Joseph Bernard

The 25th anniversary celebration of Media City Film Festival will include a truly international virtual screening of Whale Watch (1).

 

Image: Whale Watch (1)  (1981)

 

Copy supplied by Media City Film Festival is as follows…

Media City Film Festival (MCFF), Windsor-Detroit’s annual international festival for film and digital art, announces the full scope of its 25th anniversary virtual edition: February 8–March 1, 2022.

In an act of global solidarity, all 70+ films featuring some of cinema’s most ardent pioneers are available to view for free in full open access globally for the duration of this amazing virtual event: mediacityfilmfestival.com

MCFF 2022 features an eclectic selection of films streaming across three sections: International, Spotlight and Regional. Audiences will gain unfettered access to incredible new works, world premieres, restorations, amateur films, and historical masterpieces from legendary artists and filmmakers including Tracey Moffatt, Sergei Parajanov, Sky Hopinka, Ulysses Jenkins, Cecilia Vicuña, Carolee Schneemann, Tony Cokes, Ute Aurand, Karpo Godina, and dozens more. Highlights hail from Windsor-Detroit, Colombia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Armenia, Brazil, Sri Lanka, across Canada and around the world. 

Whale Watch (1) is available for viewing in the Regional category. For the duration of the festival, the film can be viewed here. Supporting material regarding my entry is available by scrolling downward beneath the film.

My notes on this and its companion title are as follows;

Shot weeks apart, I made two films of personal sightings while on public outings, in the company of the great mammals off Cape Cod. Like icebergs, very little of their bulk, beyond shimmering back and a rearmost dorsal fin is visible as they glide the surface. These forty-ton humpbacks power dive with a grace and purpose that had me conjuring their descending views; diminishing jagged streaks of light into plummeting depths of darkness.

  

Image: Whale Watch (1)  (1981)

Two series of films — Endearments and Intrigues receive Iberian audience

My fifth screening in Spain (September 25, 2018) will be a double program of 12 films. The idea of paired projections (Cineinfinito #67 & #68) was conceived by Filmoteca’s director, Felix Garcia, and will be shown at Zumzeig Cine Cooperativa in the center of Barcelona.

The following layout of text and images was originally produced on Mr. Garcia’s website, Cineinfinito, and later republished by Marco Ortega on his site, Experimental Cinema. I’m sincerely grateful for the continuing support of these distant friends.

 

Cineinfinito #67: Joseph Bernard (II)

CINEINFINITO / Zumzeig Cine Cooperativa

Martes 25 de Septiembre de 2018, 21:30h. Zumzeig Cine Cooperativa

Carrer de Béjar, 53

08014 Barcelona

 

 

Programa: (películas seleccionadas por el propio autor)

Endearments:

Icon (1978) Super 8 / sil / 5:32

Fugue (1981) Super 8 / sil / 2:25

Semblance: Frampton Brakhage Relation (1981) Super 8 / sil / 5:21

The Detroit Films (Reel #3) (1985) Super 8 / sil / 4:13

Common Air (1984) Super 8 / sil / 12:27

 

Formato de proyección: HD 2K (Transfers digitales supervisados por el autor)

(Agradecimiento especial a Joseph Bernard)

El artista visual Joseph Bernard nació en Port Chester (Nueva York), y se formó en las Escuelas de Bellas Artes de la Universidad de Hartford y del Art Institute de Chicago, donde estudió con el cineasta independiente Stan Brakhage.

Bernard ha dado clases de bellas artes durante 35 años, con el puesto de Profesor emérito, en el College for Creative Studies de Detroit. La sensibilidad hacia el collage experimental es evidente en sus pinturas, películas y fotografías. Entre sus influencias se encuentran la poesía y la música contemporáneas, junto con sus viajes a Provincetown, sur de California, Austin, Nashville y otros lugares.

Sus películas se han proyectado en el Funnel Theatre de Toronto, Institute of Arts de Dretoit, Chicago Filmakers, Universidad de Rutgers, Cinematheque de San Francisco, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Indiana University Cinema, Third Man Records tanto en Nashville como e Detroit y en el MOMA de Nueva York, etc.

Un proyecto en marcha es la restauración y archivo de las más de 100 películas mudas en Super 8 y fotografías que hizo entre mediados de los 70 y mediados de los 80. Joseph Bernard vive con su mujer, Maria Luisa Belmonte, en Troy, Michigan.

Visual artist, Joseph Bernard was born in Port Chester, NY, educated at the University of Hartford Art School and School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he studied with independent filmmaker, Stan Brakhage.

