Film Series: Bill Daniel’s “Sonic Orphans” and Live Music by Myceum

Friday, August 13, 2010 | 8pm | $5 | AT RANDOM ROW BOOKS

The Bridge Film Series is pleased to welcome filmmaker Bill Daniel back to Charlottesville for his presentation of lost and found music films, SONIC ORPHANS: Lost Music Films From 1965-87. This evening of film will include a program of recently unearthed 16mm footage and a discussion of “orphan films” as well as a one-night photo exhibit and a live musical performance by local drone musician Myceum.

SONIC ORPHANS is a compilation reel of lost and found clips projected on 16mm – some silent, some that rock. Abandoned, lost, found, and now presented raw without editing, these are all celluloid gems. Daniel curates an unlikely collection of film that exists in an impossibly strange space between entertainment and the stupefying bewilderment of Useless Cinema – clips of silent outtakes, un-contextualized news, lab mistakes, abandoned student films. There is a flavor of goofy nostalgia to much of the footage, but the images are also haunting – pogoing, sneaking hits on cigarettes, meeting the gaze of someone from 20 or even 40 years ago. Part of the evening’s presentation will talk about the stories behind the films and the relationship between underground music and film cultures.

Featuring footage of: The Beatles, The Avengers, The Huns, Boy Problems, Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfers, and Johnny Cash

Bill Daniel is a filmmaker and artist who makes work that connects with an outsider audience while he continues to experiment with survivalism and bricolage in attempts to record and report on the various social margins he often finds himself in. His documentary subjects have included bicycle messengers, radical environmentalists, hobo graffiti artists, swap meet guitar players, and rural drag racers. Daniel’s work has received awards from Creative Capital, Film Arts Foundation, and the Texas Filmmaker Production Fund, among others.