This week we celebrate our Echo Park Film Center’s Amazing Elders with an image of one of EPFC’s very first Seniors Filmmaking Workshops, facilitated by EPFC Co-Founder Ken Fountain (far right). Yes, that is a Dennis Kucinich For President T-shirt and yes, Ellen is still fighting for people’s politics and social justice!
This week’s Moment is from Flipping Out: A Flip Book Workshop (March 2, 2019), taught by visiting artist and EPFC Co-op Member Gina Napolitan!
Theme: Where’s Wayne’s World? A brief dive into the disappearing world of democratic and non-commercial television made possible by public access.
Well, one day late but still good. Please forgive my tardiness, I was detained by a mild fever and a severe panic. As we all lockdown in our homes, we are streaming more than ever. Netflix is curbing the quality it streams videos across Europe to ease the sudden burden on the internet providers. What better time to reflect on the nature of Television than when we are fully immersed and more embedded in TV reality than our own?
Enter Jaime Davidovich, an Argentinian-American performance artist and public access television pioneer. From Wikipedia: “The Live! Show, a weekly public-access television program with a variety show format that appropriated the formal norms of television along with avant-garde performances, artwork, political satire, and social commentary. The program featured interviews and performance work by visiting artists, including Laurie Anderson, Eric Bogosian, Tony Oursler, and Michael Smith, along with musical performances, ersatz commercials, and viewer participation via live call-in segments. Presiding over the show’s disparate collaborative elements was Davidovich’s own satirical character, ‘Dr. Videovich, specialist in curing television addiction,’ whom the New York Times’ television critic John J. O’Connor described as ‘a persona somewhere between Bela Lugosi and Andy Kaufman.'” An early deconstruction of television and its role in the culture industry through the medium itself, below you will find a link to a clip from an episode, and after that a little doc about the man, the myth and the legendary show that is now pretty hard to track down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDA7ZCZ2mEw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZKURQ0sZ6o
While EPFC screenings, workshops, rentals and store hours are currently on hold as we do our part to keep everybody safe and healthy, we’re celebrating 20 years of cinematic magic with a new series: Archive Deep Dive! Each week we’ll share some treats from past EPFC screenings, workshops and special events, starting with a photo featuring EPFC Equipment Guru Andrew Kim as a Filmmobile Summer Screening Series audience member waaaaaaay back in 2010!
Moberly Fieldhouse is currently closed to the public but each week we’ll post a film or photo from a past EPFC North event as we continue to celebrate the power of art to inspire, delight and activate communities. Here’s a sunny day drawing session with visiting artist Joff Winterhart from September 2019. Enjoy!
