Michael Brynntrup | film video etc

Kuala Lumpur Experimental Film and Video Festival (KLEX) 23. - 27. November 2011 November 23rd - 27th, 2011 Zu Gast beim KLEX 2011 \| Visit at KLEX 2011 [ In cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Kuala Lumpur, supported by Braunschweig University of Art (HBK) and AG-Kurzfilm (German Short Film Association) ]

Programm 1 | program 1
Werkschau Michael Brynntrup | Spotlight Michael Brynntrup

[ 60+40 min | 1986-2011 | 12 films ]
(initially curated by Klaus W. Eisenlohr)
Sat, 26 Nov, 2011, 8:30pm - The Annexe Gallery, Central Market Annexe

A medium is not an abbreviation that brings one thing to another, but rather a third added to two. A medium is not static, not a bridge, but develops a life of its own whenever activated.
The ECG of metempsychosis (from the genes to the zodiac).
Electrographics of the 4th Dimension.
{Information sheet of the film, 1996}

»Herzsofort.Setzung« is under no cirumstances a mindless rehearsal of various mediaforms. In spite of different forms like Super8, CD-Rom, VHS-Video, colour copy or computer print, that are presented sometimes in an absurd manner, the single generation of the pictures are linked by the pleasure lying in - the uncertainty of the process, also in the formulation of the question. What remains from the transformed man after his bath in the media?
(Filmwinter, Festival Catalogue 1996 - Ulrich Wegenast)

TOTALE MONDFINSTERNIS ÜBER DEM MEER
Total Lunar Eclipse Over the Ocean
15:00 min | 2011 | HD (16:9) | col | sound (5.1) [MBCFILM#74]
(sphätherischer Film) | (surround film)

The earth as seen from the earth.
Weltanschauung in front of cosmic background radiation.
“As seen from the Moon, a lunar eclipse would appear as a solar eclipse.”
(http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mond - uptodate110401)

The film first seems to be antithetical to Michael’s other films, both aesthetically and in its content: no rapid sequences of images, no charged storyline, but an extended meditation, supported by an overwhelming soundscape.
(program notes directors lounge Berlin, June 2011 - Klaus W. Eisenlohr)

The biblical prohibition of images word for word. God's life story in the form of a trailer: from zero B.C. to the Second Coming of Christ - coming soon.
{Information sheet of the film, 1986}

Brynntrup even went so far as to make a special promotional short for »JESUS« called »VERONIKA«. As well as raising theological questions on the Turin Shroud, »VERONIKA« divulges the best way to knock a nail through the hand; how to experience eternal mysteries anew, and that yes, He is coming "to this theatre - soon." - Still no joy with the Catholic church.
(Headpress Manchester, 3/91 - David Kerekes)

TABU V (wovon man nicht sprechen kann)
TABU V (About Which One Cannot Speak)
13:00 min | 1998 | 16mm | col | sound [MBCFILM#52]
(Tagebuchfilm) | (film diary)

About which one cannot speak, one must make films.
(loosely based on Ludwig Wittgenstein)
{Information sheet of the film, 1998}

TABU V plays with the medium of film in a light-hearted and inquisitive manner; a concentrated, intelligent and multilayered film in which wit is juxtaposed assuredly with profound, searching analysis.
(New York Film Academy Award - Best Short Film, Panorama 1998)

Solo City Zhuhai (BNURGB)
Solo City Zhuhai (BNURGB)
9:43 min | 2011 | HD (16:9) | col | sound [MBCFILM#75]
(Farbfilm) | (color film)

BNU Beijing Normal University RGB red, green, blue
{Information sheet of the film, 2011}

At 3.48 km², the campus of the Beijing Normal University (BNU) in Zhuhai is one of the largest, new campuses of Red China. However, a large part of the premises consists of green space. The sky over the campus is blue-gray. "The RGB color model is an additive color model in which red, green, and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rgb - uptodate110401)

