First Looks

26 September - 8 December 2013

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Rice Gallery invited Mark and Angela Walley of Walley Films to select some of their favorite short films by young, emerging filmmakers.

Bianca Giaever
the Scared is scared, 2013
7 minutes, 52 seconds

Bianca Giaever made the Scared is scared for her final project at Middlebury College to complete her independently designed major in “Narrative Studies.” The basic premise is simple, Giaever explains, “I asked a six-year-old what my movie should be about, and this is what he told me.” What follows is anything but simple as the imagination of six-year-old Asa Baker-Rouse goes wild. Details change abruptly while real actors in a bear suit and a mouse suit try to keep up, faithfully acting out each twist and turn. The film ends on a deeper note as the six-year-old dispenses wise advice as to how all of us can deal with our own fears about endings and change, in particular Giaever’s looming graduation.

Julia Pott
Howard, 2010
3 minutes, 54 seconds

While finishing her MA at the Royal College of Art in London, Julia Pott made this partially autobiographical film about what happens when love fades. Pott describes her approach as, “I employ awkward animated characters to act out my inner struggles.” In Howard, a bear, presumably a stand-in for Pott herself, wonders aloud about her human boyfriend: “Do you remember when we met? You were brilliant, witty, gorgeous to look at ... something’s changed.” A heartbreakingly honest tale done in Pott’s idiosyncratic, hand-drawn animation style unfolds.

Xaver Xylophon with Laura Junger
Joy of Destruction, 2010
1 minute, 41 seconds
*contains stylized violence

Xaver Xylophon is a twenty-seven-year-old visual communications graduate from Germany who has done animations for The New York Times, VW, Audi, and Durex, and according to his website, “some others you probably haven’t heard of.” He describes his short film Joy of Destruction as being “about the human drive to destroy and the absurd entertaining value that’s attached to it.” In collaboration with Parisian artist Laura Junger, Xylophon uses paper collage and stop motion animation to show dark and destructive moments with whimsy and a crooning French soundtrack.

Shishi Yamazaki
YAMASUKI YAMAZAKI, 2013
2 minutes, 22 seconds
*contains cartoon nudity

Twenty-four-year-old, Shishi Yamazaki calls herself “the animated city girl in Tokyo.” While a student at the Department of Design at Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music, she began hand-drawing her animations frame by frame in a loose style using watercolors, crayons, and pencils. Her video on view is set to an upbeat song called “Yama Yama” (1971) by the band Yamasuki. Embracing the simple energy of the music, Shishi Yamazaki describes her quirky animation as capturing the feeling of “when you’re insanely happy, you’re so happy to be happy, that you forget what made you happy.”

ABOUT THE CURATORS
Husband and wife filmmaking team Mark and Angela Walley have been collaborating for over a decade. Their independent production company Walley Films has produced over thirty short documentary films following the work of contemporary artists. They have worked as series producers for Rice University Art Gallery, Southwest School of Art, and Glasstire.com on dynamic short documentary films representing artists working in a variety of media. Their collaborative film work has received over one million views online and recognition with features on Roger Ebert’s Journal, NPR Picture Show, The Atlantic, and Vimeo Staff Picks. Mark and Angela have also received film grants from Southwest Alternate Media Project, The Idea Fund, and San Antonio Artist Foundation to produce independent experimental and narrative short films. Their work has been included in exhibitions and screenings at Artpace San Antonio, The McNay Art Museum, Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston Cinema Arts Festival, Dallas VideoFest, and the 2013 Texas Filmmakers Showcase. Mark and Angela Walley live and work in San Antonio, Texas.

Rice Gallery thanks hosts Jill Whitten and Rob Proctor and all who participated in their 2012 RICE ICE BABY benefit, for contributions that have allowed us to realize this video space. We are grateful to Peter Lucas, Kelly Sears, and Chapman Welch for their expert advice.