|
Archival CV - Richard James Allen
SCREEN WORKS: FILM, VIDEO AND NEW MEDIA
2013 THE DANCER AND THE DANCE (in progress)
A Physical TV Company Production in association with Critical Path (webpage).
Co-Choreographer, Producer, Performer
For a general audience, the impulse to dance can be like the impulse to run away to the circus, a subject of mystery or romanticism. "The Dancer from the Dance", a new documentary from the multi-award-winning Physical TV Company, asks dancers what it means to them. Featuring over 25 NSW dance artists from under 4 to over 60, this latest work from world leading dancefilmmakers Karen Pearlman and Richard James Allen, is not so much a behind-the-scenes exposé as a behind-the-scenes sharing. What emerges for the audience is a captivating portrait of the life force energy that passes through all beings as they progress on a journey from youth to age, but in this case one that is drawn in and channeled in special ways, as it animates the lives of the dancers.
2013 AT THE FORK (7 episodes x approx 3 minutes each)
A Josef Brown Production (webpage).
Co-Choreographer, Producer, Performer
For a general audience, the impulse to dance can be like the impulse to run away to the circus, a subject of mystery or romanticism. "The Dancer from the Dance", a new documentary from the multi-award-winning Physical TV Company, asks dancers what it means to them. Featuring over 25 NSW dance artists from under 4 to over 60, this latest work from world leading dancefilmmakers Karen Pearlman and Richard James Allen, is not so much a behind-the-scenes exposé as a behind-the-scenes sharing. What emerges for the audience is a captivating portrait of the life force energy that passes through all beings as they progress on a journey from youth to age, but in this case one that is drawn in and channeled in special ways, as it animates the lives of the dancers.
2012 DANCE ME TO THE END OF LOVE (11:30 minutes)
A Tim Marshall and Martha Goddard Production. Director: Martha Goddard. (webpage)
Choreographer
A touring duet dance their final performance in this heartfelt and intimate portrait of fading love.
• A dance drama film for two actor/dancers.
Shortlisted for the Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films at the 2012 Sydney Film Festival.
Winner, Best Short Film and Best Director at Women's Independent Film Festival, West Hollywood.
Official Selection, New York's Dance on Camera Festival, 2013
2011 MONK, RELOADED (Approximately 3:30 minutes)
A Physical TV Company Production. (webpage)
Choreographer, Director, Co-Producer
A collaboration between Australian director/choreographer/performer Richard James Allen and German light/sound/sculpture interactive installation artist Chris Ziegler, The Physical TV Company's latest dance film, “Monk: Reloaded” draws on real time interactive installation technology to create an unexpected cinematic experience of living in the moment.
• Acquired for multiple broadcasts on ABC TV, selected for twelve international festival screenings and first shortlisted for finalist consideration for the 2012 Blake Prize and subsequently selected for the 2012 Directors Cut Exhibition, an online exhibition that will feature on the Blake Prize Society's website from 16 January 2013 until 16 April 2013.
• Nominated an ‘Ellie’ at the Australian Screen Editors (ASE) Awards 2012 - the Digistor Award for Best Editing, Open Content for Karen Pearlman
2009 ENTANGLEMENT THEORY (Approximately 10 minutes)
A Physical TV Company Production. (webpage)
Choreographer, Director, Co-Producer
A busy dancing man takes a nap in two realities.
A ‘mixed reality’ dance film. What ideas, images or stories does a mix of the online virtual world technology Second Life and real life dancing ask for? Entanglement Theory proposes the hypothesis that: a mash-up of Vedic spiritual philosophical ideas of multiple states of consciousness, different forms of body, and multi-dimensional realities, along with science fiction-like theories of quantum particle entanglement, can be explored with this mix of media. In other words that the two dancing men, each in their own reality, can meet, by crossing over boundaries of conventionally perceived time and space, and populate each other's performances.
• Work in progress screening at Dance Shed and the SEAM Symposium 2009 Spatial Phases at Critical Path in Sydney , and the time.transcendence.performance Conference at Monash Univeristy in Melbourne. The completed ‘mixed reality’ dance film subsequently screened at almost thirty international film festivals including at New York’s Dance on Camera Festival in 2010.
