|
For Immediate Release Published: 2010/2011
Santa Fe Film Festival Screens "Shadow & Light" When: Thursday, December 3, 2009, 2:45 p.m.
San Francisco Film Society Screens "The Old Spaghetti Factory" When: Sunday, October 25, 2009, 4:00 p.m.
Mill Valley Film Festival Screens "Shadow & Light" When: Saturday, October 10, 2009, 3:00 p.m. When: Saturday, October 17, 2009, 2:30 p.m.
Mendocino Film Festival Screens "Shadow & Light" When: Friday, May 29, 2009, 8:00 p.m.
Ventura Film Festival Presents Rare Retrospective
Of Works by Leading Bay Area Experimentalist William Farley When: Sat., March 28, 2009, 11 a.m.
Included in the program are: "Sea Space" (1972), whose soundtrack features a stunning seaborne confession; "Made For Television" (1981), a sly and critical view of television advertising; "Tribute" (1986), a memorial for departed spirits, with music by David Byrne; and "Broke" (1995), a meditation on begging and homelessness, featuring an original score by Oscar-winning composer, Todd Boekelheide ("Amadeus") as performed by the world-famed Kronos Quartet.
Also on the program is a hilarious, rarely seen short starring Father Guidio Sarducci, which began as a 1983 Clio Award-winning public service announcement, and went on to become an art house favorite - when it can be seen. The show concludes with a sneak preview of a work-in-progress, "Shadow & Light," followed by a question and answer session with the filmmaker.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The kind of personal and experimental cinema made by William Farley over the past 30 years is increasingly difficult to see. These experimental films, made to be seen on the big screen, have played at over a hundred festivals around the world, including Sundance, Berlin, and New York.
Farley's first film, "Sea Space," was shot while he was a crew member on a cargo ship; standing watch one night, he was having fun talking into a tape recorder with another sailor, when the latter confessed to his involvement in the accidental killing of a boat full of Korean fishermen. This taped exchange became the soundtrack for Farley's film and inspired him to become a filmmaker.
"Tribute" was made after Farley's younger brother died suddenly of a heart attack. He made "Tribute" to celebrate his brother's life. Released at a time when so many were dealing with the early devastations of AIDS, and even though "Tribute" was not about that disease, the film appealed to broad audience confronting the impermanent beauty of life and the overbearing pain of loss. David Byrne, of Talking Heads fame, contributed one of his orchestrated scores for the film.
When Farley was asked to make a public service announcement by the San Francisco Art Institute, he impishly recruited his friend and subversive comic, Father Guidio Sarducci, to star in it. Also joining in the fun were George Manupelli and Don Novello. The result speaks for itself.
In 1995, Farley made "Broke," a haunting - and hauntingly current - meditation on begging and homelessness. Academy Award-winning composer Todd Boekelheide composed the original score, which was performed by The Kronos Quartet.
Farley's work-in-progress, "Shadow & Light," the latest in a series of documentary portraits of artists.
Farley is also developing an experimental hybrid biographical narrative feature film, with scenes from "The 5:10 To Cooperstown," a script based on his childhood, inter-cut with scenes from past films, including a 1982 performance by the then-unknown Whoopi Goldberg from Farley's early feature, "Citizen." The film is intended to be a commentary about creative filmmaking - its humor, danger and folly - and a memoir of extraordinary stories surrounding the circumstances of filming in India, Israel, Mexico, and the U.S.
Lorenzo DeStefano © 2009 William
Farley |