The Hong Kong Showcase (eine Fallstudie)
The Hong Kong Showcase (a case study)
3:20 min | 2005 | DV | col | stereo [MBCFILM#64]
(minikino) | (micro movie)

“The world is everything that is the showcase.”
Living in a globalized world - a case study.
(loosely based on Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus logico-philosophicus, sentence no.1)
{Information sheet of the film, 2005}

The Emporio Armani shop window in Hong Kong is a small theatre of the global fashion industry. At night, a window cleaner sways across the stage, accompanied by classical Chinese music.
(http://www.idfa.nl/idfa_en_filmdescription.asp?filmid=27497, October 2006)

PAUSE | INTERMISSION followed by "LATE NIGHT TREATS"

Using found footage from the early 70s porn films, Michael Brynntrup creates a humorous and titillating moving collage of mediated erotic imagery - one that keeps promising the viewer always anticipated cum shot, as well as asking the question, "How 'graphic' does an image have to be before it comes pornographic?"
(Mix '95 New York, Festival Catalogue)

»All You Can Eat« by Michael Brynntrup takes the 'cum-shot' to new heights with a montage of some of the wildest, orgasmic, facial expressions ever composed to a mellow, easy listening sound track.
(Boys On Film No.6, cover text, dangerous to know 1996)

There can be no doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience.
(Immanuel Kant, Introduction to the Critique of Pure Reason, opening sentence)
Born in the body (...and in time...)
{Information sheet of the film, 2001}

Certainly even today some viewers will be affected by this work. Respect for the true art of filmmaking demanded that even the closeup be kept in, where a razor slices through an eye.
(Warning introduction to the German archival copy of UN CHIEN ANDALOU)

MODERN, das - Totentanz 7
DECA(Y)DANCE - Death Dance 7
7 min | 1991 | 16mm | col | sound [MBCFILM#34]
(aus dem 'Totentanz-Zyklus') | (from the 'Cycle of Death Dances')

"Death mask: facial imprint of the deceased in soft plaster or wax."
{Information sheet of the film, 1991}

(...) a cycle of Death Dances, eight in all, gathered beneath the title Der Elephant Aus Elfenbein (The Ivory Elephant, 45 min 1988-93). Together they unfold a catalogue of psychodramatic rituals, a series of theme and variations Bach might have named The Art of the Skull. Photographed entirely in super-8, each figures a single performer, a skull, and a specific arena of interaction.
(Millenium Film Journal No. 30/31, Fall 1997 - Mike Hoolboom)

BLUE BOX BLUES (die Inszenierung einer Fotografie)
BLUE BOX BLUES (Staging a Photo Shoot)
7:40 min | 2004 | DV | col | stereo [MBCFILM#63]
(Fotofilm) | (photo flick)

How long does a twinkling of an eye last...?
What all happens in a moment...?
Slap in a snap - a document of directing and a video on the half-life of still photos.
{Information sheet of the film, 2004}

In his contribution BLUE BOX BLUES, Michael Brynntrup sheds light on the difference between the illusionist gesture of photography and the production process itself.
(arsenal-experimental, Distribution note, January 2006)

Images from the private sphere of the world wide web. "The video has been removed due to its inappropriate nature". (Sat, 03. Mar 2007, YouTube | Broadcast Yourself™)

Under the pressures of a modern, highly individualized world, the engagement with the Self represents a never ending source for cultural production, from the literary diary of the 19th century to personal video clips on the internet. (...) Face It! (Cast Your Self™) consists of photographs collected from personal profiles of gay chat rooms on the internet. All images are self-portraits shot through mirrors, and in all of them the digital cameras hide the men's faces. Brynntrup's video, that was removed from YouTube due to its supposingly inappropriate nature, confronts its audience with the new privacy of the Web 2.0.
(Program notes 'Privacy issues, ...', curated by Florian Wüst, Impakt festival 2008)

No Facebook! Just homepage.
A corporate video on the 11th anniversary of my website on the 'Digital Day', 10-10-10.
{Information sheet of the film, 2007}