The Unfaithful Narrator

Studio 27 , showcase for avant-garde film in San Francisco, is organizing a screening of experimental film and video for January 2008. We are looking for work that calls into question the truth status of narration in film, either spoken or as printed text, and that critiques the traditional function of the narrator as a reliable source of information. Of special interest to us are films that examine how narration can reconstruct memory, on both an individual and social level.

Following on the “Death of the Author,” we are looking for work that reevaluates the function of the director’s voice, or the filmmaker’s persona, as a comforting site of narrative stability, verisimilitude, and guarantee of cinematic “reality.” This could take the form of a documentary, for example, that questions the boundaries between the imaginary and the real by incorporating fictional elements in its voiceover narration. Another approach might involve a dramatic framework in which implicit references to actual events via the narration belies the surface semblance of a fictive world.

We are requesting films and videos less than 30 minutes in length submitted on playable DVDs (all region), MiniDVs (NTSC), or data DVDs (as a Quicktime movie file, especially for digital animations).

Submission Deadline (received by): December 15, 2007

Include with your submission a brief written description of the work, and a short filmmaker bio. Also include a SASE if you would like your materials returned to you (only U.S. mail will be returned).

Mail to:

Wago Kreider
Studio 27
588 Sutter Street, #11
San Francisco, CA 94102
U.S.A.

Please direct questions to: wagokreider@studio27.org