, and awards from Sundance
and Tribeca Film Festivals. Dan Gaibel, currently web director at the
Language Resource Center at Cornell University will join Stotter. A musician
himself, he oversees audio and video projects for language learning,
geared primarily towards web delivery. He also assists in recording for the
School of Music at Cornell. Rounding out the panel is composer and music
professor David Tcimpidis In addition to concert music, he has written
scores for WABC, CBS Network Television and the New York Theater.
At 3:00 p.m., Pat Carullo, media author, activist, and DVAA Creative
Director, and Zachary Stuart-Pontier, a sophomore in NYU’s film program,
discussed “Authoring: The Art of Convergence.” As a freshmen Stuart-
Pontier was the recipient of NYU's Tony Hawkins Radio Drama Award for
his adaptation of Dr. Seuss' “Butter Battle.” Last semester as a sophomore
Zac's 16mm black and white short film, "The Briefcase” was selected for
NYU's 2003 Sight and Sound Showcase. John Tomlinson, director of the
Parson’s New York Studio Program, added to the discussion. Tomlinson
maintains his studio in the Upper Delaware Valley where he is completing a
project of digitally animated charcoal drawings. His work will be screened
during the event.
Along with Chris Andreola, founder of adcSTUDIO, a Sullivan County design
studio that focuses on web development, Carullo and G.H. Hovagimyan, an
experimentaldigital artist working in a variety of forms completed the
afternoon with a 4:00 p.m. discussion, “Distribution Explosion.” Hovagimyan
was one of the first artists in New York to start working with the Internet in the
early nineties. His work ranges from hypertext works to digital performance
art and installations. His streamed video talk shows, Art Dirt and
Collider explore and document the artists of the digital art scene at
the time circa 1995-2000. This panel will focus on the revolutionary
changes taking place in the distribution of video, music, art and other data.
. . . and on the Arts Center Screens
Lori Anderson-Moseman
Phyllis Bulkin-Lehrer
Marc Carullo
Mike Fisher
Matt Marello
G. H.Hovagimyan
Joey Huertas
Isolde Kille
Jan Philip Kramer
Alysse Stepanian
Michael Trigilio
Dawn Westlake
& PC
For further information about DIGit or other DVAA-sponsored programs or events call 845-252-7576.
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