For 35 years, Professor Emeritus, Bernard taught fine arts at Detroit’s College for Creative Studies. Experimental collage sensibilites are evident in his paintings, films and photographs. Contemporary poetry and music remain as influences. His work is informed by travels to Provincetown, Southern California, Austin, Nashville and other locales.

His films have been exhibited at Toronto’s Funnel Theatre, Detroit Institute of Arts, Chicago Filmmakers, Rutgers University, San Francisco Cinematheque, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Dartmouth College, Indiana University Cinema, Third Man Records in both Nashville & Detroit and NYC’s Museum of Modern Art, among others.

An ongoing project is the restoration and archiving of his over 100 Super-8 silent films and prints made between the mid-1970’s to mid-80’s. Joseph Bernard and wife, Maria Luisa Belmonte, live in Troy, Michigan. 

***

“Con una mezcla de intuición y amor ciego por el color y la luz empezó una década en la que estuve sumergido obsesivamente en la producción de más de 100 películas mudas caseras en Super 8… No son películas basadas en un guion o en obras de teatro, no cuentan historias y, de hecho, carecen (excepto una) deliberadamente de sonido… son solo algo pura y enfáticamente visual … el movimiento de la luz y el color.” – Joseph Bernard

“Combining intuition with a blind love of color and light, I began a decade obsessively immersed in producing over 100 short, silent, super-8 home movies…These films are not based on the page or the theatre, they don’t tell a story and, in fact, are (all but one) intentionally without sound… just something purely, emphatically visual… the movement of light and color.” – Joseph Bernard

  

Icon (Icono, 1978)

Además de múltiples tomas de encuadre único, ICON, una película temprana, me permitió la utilización abstracta de letras troqueladas, y la idea de llevar al cine mi sensibilidad y herramientas de pintor. Super 8, muda, experimental.

Beyond much single frame shooting, ICON, an early film, allowed for the use of cropped stencil letters as abstractions and the idea of bringing my painting sensibility and tools to film. Super 8, silent, experimental.

 

Fugue (Fuga, 1981)

Bach implícito; reflejos registrados sin montaje, ligeros, aéreos, un poco desenfocados, desde la ventanilla trasera de un coche que vuelve de la playa en un día perfecto de verano. Super 8, muda, no narrativa.

Bach implied; splice-free, light, airy, soft-focus reflections out the back window of a car returning from the beach on a perfect summer’s day. Super 8, silent, non-narritive.

 

Semblance: Frampton Brakhage Relation (Semblanza: la relación de Frampton y Brakhage, 1981)

Una analogía simplista de obvias disparidades entre estos dos grandes maestros, confeccionada en la playa de Provincetown. Sin faltas de respeto, con el espíritu de un koan.

A simplistic analogy of obvious disparities between these two masters, concocted on the beach in Provincetown. No disrespect, just koaning around.

  

The Detroit Films (Reel #3) (Las películas de Detroit- Rollo 3, 1985)

Una “esencia del lugar” algo desenfocada y por tanto muy silenciosa, rodada en Provincetown (CapeCod/ Massachusetts), como para ser recordada más tarde en Detroit.

A soft focus and so very silent “essence of place”, shot in Provincetown (CapeCod/ Massachusetts) so as to be later remembered in Detroit.

 

Common Air (Aire común, 1984)

Esta empezó con la idea de encerrar la “nada” en una película, tal vez solo pasajes indescriptibles, evanescentes. Pero parecía como si para afianzar esto tuviera que partir de lo contrario –imágenes de cosas, de las cosas que me rodean. Se transformó en una película sobre la casa, un drama sin historia que parece ahora suspendido en el tiempo, un fragmento de memoria/vida dispersa. Aprecio mucho su profundo sentimiento por los restos del pasado.

This began with the idea of committing ‘nothing’ to film, maybe just unnamable, vaporous passages. But to establish that, it seemed I’d have to counter with the opposite – – images of things and those around me. It grew into a movie of the home, a story-less drama that now feels suspended in time, a piece of memory/ life dispersed. I think much of its deep affection for the past remains.

 

 

Cineinfinito #68: Joseph Bernard (III)

CINEINFINITO / Zumzeig Cine Cooperativa

Martes 25 de Septiembre de 2018, 21:30h. Zumzeig Cine Cooperativa

Carrer de Béjar, 53

08014 Barcelona

 

 

 

Programa:

Intrigues Series:

Intrigues (I) (1981 ) Super 8 / sil / 3:44

Intrigues (II) (1981) Super 8 / sil / 4:25

Intrigues (III) (1981) Super 8 / sil / 5:47

Intrigues (IV) (1981) Super 8 / sil / 2:03

Intrigues (V) (1981) Super 8 / sil / 2:53

Intrigues (VI) (1981) Super 8 / sil / 4:21

Intrigues (VII) (1981) Super 8 / sil / 12:22

 

Formato de proyección: HD 2K (Transfers digitales supervisados por el autor)

(Agradecimiento especial a Joseph Bernard)

El artista visual Joseph Bernard nació en Port Chester (Nueva York), y se formó en las Escuelas de Bellas Artes de la Universidad de Hartford y del Art Institute de Chicago, donde estudió con el cineasta independiente Stan Brakhage.

