May 29, 2007

Dutch Short Films Shown at MASS MoCA as part of NL: A Season of Dutch Arts in the Berkshires

(North Adams, Mass.) Holland's vibrant film industry will take over MASS MoCA for one evening this summer, screening twelve short films all under 15 minutes. The screening will take place outside on our giant movie screen, the largest in the Berkshires, in Courtyard C on Friday, June 29 at 9 PM. The films, shown as part of ShortKorte Films event vary from dark, disturbing and heartbreaking to charming and endearing.

"We are delighted to be able to screen this selection of films," said Sue Killam, MASS MoCA's Managing Director. "In this age of Netflix and video ipods, you rarely have the chance to see films like these on the big screen. While the offerings range broadly in subject, there is a thread through all of a captivating Dutch sensibility that makes for very engaging filmmaking." The event is part of NL: A Season of Dutch Arts in the Berkshires, a Berkshire countywide collaboration that showcases the arts and culture of the Netherlands.

The program includes prestigious award winners Contact and .tibbaR. Contact depicts a boy, his mother, her lover, and their search for happiness. With a painstaking eye for detail, the director, Hanro Smitsman, has created an ingenious chain reaction of events. Contact was awarded the Golden Bear Award, the premier short film award of the 57th Berlin International Film Festival, for being "a brilliant film in its approach to the subjects of love, anger, and desperation."

Stylized documentary .tibbaR reveals the unusual livestock inhabiting a farm hidden in the countryside of Brabant, Netherlands. In fluid and disturbing reverse motion the film observes the barnyard lives of 20,000 albino bunnies and the breeders who control their furry fate. .tibbaR has received festival awards for best documentary in Italy, Australia, Croatia, Kosovo, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands.

Four of the twelve directors whose films will be shown during the evening have used animation techniques, from digital effects technology to stop-motion clay animation. One such film, Pizza di Mario, combines animation with live-action footage to tell the story of Mario, a mustachioed pizza baker who meets his match in a feisty ball of dough, brought to life by the terrifying sight of the pizzeria's fiery oven.

Director Robbie Cornelissen uses computer animation and pencil drawings in The Capacious Memory, a film that depicts a vast and empty world. The eye wanders over petrified memories and dreams, and the journey ends where it began: in the attic of a mindless creature. The Capacious Memory has recently been included in the Netherlands Media Arts Institute's catalogue which is touted as one of the Netherlands' most prestigious media arts conservation collections.

The remaining eight films, whose lengths range between two minutes and twelve minutes, include films such as Sad Dog, in which a cute but lonely dog will do anything to make friends with a wary pigeon; Boris Paval Conen's Dilemma depicting a playful race between a jogger and a young bicyclist that quickly turns into a decision of life and death; and Metalosis Maligna, a fictional documentary about a spectacular yet chronically disabling disease which infects medical implants, ultimately transforming human patients into mechanical constructs: half flesh, half steel.

Tickets for ShortKorteFilms are $10. MASS MoCA members receive a 10% discount. Doors open at 8 PM with snacks from Lickety Split and full bar available. Tickets are available through the MASS MoCA Box Office located off Marshall Street in North Adams, open from 11 A.M. to 5 P.M. Wednesday through Monday (July 1 through September 4, from 10 A.M. until 6 P.M. daily). Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during Box Office hours or purchased on line at www.massmoca.org.

A summer-long showcase celebrating the arts and culture of The Netherlands, NL: A Season of Dutch Arts in the Berkshires will take place June through August 2007 in the picturesque, culturally rich Berkshires region of Massachusetts. The broad range of The Netherlands's vibrant artistic culture, including contemporary and classical music, visual arts, dance, theater, film, lecture series and more will be presented. MASS MoCA, Tanglewood, Bang on a Can, Jacob's Pillow and the Clark Art Institute are among the arts organizations that have selected and are collaborating with leading artists from The Netherlands'.

NL: A Season of Dutch Arts in the Berkshires received initial funding from the Netherlands Culture Fund and generous support from the Fund for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture.

The showcase is coordinated by the Department of Press and Cultural Affairs at the Consulate General of The Netherlands in New York and the Service Centre for International Cultural Activities (SICA) in Amsterdam.

MASS MoCA, the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the United States, is located off Marshall Street in North Adams on a 13-acre campus of renovated 19th-century factory buildings.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Katherine Myers
(413) 664-4481 x8113
katherine@massmoca.org