2009 BENEFIT (Approximately 15 minutes)
An AFTRS Production, Director: Jakub Jacko. (webpage)
Choreographer
When a rock legend dies, a young musician is forced to face questions about his own future.
• A blues rock musical film with twenty-two dancers, screened at Dungog Film Festival.
2009 LONELY (Approximately 15 minutes)
An AFTRS Production, Director: Matthew Limpus.
Choreographer
A beautiful stripper with a cloudy past comes between a disturbed man and his inner daemon.
• A thriller with supernatural themes, screened at Dungog Film Festival.
2009 WORK LOVE DANCE TRUST (Approximately 3 minutes)
A Superduper Production, Director: Jakub Jacko. (webpage)
Co-Choreographer
A beautifully imagined music video and dance film to Paul Greene's quirky, catchy, and emotive song of freedom, Work Love Dance Trust depicts a world of automaton-like factory workers who, through their imaginative dance play, transform their drudgery into creativity, their constriction into freedom.
• A music video for thirteen dancers.
2009 IDENTITY IN MOTION: KAREN PEARLMAN (Approximately 10 minutes)
An AFTRS Production, Director: Martha Goddard. (webpage)
Co-Choreographer
What happens when an innovative contemporary dancer decides to become an academic authority in editing?
• A documentary including archival footage from earlier Physical TV, Tasdance and That Was Fast Productions.
2009 CATCH (Approximately 3 and half minutes)
Director: Martha Goddard. (webpage)
Choreographer
Three different women experience a moment that unites them.
• A dance film for three dancers.
2009 WALKER (Approximately 2 and half minutes)
Director: Annette Golden. (View on YouTube)
Choreographer
A streetwalker restakes her emotional and physical territory.
• A dance film for one dancer.
2009 HELMUT (Approximately 2 minutes)
Director: Maximillian Hemmings. (View on Vimeo)
Choreographer
A conceptual dance piece.
• A dance film for two dancers, one guitarist and three helmuts.
2009 BREATHE (Approximately 3 minutes)
An AFTRS Production, Director: Trinni Franke. (webpage)
Choreographer
A woman is confronted by challenges during a rite of passage.
• A dance film for seven dancers.
2008 THIS HEART ATTACK (Approximately 4 minutes)
Choreographer (webpage)
Choreography for six dancers performing live with Faker at Acer Arena at the 2008 ARIA Awards.
• Broadcast on Channel TEN.
Review
• "Faker's spirited rendition of 'This Heart Attack' looked amazing,
with an electrifying set of dancing skeletons in the background." ninemsn.com.au
2008 SEXUALITY, FRIENDSHIP, SENSUALITY (Approximately 3 ½ minutes)
A Danielle Lauren Production in association with The Physical TV Company,
Director: Danielle Lauren. (webpage).
Choreographer
An exploration of different aspects of male-female relationships.
• A 16mm black and white duet dance film and interactive installation currently in post production
2008 BEAT MY BUTTERFLY (approximately three minutes each)
An Artmedia Production, Director: Alan Clay.
Choreographer
for first two dance podcasts
A cross media project, based on the novel Dance Sisters by Alan Clay,
including multiple podcasts leading to a feature film.
• Released on YouTube.
2008 SOS (3 and a half minutes)
A Straighty180 Production, Director: Dan Reisinger.
Choreographer (webpage)
A Gin Wigmore Music Video.
• Released by Universal.
2008 TOO MUCH TO DO (3 minutes)
A Straighty180 Production, Directors: Dan Reisinger and Max Brown. (webpage)
Choreographer
A Sparkadia Music Video.
• Clip of the Week, Channel V, Foxtel.
• Broadcast on ABC TV Rage, Video Hits, YouTube, etc.
• Featured in Ausdance DanceNSW online Dance Clips
2008 SLEEPWALKING (3 minutes)
A Fish’n’ Clips Production, Director: Luke Eve. (webpage)
Choreographer
A Faker Music Video.
Screenings and Awards:
• Shortlisted for the Award for Dance on Film at 2009 Australian Dance Awards
with the following citation:
"Richard James Allen
Sleepwalking
For his choreography of the song by Faker contributing to this short film
integrating screen and dance arts in a thought-provoking music video
that is eerie, surreal, humorous and entertaining."
