18 August 2001 - Saturday
screening: 5:30 PM sharp
at Center Portion, 2850-1/2 W Fullerton
$10 donation requested -
- good for entire evening

A forum on poetry cinema follows immediately, and includes Sean Culver, cinematographer for "Viridian".

From the review of Viridian by Jonathan Rosenbaum,
film critic, Chicago Reader:

This fruitful collaboration (1994) between Chicago independent Joseph Ramirez and Illinois poet Paul Hoover is a major advance over Ramirez's attempt to yoke cinema with poetry in his first feature, Descent. Shot with a Chicago cast and crew in rural Iowa, Viridian follows the painful adjustments of a divorced young woman and her little boy as they move from one rented farmhouse to another, focusing on her dreams as well as her waking thoughts. Though the plot is minimal, the gorgeous cinematography (by Sean Culver, who also served as editor) and Hoover's writing, most of which figures as the woman's offscreen narration, mesh with each other in arresting and mysterious ways. The marriage of lonely figures and landscapes occasionally recalls some of the best features of Jon Jost, and the functional performances by Diane Weyerman, Mathew Brennan, and James Larkin allow Ramirez to weave meditative moods around the evocative words and images.
 

In 1994, Joseph Ramirez and Sean Culver teamed with noted writer Paul Hoover. Together, they created a feature-length film, based intimately on poetic writing. Viridian is outstanding in that it breaks through the short-format barrier commonly associated with poetry cinema. It also paints an intensely Midwestern and American experience for the viewer. For example, music in the film is written in shape notation, a form used by American religious movements since the early 1800s. The word "viridian" signifies a kind of green, a color typical of the broad, flat landscape of the Midwestern prairie.

The production was not without mishap. Rush prints returned to the location crew in Iowa were damaged in the processing lab. New locations had to be scouted. Filming in Iowa's summer heat took its toll on the cast and crew. But in the end "Viridian" emerged. Cinematographer Sean Culver will be present at this screening, and will participate in a forum on poetry cinema, joined by Heather Haley (Vancouver), Kent Foreman (Chicago), and the team of Mary Russell and Gerard Wozek (Chicago). The discussion follows the screening, and the public are invited to participate. More poetry cinema follows the forum after 8:00 PM. Your $10 donation at the door supports an entire evening of poetry film and conversation.

Viridian (1994, TRT: 90 min)
a film based on the writing of Paul Hoover
written and directed by Joseph Ramirez
cinematography and sound by Sean Culver

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Filmmakers Joseph Ramirez [L] and Sean Culver [R] editing their film, Viridian.
[photo: Sean Culver]