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About the Monster Lotería Tour 2005
Jim Finn and Arthur Jones are two Chicago filmmakers who are taking
their short movies on the road in March and April. Over the course
of three weeks they will visit eleven American states and one
Canadian province showing their films, sharing the love with the
people and letting the wind blow through their hair. Each filmmaker
is presenting about 45 minutes worth of work. Below is the outline
for the program. You can download a word document of the program
here:
monsterloteriaprogram.doc
About Jim Finn's Program
La Lotería (video series, Jim Finn, 2004-5) La Lotería
is a series of single-channel videos with a music track based
on the Mexican card game. Lotería is Spanish for lottery,
which the Oxford English Dictionary describes as "that which comes
to a person by lot or chance." The videos use cultural references
like love songs, sports, animals, revolutionary ballads, and political
iconography like someone lifting a wet log to see what's underneath.
Though each of them can stand alone, as a series they work to
strengthen each other by reinforcing certain themes, songs and
editing decisions.
el valiente is a collection of the 70s Bond
girls who never knew loneliness "until I met you" (from la lotería
3:45 min)
la calavera (from la lotería 3 min) "The
repetitive missile from a war plane blurs into a war game. Add
an uplifting song to it and you have a perfectly entertaining
video game. Or is it reality? -L.A. Freewaves
el moro (from la lotería 2:30 min)
"Deep down, we have always suspected there must be some connection
between J.R.R. Tolkien, Star Trek, and the rise of the radical
Left. Leave it to Jim Finn to bring it all together." -New York
Underground Film Festival
el corazón is about a mustached man
who loves his team and his girl (from la lotería 3:15 min)
la bandera (from la lotería 2 min, 2005)
A flag-waving dolphin trainer changes a Mexican love song to a
love-it-or-leave-it ultimatum.
wüstenspringmaus (3 min, 2002) "Jim
Finn's Wüstenspringmaus, a well-sprung, rear-screened account
of a gerbil's life in the Seventies." Guy Maddin, Film
Comment
el paraguas (from la lotería 3:45
min) Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein met in 1985: "Oh the wind
and the rain."
la palmera (from la lotería 1:45 min) A love
letter from a Florida car wash.
el catrín (from la lotería,
2:10) A Southern tuxedo wedding becomes a meditation on despair.
el azteca (from la lotería, 3 min)
Ricardo Montablan's Khan in the 60s and the 80s is still fighting
the good fight: "It's not enough to pray!"
el pájaro (from the series la lotería
2 min). A red-state playoff game is the excuse for a world uprising.
la corona (from la lotería, 1:30 min) The
Bush inner circle at Crawford moving to the sounds of the Mexican
Frank Sinatra.
la cobra (from la lotería 2:30 min). A love
song about a drowned girl is illustrated in a bath and tanning
booth.
the golden horde (4:30 min, 16mm on video,
2004) An educational animal film about control and a broken heart:
"Tomorrow, we begin again!"
el payaso stars the gerbil francoise in his
habitrail gridiron (from la lotería 3:45 min)
la estrella (from la lotería, 2:30 min).
Cosmonaut stamps and communist icons turn a Frank and Nancy Sinatra
song into another Internationale.
la rosa (from la lotería 3 min). A cautionary
tale of an emperor from a great state who takes whatever he wants.
la ardilla (from la lotería 2 min)
"Jim Finn woos his charming, bright-eyed neighbor, who hesitatingly
returns his affections. A pure romantic comedy, one that is tender,
brave, and genuinely funny." -Cinematexas
About Arthur Jones's Program
Arthur's program consists of two parts. The first portion
is made up of two powerpoint presentations presented live by the
artist. The second portion is two animated cartoons, the first
being a music video for Philadelphia band Need New Body and the
second is a 17 minute piece named the Monster Team.
900 lb. Gorilla (approx. 7 min.) A short
story about a newspaper missed connection ad lining the bottom
of a gorilla's cage.
The Abominable Snowman (approx. 6 min.) The
North Pole's most mysterious citizen experiences a mid life crisis
and fantasizes about the destruction of earth.
Beach (2 min) A music video for the Philadelphia
band Need New Body, off of their record UFO. A trip to the Beach
that is one part methamphetamine and one part sun tan lotion
Monster Team (17 min.) Wolfman, Phantom of
the Opera, Caveman, Creature of the Black Lagoon, and Mummy are
the Monster Team, a clueless fraternity of creatures that live
in a clubhouse that looks suspiciously like the Enron headquarters.
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