• Selected for Triple J Hottest 100 DVD Volume 16
• Screened at 2009 SoundKILDA Festival in Melbourne
• (To the best of my knowledge) Multiple Screenings on ABC TV and Commercial and Cable Channels
• Released by EMI.
2008 REINCARNATING THURSDAY’S FICTIONS (Approx. 10 minutes)
A Physical TV Company Production, edited by Gary Hayes. (webpage)
Choreographer, Producer
A documentary on the incarnations of Thursday’s Fictions as a book, live performance work, film, 3D online immersive world and machinima.
• Featured at “Drawing stories, playing with poems”, an exhibition at the Australia Council for the Arts, 1 Feb - 1 May 2008, featuring innovative, cross-artform collaborations and emerging forms of artistic practice.
2008 THE SUN’S SEARCH FOR THE MOON, EPISODES TWO
(Approx 5 minutes) Webpage: Episode 2 (webpage)
Writer, Director, Choreographer
A Physical TV Machinima filmed in Thursday’s Fictions in Second Life, drawing on and building out from the original stage production, book and film of Thursdays Fictions. Series Creators: Richard James Allen and Karen Pearlman.
Pilot Episode 2 for a sequel to Thursdays Fictions, picking up where the film leaves off, but also following characters that appeared in the original stage production and book but not in film, as Wednesday searches for his lost twin.
• Special Preview Screening at Opensource: {Videodance}, Findhorn, Scotland.
2007 THE SUN’S SEARCH FOR THE MOON, EPISODES ONE
(Approx 5 minutes) Webpage: Episode 1 (webpage)
Writer, Director, Choreographer
A Physical TV Machinima filmed in Thursday’s Fictions in Second Life, drawing on and building out from the original stage production, book and film of Thursdays Fictions. Series Creators: Richard James Allen and Karen Pearlman.
Pilot Episode 1 for a sequel to Thursdays Fictions, picking up where the film leaves off, but also following characters that appeared in the original stage production and book but not in film, as Wednesday searches for his lost twin.
• Special Preview Screening at Opensource: {Videodance}, Findhorn, Scotland.
• Featured on RealTime Portal (webpage).
2007 THURSDAY’S FICTIONS IN SECOND LIFE
(www.thursdaysfictions.com) (webpage)
Writer, Director, Co-Producer
A Physical TV Company Production in association with AFTRS LAMP (The Australian Film Television and Radio School - The Laboratory for Advanced Media Production), The Literature Board of the Australia Council – The Story of the Future, and The Project Factory.
A 3D online immersive storyworld launched, using texts from the original book and film, and also drawing on other writing by Richard James Allen, in particular his poetic novel, The Kamikaze Mind (www.thekamikazemind.com).
Awards:
Thursday’s Fictions, Finalist, Best Multi-Modal Production, 2008 Enhance TV Atom Awards, Melbourne.
Reviews:
“One of the “Five Must-See Sites” in Second Life.”
Bettina Tizzy, New World Notes
I finally found something in Second Life that I will come back too - The Afterlife! Thursdays Fictions. A fantastica, Esperance (240, 40, 21)...I found the whole experience eerie....I have trouble with Second Life - it's very swarm based and there's not much purpose to most of the installations. This Thursday's Fictions is an exception. Gary Hayes (Gary Hazlitt inworld, associated with The Project Factory) is without doubt Australia's leading expert (if not the world) on Second Life development.
Laurel Papworth, Online Communities - Australia and Global.
I am sure anyone who has ventured into the virtual 3D world of Second Life has at least for a moment reflected on the big issues of life. Even if it is simply questions about who you are provoked by the experience of creating of an avatar. Last night I took some time out to explore and reflect in the Thursday’s Fictions build, a surreal story of a woman who tries to cheat the cycle of reincarnation to get eternal life. This is an art project about reincarnation, but as a story it has also reincarnated across a number of genres. It is a book, a film and now a virtual experience in Second Life....As you explore the interactive you are provoked to ask yourself those big questions in life and to move forward in the world of Thursdays Fictions you must answer them. This build makes you think about what is important, what values you hold, and how you view the afterlife. It is a reflective and complex experience highlighted by the medium because of its very artificiality.
Sharonb, "Life, the Universe and Everything at Thursday's Fictions", Mindtracks
Thursday's Fictions raises the bar for everyone on how to plan before you rez a prim. This is also a highly recommended visit for a very new kind of experience in SL.
