The return of local silent shorts with live music.
Ben Opie and Majeure perform with experimental films.
by Bill O'Driscoll
Gena Salorino's "Signals"
Sync'd should appeal to fans of both experimental film and live music. And the fifth annual Sync'd even has a nice self-referential twist.
Organizer Michael Maraden asks filmmakers for silent works each three to 15 minutes long. Musicians add soundtracks live.
This year, shorts by a dozen filmmakers will screen in two sets. Half will be accompanied by the duo of saxophonist Ben Opie and guitarist Josh Wulff, the rest by one-man synth band Majeure. Though the musicians have previewed most of the films, the finale is an improvised jam to works they haven't seen.
Films available for preview ranged from Gena Salorino's "Signals" — a montage of grainy, manipulated TV-news and advertising footage — to Nicole Pianella's "Sextions," an implied narrative that starts like a deconstructed romantic comedy and ends like a psychodrama.
Other filmmakers include Maraden himself, Justin Crimone, Andrew Daub, Susan Houseman, Joseph Rievel, Chris Smalley, Stu Steimer, Kyle Vannoy and Rem Lazar.
A special treat will be Opie and Wulff accompanying the short by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE. That's because the film's a clever portrait of Opie himself, reconstituted through short video clips and images of sheet music.
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