Dan's Papers - September 26, 2008

For the last eight years, the film/art critic has been the host of the series, "Artists Make Movies," at the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in Springs, the now famous former residence of Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner (the Center is formally a part of the State University at Stony Brook). The larger series, "Artists on Film," was initiated by Pollock-Krasner House Director Helen Harrison and expanded by Weiss into the ongoing series shown every Friday night in September on Springs Fireplace Road.

The melding of artists and film is meant to forge a connection between two disciplines. "For the past two years we've had area artists - Eric Fischl, April Gornik, Ross Bleckner - chose their favorites. It gives people an intimate setting and a chance to meet these artists, which is very exciting for those who don't normally dwell within those circles," said Weiss. "It's interesting, and combines my love of film and love of art," she said.

Weiss found the Pollock-Krasner House a special place and sought to expand upon the films it already showed. The venue serves as a better movie house than an auditorium setting, with viewers finding a space that holds only a large handful of people (25, max) far more comfortable. "It's almost like a mini-class, where people can exchange ideas and thoughts," said Weiss.

This year, the series, entitled "Artists Make Movies," featured films and videos created by painters, photographers and performance artists who had little or no experience in filmmaking. This Friday, September 26, will be the last showing in the series, artist Christa Maiwald's Thread Head. This particular piece is a black comedy about Maiwald's obsession with embroidery. "It runs her life; she does it ALL the time - when she is eating, when she is drifting off to sleep, drinking. All the time," Weiss said.

Earlier in the series, audiences saw two award-winning documentaries by photographer Gary Beeber, who had never picked up a film camera before. They included Messenger, about the most famous NYC bike messenger; and Bally Master, a side show/magician at Coney Island. In her video, performance artist Andrea Cote shot her own performance events. which recall Jackson Pollock's drip paintings. Painter Carol Hunt developed a computer animation film about her work.

The series have been a labor of love for Weiss, an East End resident who has spent her life focused on art and film. She confesses to having gone to many a "weird movie" while studying television as a graduate student at NYU. Weiss would wander over to the Bleeker Street Theater, where she learned about French New Wave. "It's practically informed my whole life, so I decided I wanted to teach it." Now, Weiss does just that, as an adjunct in the summer at New York University, offering intensives on film theory and criticism to those interested in becoming directors. When Weiss was a student at NYU, she was one of just two women in that major. Martin Scorsese was one of her classmates. "He would show us his films. I volunteered to work on one - he wanted me to do sound - but I couldn't because I had cut my finger right beforehand. I had to press buttons after all!"

That love of film, and admiration for her classmate, found another direction - in book form. Martin Scorsese: A Reference and Resource Guide, is part of a series on well-known directors, which Weiss wrote after penning her dissertation on Scorsese and John Cassavetes, and their use of New York as a character in film.

Today, instead of on canvas, Weiss finds, the moving image is the picture that is still telling a thousand words. "People have to see movement because it stimulates them," she said. Weiss marvels at how anyone and everyone can make a movie and put it on the Internet. Although, as with each wave of technology-cum-entertainment, that popularity may disappear and be replaced by something else more enticing. What will be the next popular medium? "It could go backwards, perhaps," Weiss mused. "Maybe you'll eventually be able to watch television on your pencil?"

Weiss never ceases to wonder at the power of imagery and its impact on our senses, our being, on the whole. "Hopefully, some of those images stay with you. Films like The Wild Bunch, why do they stay with us? Or why not? It tells us a lot about ourselves, these images; they are so potent."