Bettina Tizzy, "Karma in Second Life is certain: Whatever you don't do, won't come back to you - Thursday's Fictions", Not Possible in Real Life
This build clearly is created to make visitors think about what is important, values they hold dear, and how they view the afterlife. The haunting music of Micheal Yezerski ebbs and flows throughout. Fragmented narrative floating in bubbles, crawling up a wall or whispered by a mirror moves the visitor along in the story. There are puzzles to solve to continue on the journey though Thursday’s Fictions.
Scarlott Qi, “Experience the next life at Thursday’s Fictions", Second Life News Network
"Thursday's Fictions: Extension of an interactive fantasy/dance movie, with cool effects, eery sounds, and really makes you think about life."
Natalia Zelmanov, "Travel Guide - Things to See", Second Life Diary
This is a place that I have heard lots about. It's still under construction but already it's a wildly moody and atmospheric build. Upon arrival, a series of text quotes quietly appear at the bottom of your screen; thought-provoking and mysterious they set the scene for your journey. There are bare trees with the wind rattling through them. It's always dark and an ominous mist swirls around the bare ground. A sign directs me to my 'Next Incarnation' and I follow its direction. Mysterious sounds and music emerge from the bare forest, giving me the uncanny impression that I'm being watched. I find myself in a dead end with my only option to press a sign to be transported to purgatory. This environment is as disturbing as the last. The area is bounded on one side by a metal fence, with ravens flying lazily by. A red moon sits on the horizon. Just to be contrary I try and fly over the fence - no go. I turn the other way and there is a dark old building that looks like a church. I enter in.
This is an experience to be taken slowly. The mist urges you on and a beam from a skylight falls on the dark ground. On the wall is the inscription 'Karma is certain. Whatever you do will come back to you.' And you can't help but think back hurriedly to what you might have done that would compromise your next incarnation which is immanent. In the meantime the Purgatory Threshhold is whispering to you: 'Why are you so apprehensive?' and you know, I can't help but be apprehensive! Once through the threshold I have three options and I resolve to try and come back to explore each of them. I start with the one on the left: The Path of the Mind. And my progress triggers a written commentary. On my right I pass a book shelf labeled, Books of Truth.
I pass through into a large hall, dark and mysterious. Mist still swirling around my feet. This is going to take some exploration. There are a series of alcoves each with a theme: the Alcove of the Search for God, the Alcove of Meditation, the Alcove of the Search for Love, and the Alcove of Change. You can go into each of these. Again, the text encourages you to contemplate and reflect.
On the other side of the hall there are a series of gates. One is labelled 'Now' and the rest correspond to days of the week, but all but 'Friday' are under construction. So this is the way I head. There is a train track with a drop on either side. I fall off the track and fall into complete darkness. I turn and see a door and enter into a room full of wheels and cogs like some cosmic machinery. One wall is taken up by a mirror and I get the feeling I should enter into the mirror.
I finally get through the mirror with some camera fancy work but it's just the same as the other side. On the back wall is a lift to the second floor. Aaagh! I touch the lift but I don't have time to get in and it goes without me! I eventually get it right but there is a trick! I'm up on the second floor and it is a warm, friendly but deserted room. Again, there's a mirror and I try and get through it. It's not so hard now I know what to do. A board tells me to find Thursday's trunk and click on it. There are stairs in the corner and it seems logical to try up there. The stairs lead to an attic full of old cartons and wardrobes, even a gallows! I find Thursday's trunk and a tunnel opens. I walk along the tunnel that is glary but beautiful. I walk out of the end of the tunnel and it's black. There's a doorway and I walk through it. I find myself back in the hall where I originally had to make a choice from three. I don't seem to be able to move from here.
The whole thing is very thought-provoking. You are urged to move on with subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) signs and markers. There's lots of subtle movement, sounds, and text which gives you the feeling of being watched. Apparently, it's based on a movie and a book of the same title so I must track those down. This was a very beautiful experience, at times disturbing but well worth a look! I'm also looking forward to it being completed.
