In the Eyes of the Beholder

Berkeley's best kept secret: UC Berkeley students have produced a body of innovative documentary works that reveal a unique artistic vision. Join us for an evening celebrating these students' eclectic approaches to documentary. Three of the videos hail from the Anthropology Department's Ethnographic Film course taught by Jack Potter and Lucien Taylor: The Devil Herself, Pierced and One Nation Under a Groove. Looking from the outside in and the inside out, these filmmakers investigate cultural phenomena-from the gay club scene and body piercing to "stepping." The diversity of B. Ruby Rich's students' work reflects her influence-documentary rules are heartily broken in order to play with the form itself. The students employ an array of aesthetic approaches, all seeking to decipher or decode an enigma. The areas of inquiry include bathroom graffiti in Walls of Desire: Stalling for Time, distinguishing pornography from art in Semiotics of Sex, survival of a troubled past in La Mia Bella Sorella, avoidance of writing a term paper in Driving, and the ultimate puzzle, do men and women understand each other, explored in Women on Men on Women on Men... Vive la différence!-Jennifer Paige Curated by Jennifer Paige, a UCB student in Film Studies. The Devil Herself (Laura Ariza, Vincent Goldberg, Douglas MacDonald, Tiffany Romain, 20 mins). Walls of Desire: Stalling for Time (Jeremy Berger, 5 mins). One Nation Under a Groove (Courtnay Bloomer, Angela Hoyte, Tania Jackson, Emily James, 20 mins). Semiotics of Sex (Brian Frye, 6 mins). La Mia Bella Sorella (Jennifer Paige, 25 mins). Pierced (Andy Cantrell, Alec Raffin, Miyuki Seko, Phoebe Southwood, 20 mins). Driving (Will Kessler, 12 mins). Women on Men on Women on Men... (Mary Funsten, Daniel Leighton, 30 mins). (Total running time: c. 138 mins, plus intermission, 1993, Color, Video, From artists). With thanks to B. Ruby Rich and the students of Documentary Film (Film 28B), and Jack Potter and Lucien Taylor and the students of Ethnographic Film (Anthropology 138B), Spring Semester 1993.

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