Bernard ha dado clases de bellas artes durante 35 años, con el puesto de Profesor emérito, en el College for Creative Studies de Detroit. La sensibilidad hacia el collage experimental es evidente en sus pinturas, películas y fotografías. Entre sus influencias se encuentran la poesía y la música contemporáneas, junto con sus viajes a Provincetown, sur de California, Austin, Nashville y otros lugares.

Sus películas se han proyectado en el Funnel Theatre de Toronto, Institute of Arts de Dretoit, Chicago Filmakers, Universidad de Rutgers, Cinematheque de San Francisco, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Indiana University Cinema, Third Man Records tanto en Nashville como e Detroit y en el MOMA de Nueva York, etc.

Un proyecto en marcha es la restauración y archivo de las más de 100 películas mudas en Super 8 y fotografías que hizo entre mediados de los 70 y mediados de los 80. Joseph Bernard vive con su mujer, Maria Luisa Belmonte, en Troy, Michigan.

Visual artist, Joseph Bernard was born in Port Chester, NY, educated at the University of Hartford Art School and School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he studied with independent filmmaker, Stan Brakhage.

For 35 years, Professor Emeritus, Bernard taught fine arts at Detroit’s College for Creative Studies. Experimental collage sensibilites are evident in his paintings, films and photographs. Contemporary poetry and music remain as influences. His work is informed by travels to Provincetown, Southern California, Austin, Nashville and other locales.

His films have been exhibited at Toronto’s Funnel Theatre, Detroit Institute of Arts, Chicago Filmmakers, Rutgers University, San Francisco Cinematheque, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Dartmouth College, Indiana University Cinema, Third Man Records in both Nashville & Detroit and NYC’s Museum of Modern Art, among others.

An ongoing project is the restoration and archiving of his over 100 Super-8 silent films and prints made between the mid-1970’s to mid-80’s. Joseph Bernard and wife, Maria Luisa Belmonte, live in Troy, Michigan.

***

“Con una mezcla de intuición y amor ciego por el color y la luz empezó una década en la que estuve sumergido obsesivamente en la producción de más de 100 películas mudas caseras en Super 8… No son películas basadas en un guion o en obras de teatro, no cuentan historias y, de hecho, carecen (excepto una) deliberadamente de sonido… son solo algo pura y enfáticamente visual … el movimiento de la luz y el color.” – Joseph Bernard

“Combining intuition with a blind love of color and light, I began a decade obsessively immersed in producing over 100 short, silent, super-8 home movies…These films are not based on the page or the theatre, they don’t tell a story and, in fact, are (all but one) intentionally without sound… just something purely, emphatically visual… the movement of light and color.” – Joseph Bernard

 

Intrigues I-VII (Intrigas, 1981)

La obertura de la serie de siete “Intrigas” está inspirada por las observaciones sobre la palabra “intriga” de Delmore Schwartz. Estas siete obras mías se centran en aspectos de la práctica fílmica.

The opening in a series of seven “Intrigues”, inspired by Delmore Schwartz’s observations on the word. These seven titles of mine center on aspects of filmmaking. 

 

 

Traducción de los textos: Javier Oliva

 

  

Solo at Rubicon Cinema

4th Season Opening at the Rubicon Cinema in Akron, OH - - My thanks to Tim Peyton & Gedas Gasparavicius

Film still from "Crematorium: A Collaborative Self-Portrait", 1979

SEASON 4, EVENT 1

For a Season 4 opener, Rubicon Cinema is proud to present acclaimed filmmaker and visual artist JOSEPH BERNARD. The filmmaker will be present at the screening, introduce his work, and hold a Q&A.

Don't miss this unique opportunity!

When: Saturday, September 8, 8 pm

Where: Rubicon Cinema at the Blue Sky Studio, 943 Dopler Street, Akron OH 44303

 

JOSEPH BERNARD

Born in Port Chester, NY, Bernard was educated at the University of Hartford Art School and School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he studied with Stan Brakhage. 