Rupert Uriza, “Thursday’s Fictions”, Rupert in Second Life
Quotes:
This was an amazing way to spend time on a Sunday morning! This starts like a fairy tale: I am in the dark dark woods and am not sure how I got there. Here lies the void--filled with terror and uncertainty. So I keep going, because what else can be done until I have knowledge of where I am? Trees and walls whisper if I stand too close. The depot, filled with ethereal music and phantasmagoric winds, makes me feel as if I've fallen into a gothic novel. Fantastic! I can only say that this hero's journey of sorts...starting with the crossing of the threshold into the world of the fantastic...is well planned. I cannot wait to see all the life choices in the depot fully realized. And since I came to Thursday's Fictions backwards (seeing SL first), I will definitely have to watch the DVD. What a hook!
Ananke Swamphen (SL)
Amazing build so far, please finish this, one of the best I have seen so far. I want to see this movie now as well. Never heard of it before visiting this sim. Really pleased to have found this.
Jenene Lemaire (SL)
I have to say it’s at or near the top of my list of most interesting places and am anxious to see more of it as it's built. I wish you success with your book and film and I'll have to see it when it comes to the US.
Dahlia Trimble (SL)
YESSSSS! I've been in SL nearly two years, and this is the best thing I've seen so far. Don't miss this, it's wonderful. This is a pretty intensive installation - not only from the emotional standpoint, but also because the visitor will stay longer that usual (I think I spent an hour there!).
Dr. Sharon Collingwood, Department of Women's Studies, Ohio State University
2006 THURSDAY’S FICTIONS (FILM) (54 minutes)
(www.thursdaysfictions.com)
Writer, Director, Choreographer, Performer
A Physical TV Company Production.
A woman named ‘Thursday’ finds out she is going to be reincarnated as ‘Tuesday’. Her attempt to cheat the cycle of reincarnation unleashes a terrible beauty that leaves the other ‘days of the week’ in turmoil. A fantastical feature film based on my NSW Premier’s Literary Award-winning book of the same title.
Awards:
Thursday’s Fictions, Finalist, Best Multi-Modal Production, 2008 Enhance TV Atom Awards, Melbourne.
Thursday’s Fictions, Winner, Best Experimental, 2007 Enhance TV Atom Awards, Melbourne.
Thursday’s Fictions, Winner, Gold Medal for Excellence: Director’s Choice for Artistic Excellence in a Feature Film, 2006 Park City Music Festival, Utah.
Thursday’s Fictions, Winner, Special flEXiff Award at The Fourth and the Last Experimental International Film Festival, 2006, Western Sydney, Australia, judged from among over 300 entries from 42 countries and 97 finalists
for "film as artwork".
Thursday’s Fictions, Winner, Best Original Song Composed for the Screen,
for “Aria”, 2006 APRA-AGSC (Australian Guild of Screen Composers)
Screen Music Awards
Thursday’s Fictions, Finalist, Best Editing in a Television Drama,
Australian Screen Editors Guild Awards
Thursday’s Fictions, Finalist, Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie,
2006 APRA-AGSC (Australian Guild of Screen Composers)
Screen Music Awards
Thursday’s Fictions, Finalist, Best Soundtrack Album, 2006 APRA-AGSC
(Australian Guild of Screen Composers) Screen Music Awards
Thursday’s Fictions, Finalist, Best Achievement in Sound for a Tele-Feature or Mini-Series, 2006 Australian Screen Sound Awards
Thursday’s Fictions, Shortlisted, Kenneth Slessor Prize,
2000 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards
for the book Thursday’s Fictions on which the film is based
Broadcasts:
Thursday’s Fictions was first broadcast in Australia on ABC1
on Sunday July 29, 2007 at 3pm, in conjuction with
the launch on the ABC Island of Thursday's Fictions in Second Life.
It was subsequently broadcast on ABC2 on August 31, 2008, at 10pm,
and on ABC1 on Sunday November 8 at 11.15pm.
Switch TV (Internet Broadcasts of Trailer)
You Tube (Internet Broadcasts of Trailer)
Vimeo (Internet Broadcasts of Trailer)
2006 THURSDAY’S FICTIONS (FILM) (54 mins) (cont’d)
(www.thursdaysfictions.com)
Screenings:
• Park City Film Music Festival, Utah, in competition for ‘Best Use of Music
in a Full-Length Feature Film’
• Screendance: The State of the Art Conference at the American Dance Festival, Durham, North Carolina,
an excerpt from the film shown as part of ‘Stories Told by the Body’, a curated screening of Australian
and New Zealand Dance Films
• Bates Dance Festival, Lewiston, Maine, as part of a retrospective
‘The Physical TV Company: Dance on Screen’
• The Woods Hole Film Festival, Massachusetts, screening in competition in the category ‘Narrative Feature Films’
• The Fourth and the Last Experimental International Film Festival (flEXiff 2006), Sydney, finalist, screening in competition.
