Colorado Springs, CO, USA, March 10, 2003 – The International
Experimental Cinema Exposition (TIE), in collaboration with the
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center is presenting a one-of-a-kind
experimental film festival Saturday, March 29th. The exhibition
focuses on 2 rare, almost-impossible-to-see films by Andy Warhol &
new films from leading German and Austrian avant-gardists. All works
will be presented via glorious 16mm and 35mm projection in the Fine
Arts Center's grand & historic, 1930's art-deco theatre.

FILMS

DIAN, PAITO (Bernhard Schreiner, 16mm, 7min, sound, Austria/Germany)
A Chinese tale has it that Dian was a student of Confucius who was
asked what he would do if his achievements were ever recognized. Dian
answered in opposition to the other students' answers, "At the peak
of spring, I would find five or six fellow scholars to go for a swim
in the Yi River. Afterward, we would enjoy the cool breeze at the
rain altar and make our way home, reciting poetry. To this Confucius
pleasantly replied, "I am with you, Dian!" Taipei is where the film
and sound were recorded and where Schreiner captures the essence of
Dian's response. Dian, Paito captures the radiating quietude of
Taiwan's countryside while ironically casting eerie disquietude upon
its viewer.

AUTOMATIC (Josef Dabernig / GRAM, 16mm, 7min, sound, Austria, 2002)
Automatic examines loners, automobiles and fixations. Dabernig uses
wit and irrationality to distinguish between being driven and the
obsession of engines. The audience will question their views of the
motor and be forced to explore the power-producing metal mass on a
new level.

HOT DOG PARTY (Frank Biesendorfer - In Person, 16mm, 1min, sound,
Germany, 2001) This North American premiere by U.S. born, Frank
Biesendorfer, is a composition of life in rapid-fire filmic rhythm.
Biesendorfer recently arrived from the vast and thriving experimental
film scene of Germany. Biesendorfer films are, to the fullest extent,
sincere and directly personal. The primary images in Hot Dog Party
reference celebrations, celebrations of family,
freedom-of-expression, pro-creativity and sexuality. Biesendorfer
studied filmmaking and cooking for 5 years under Austrian avant-garde
film master, Peter Kubelka. He grew up in Palm Beach, Florida where
he played varsity football in high school. His interests are golf and
physical fitness. He currently resides in Colorado Springs with his
with his wife and two children and cooks for one of Colorado's finest
restaurants.

The Velvet Underground & Nico (Andy Warhol, 16mm, 33min, sound, USA,
1966) Velvet Underground & Nico has been called “a tour de force that
may never be equaled for its sheer radicalism in the face of rock
convention”. This film follows the band and the music that shatters
classical theory and introduced avant-garde sound to receptive and
hostile audiences alike. The screening is a truly rare treat. With
the help of the Fine Arts Center's 16mm projection capabilities, the
piece will be presented with the 2 reels projected simultaneously;
side-by-side, with the fine arts centers powerful sound system. This
film features Velvet Underground members Lou Reed, Nico, Sterling
Morrison, John Cale, and Maureen Tucker.

HORSE (Andy Warhol, 16mm, 99min, sound, USA, 1965) Gary Morris of
Bright Lights Film Journal writes: “…. Here there's even less
interest in realism — this "western" takes place indoors, in the
Factory. We know it's a western because there's a real horse standing
on the Factory floor indifferently eating hay, and four hunky young
men in vaguely western gear…. Other "characters" coexist onscreen but
far outside the narrative. They include the horse's trainer; Edie
Sedgwick, who answers the phone and meanders around; Andy, who comes
and goes; various technicians, onlookers, undesignated street people,
and a string of super- and perhaps substars. The cowboys — who
include well-known art critic Gregory Battcock — spend most of the
movie capsizing every western cliché and dragging the homo subtexts
to the surface…. Warhol was as subtly sadistic toward his audience
(if he imagined one) as he was toward his players. This film is 99
minutes long, and (a) third is mostly an extended shot of the horse
eating.”

ARRETE (Bernhard Schreiner, 16mm, 3min, sound, Austria / Germany,
2001) A continuous shot of the interior of a house in the German
countryside, with the sounds of voices, goats, and church bells
ringing. The film may be described as a cinematographic and audio
survey of the world.