Now Professor Emeritus, Bernard taught fine arts at Detroit’s College for Creative Studies for 35 years. Experimental collage sensibilities are evident in his paintings, films and photographs. Contemporary poetry and music remain strong influences. His work is informed by travels to Provincetown, Southern California, Austin, Nashville and other locales. 

His films have been exhibited at Toronto’s Funnel Theatre, Detroit Institute of Arts, Chicago Filmmakers, Rutgers University, San Francisco Cinematheque, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Dartmouth College, Indiana University Cinema, Third Man Records in both Nashville & Detroit and NYC’s Museum of Modern Art, among others.

 

PROGRAM (prepared by J.B. for Rubicon Cinema)

Icon, digital transfer from Super 8 film, silent, color, 1978, 05:32 min

Exterior - Detroit snow storm; interior - intimate details of stencil letters through much single-frame shooting. Together they transition Bernard's painting tools and sensibilities into this early abstract film.

Crematorium: A Collaborative Self-Portrait, digital transfer from Super 8 film, silent, color, 1979, 08:16 min

Shot at a Bohemian crematorium outside Chicago, this ‘self-viewing at work’ film makes metaphoric reference to both the location and process of cremation as a ‘recording’ of the deed itself. 

Eye Reels, digital transfer from Super 8 film, silent, color, 1980, 16:17 min

An entangled meld of Celtic-flavored abstractions, home movies and an Irish dance fest, edited throughout with those very moves in mind. Fast shots and dense patterning echo those found in embroidery, lace, stone and metal work. They grow from the same language – in both calligraphy and sound. The tapestry-like interweave becomes the very fabric of this film.

Semblance: Frampton Brakhage Relation, digital transfer from Super 8 film, silent, color, 1981, 05:21 min

A simplistic analogy of obvious disparities of these two masters that the filmmaker concocted on the beach. A wonderful koan appears to join at mid-point.

Her Moves, digital transfer from Super 8 film, silent, color, b&w, 1985, 19:35 min

Interwoven footage of 12 female characters engaged in specific, physical activities – each filmed separately, throughout numerous east coast and Detroit locations, then edited into a collective dance of sorts. 

Full Circle (It’s Always Been Around), digital transfer from Super 8 film, silent, color, 1994, 14:56 min

Based on the title and a premise from Bernard's undergraduate thesis, this film is built on the experience of the first viewing of Brakhage’s Mothlight and the impact it had on the filmmaker. Tagged at the end with "4 SB," this film is an expression of sincere affection and regard. 

 

“To be an artist is not a matter of making paintings or objects at all. What we are dealing with is our state of consciousness and the shape of our perception.”

– Robert Irwin

J.B. Q&A with audience and Rubicon Cinema Director, Tim Peyton. 

 

Bring your own beer, wine or snack.

Admission is free but we ask you to consider a $5-$10 donation.

Rubicon Cinema contact: rubiconakron@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rubiconakron

 

 

 The release and world premier screening of PRISMATIC MUSIC  The Super 8 Films of Joseph Bernard at CCS.

 

  

All technical and historic information about the disc & booklet is already on the previous posting (#5) - - so here I’d like to thank everyone at CCS for the euphoric celebration and premiere of my films’ digital reincarnation. 

That gathering of friends, former students and colleagues was enormously gratifying. Events over those two evenings began with a live jazz and cocktail party at the Scarab Club benefiting the CCS Galleries. The next night’s beautifully projected program of films, followed by a perfect dinner at Selden Standard graciously hosted by Michelle Perron and Rick Rogers, attended by a full complement of friends. Not a moment could have been improved upon!

Another pleasurable occurrence, an old friend, Bill Gubbins drove up from Nashville to see the films and be part of the festivities. We hadn’t seen each other for 33 years. Bill is an exceptional, idiosyncratic photographer and noted publishing editor on the contemporary music scene, among his other exploratory activities. He appears in two of my better films (one of them is dedicated to him), and I appear in several of his photographs. All this happened back in the early 1980‘s. Two of the above portraits (JB & camera, 1982) are his. To be fair to him, both images have been cropped and manipulated far from the originals for publication purposes. 

While recently in Nashville, we were introduced by Bill to some of his acquaintances at Jack White’s Third Man Records, The Frist Center for the Visual Arts, area galleries and a few fine restaurants. Our road trip continued on to Columbus where, through the help of Caroline Koebel, we met with faculty and curatorial staff of the Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University. We talked broadly about independent film, its history and practitioners, the release of PRISMATIC MUSIC and academic venues that might provide programming possibilities.

Now that the digital version of the films has made its public debut, the mission will be to find audiences interested in something so singular as non-narrative, silent Super 8 films made almost 40 years ago with an obsessive commitment to light, color and movement.