Lili White, AXWFF Organizer. (Photo: Mari Babao)
Most of the time, I’m a dreamer. Some of the time, I’m asleep.
I was born with a certain kind of body
capable of giving birth to another of my species;
my brain centers around this parameter.
I have built in access to images already in place inside the mind.
These are essential images.
Perhaps they can be shaped by society thru time;
and perhaps they can develop and change- I don’t know for certain
Surrounding the doorway of the collapse of film, are the flood waters in which we stand.
As the world watches moving pictures every day
media production can now be placed in the hands of almost anyone.
We are in a new beginning.
What freedom, What responsibilities, What are we going to do with this?
Experimental films don’t need to be made of film – they come as visions seen in time and space; made to be experienced within a group of US – the collective forum – stretching, between the depths of our mind and being and our neighbors as well – in the same time and space.
Where are we? where can we find this experience together?
It seems to me that not all “cultural products” can be dominated by an ego-centric intellect.
“Cultural product” those words, currently used as a marketing term, pollute our environment.
THEY SAY While the artist remains at the center of the cultural product, it should be kept in mind that all cultural products are characterized by four components: the artistic product itself, spin-off products, related services, and the consumer’s experience of the product (including the value the consumer attaches to the product).
What will we consume?
Other realities coming from a different place can also be made into a “cultural product”.
Must we really ask: What are we going to eat?
When was “ART” ever “sustainable”?
What is certain is that the cinema functions like a mirror.
There are many kinds of movies. What will be provided for us?
The ones screened here straddle the personal, and touch on the archtypal; their forms shaped by each woman’s unique voice: the screeming banshee, the whisper of a whore, the warm container of the mother or a silence that may seem distant, but yet is part of our heart in orbit.
What will we feed off of?
Seeing this handful of films makes me write these words.
These works should be given their voice in the public sphere, as they are rooted in their own real knowledge.
These films I refuse to label “cultural”, as they may not be made with a culture in mind.
They are, rather, the world created by the filmmaker.
To use their power can alter the universe – if we think they are of paramount importance and are not played like a game to be mastered or exported to some audience that the filmmaker cowtows to, for whatever reason or intention.
I am grateful to have seen these works, because I could remember each one the next day; after which, I would like to have seen them again.
I thank God these women found their voice and shared it.
I am honored in their presence.
There are no words that can explain these films.
There are no words that can convey their spirit.
As we feed off these movies together I wish you,
BON APPETITE – Eat your vegetables, they are good for you.
And Let us all repeat: “Fine Words butter no parsnips.”
–Lili White ©2011 for AXWFFestival Address
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AXWFF Director / Organizer: Lili White
Lili White made Super 8 films while studying painting. When the computer transformed movie making at the end of the last century, she began using that technology.
A graduate of University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Academy’s four-year painting program, she has curated shows of experimental media and fine art works.
After serving as a Steering Committee member and Public Relations Chairperson for The Armory Show:1990, a 4 day art show of 400 Philadelphia artists, that netted $20,000 and had an attendance of 20,000; she moved to NYC where she cataloged DCTV’s library.
In 2003 her lecture INVISIBLE ENERGY: ASIAN ART FORM INFLUENCES IN MY WORK was presented at the College Art Association’ conference.
In 2007 a fundraiser DVD for the NY Film-Makers Cooperative was successfully produced.
In 2009 her paintings dressed the set of Ezra Peace’s DEATH & BEAUTY.
In 2010, she produced the first ANOTHER EXPERIMENT BY WOMEN FILM FESTIVAL along with 6 additional shows at Anthology Film Archives’ NEW FILMMAKERS’ WOMEN’S NIGHTS in 2011- these screenings will continue in 2012.