HWA-SHAN DISTRICT TAIPEI – (Bernhard Schreiner, 16mm, 13min, sound,
Austria / Germany, 2001) Bernhard Schreiner's Hwa-Shan District,
Taipei is a finely articulated work: a veritable arsenal of devices -
shifts in focus, fades, editing techniques (of course) - were used to
make a certain place - Schreiner's place, in Taipei - suitable for a
film. Hwa-Shan is - here and now - an industrial wasteland. Brush is
slowly choking a brewery, which was apparently closed long ago, like
a subway tunnel at the end of which one can see the sections still in
use. This is surrounded by everyday life focusing on a short-order
restaurant. The visual devices are often more closely related to the
texture of the sound track than what is happening on the screen:
tension is created, meaning is found, then compressed further into an
experience, both emotion and life. The material nature of things,
each one of them, is met with a respect both beautiful and
appropriate. Hwa-Shan District, Taipei was made during Schreiner's
several-week stay in Taiwan, where he attended the "1999 Urban
Flashes Anglo-Asian workshop, Taipei" as a member of the group "10
Uhr".

FILM IST (8, 11, 12) (Gustav Deutsch, 35mm, 41min, sound, Austria,
2002) Film ist, is a major artistic experiment from Viennese artist
and filmmaker Gustav Deutsch. Realized with aid from a number of
major international archives, Deutsch is seeking to examine and
re-present the origins of cinema. 7-12 examines the scientific film
as one birthplace of film. Film ist (7-12) focuses on the variety
hall and trick filmmaking - stop tricks, time lapses, and phantom
rides. Deutsch has commissioned contemporary Austrian electronic
musicians for the soundtrack. Gustav Deutsch was born in Vienna in
1952. Multi-talented Deutsch is an artist, musician, photographer,
and architect, and makes films. His work has been widely received
throughout all part of Europe.

ARNULF RAINER (Peter Kubelka, 16mm, 6min, sound, Austria, 1960) "He
has even created a film (called ARNULF RAINER) whose images can no
more be 'turned off' by the closing of eyes than can the soundtrack
thereof it (for it is composed entirely of white frame rhythming thru
black inter-spaces and of such an intensity as to create its pattern
straight thru closed eyelids) so that the whole 'mix' of the
audio-visual experience is clearly 'in the head,' so to speak: and if
one looks at it openly, one can see one's own eye cells as if
projected onto the screen and can watch one's optic physiology
activated by the sound track in what is, surely, the most basic Dance
of Life of all (for the sounds of the film do resemble and, thus,
prompt the inner-ear's hearing of its own pulse output at intake of
sound). I would simply like to say: Peter Kubelka is the world's
greatest filmmaker”. - Stan Brakhage

FESTIVITIES

The festival also includes an award ceremony and Q&A session.
Discourse on both the cinema of Warhol and Austrian avant-garde, with
Robert von Dassanowsky, will take place briefly throughout the
evening. He is Director of Film Studies at UCCS, a widely published
literary critic and film historian. He is founding Vice President of
the Austrian American Film Association and his book, the first
English-language history of the Austrian Cinema, is forthcoming this
year. A 45-minute intermission featuring an intimate Argentine
reception, catered by one of Colorado's extraordinary culinary
restaurants, Sencha, will include cocktails and hors d'ourves. A
second 15min vodka break is scheduled to be held directly before the
screening of “Velvet Underground & Nico”

WHEN, WHERE, HOW

The excitement begins promptly at 4:30 PM at the Fine Arts Center (30
West Dale Street, Colorado Springs, Colorado) and is to wrap up
around 10:30 PM. All-inclusive tickets are on sale now. Tickets for
this event are $18 for FAC members and Friends of TIE, $22 public and
are currently available from the Fine Arts Center box office,
719.634.5583. Group rates, 10 or more, are available for $15 per
ticket. Lodging is available at a 30% discount for all festival
attendees at the Hearthstone Inn. To reserve a room, call
1.800.521.1885. The Hearthstone Inn is situated within walking
distance of The Fine Arts Center.

TIE Award

The first TIE Award will be given to Bernhard Schreiner for his
contribution and dedication to the visual artistry of experimental
cinema. The TIE Award is designed to honor organizations or
individuals for their contributions and dedication to the
preservation or development of the visual artistry of experimental
cinema.

Bernhard Schreiner Biography:
1971 – Born in Mödling, Niederösterreich (Austria); 1991 - study at
the Städelschule, at the department for Film and Cooking with Prof.
Peter Kubelka, as well as with Ken Jacobs, Ernie Gehr and Robert
Breer; 1998 - finish of the study with master of fine arts Prof.
Peter Kubelka; 1999 till 2001 - member of the group "10 Uhr":
Christian Panzer (Architect), Bernd Mey (Architect), Ralf Schmidt
(Artist), Bernhard Schreiner (Artist/Filmmaker) Participation:
"Anglo-Asian Workshop, Taipei, Urban Flashes", Taiwan "MWK" Museum
für werdende Kunst, Frankfurt/M. "Desire, Albert Weis und
Internationale Architekturbüros", Ausstellungsforum FOE 156, Munich
"10 Uhr", Lecture at the Landesmuseum Wiesbaden; 2001 till 2002 Lives
and works in Frankfurt/M.