• Eerie Horror Film Festival, Erie, Pennsylvania, screening in competition
• Cinewest Installation Presentation at ARTiculate Arts Fair, Western Sydney
• Dance Flicks, Dancehouse, Melbourne,
Special Presentation including Q & A.
• Festival Internacional de Videodanza de Buenos Aires, Argentina,
Screening in ‘Panorama Video Dance’ programme
• Alternative Film/Video Festival in Belgrade, Serbia,
Screening in ‘Panorama’ programme
• Dance on Camera Festival, New York City,
Special Screening including Q & A.
• Cyprus International Film Festival, Official Selection, Nicosia
• AFIA International Film and Video Festival, Aarhus, Denmark,
Screening in Official Festival Programme, d’Arte section
• Dance Camera Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey, as part of a retrospective screening
of ten works entitled A Dance Television: Physical TV
• Popcorn Taxi, Sydney, Special Presentation including Q & A.
• Cinewest Cinemateque, Western Sydney
• Cyprus International Film Festival, Nicosia, Official Selection
• AFIA International Film and Video Festival, Aarhus, Denmark,
Screening in Official Festival Programme, d’Arte section
• Dance Camera Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey, as part of a retrospective screening
of ten works entitled A Dance Television: Physical TV
• Higher Ground as part of International Dance Day, Northern New South Wales
• Dundog Film Festival, Dundog, New South Wales, Australia
• Popcorn Taxi, Sydney, Special Presentation including Q & A with creators
• London International Dancefilm Festival, United Kingdom
• International Dance Film Festival, Dance and Media, Japan
• Dance: Film 09, Edinburgh, Scotland
• III Mostra Internacional de Videodança de São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil
• Singapore Arts Festival
Reviews:
• "The Pan’s Labyrinth of dance...Thursday’s Fictions is audacious. A mesmerising fantasy, a sensuous, oneiric landscape that reaches past the process of watching film. A story you will experience rather than follow (in the usual sense), almost as if a forgotten synapse has been tweaked and brought to life. Like a new bardo. A fresh, entrancing mythology. ‘Fictions’ that, like ideas and meanings, can quickly solidify in new and unexpected pathways...
Thursday’s Fictions is by turn beautiful, unsettling or inspiring. It is visually ravishing and, at times, scary. Conceptually and cinematically, it is no less than a work of genius. I don’t think I can remember a time when I wished I had more than five stars to give a film. Quite simply, it is the best piece of cinema I’ve seen this year."
Chris Docker, Eyeforfilm (read full review)
• "The production is exquisite, intriguing and exuding art. The Director and Choreographer Richard James Allen created a world of fantasy in which erotic and stunning imagery unfolds in front of your eyes. The drama is embedded with horror and sexuality, with passion and pain, beauty and nightmares. Thursday’s Fictions is in a way an opera in which dance and drama are the centre piece. The choreography is quite rich and original and the dancers’ performance is sumptuous. The original orchestral music in this production is enthralling and moves the audience through sounds that go from the poetic to the dramatic."
Dr Beatriz Copello, Meapcare
• “[A] visually and aurally sumptuous production…a visceral pleasure... [Director Richard James] Allen brings a dancer’s and choreographer’s embodied understanding of subjective engagement to his overall direction of the film…In reflecting upon the effectiveness of using movement to inform the audience of characterisation, at an embodied, preverbal level of consciousness, perhaps the closest comparison to be made in contemporary popular cinema-going might be that of the recent martial spectacles, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000), Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2002), and House of Flying Daggers (Zhang Yimou, 2004). These films convey much of the desires and intentionality of the characters’ lives through the way they move and interact on screen. But an important difference between Thursday’s Fictions and these films is that martial arts movies are, in the end, about using movement to protect one’s self while injuring another. The pleasure of seeing a diverse range of movement patterns used to convey intentionality and interaction, without feeling constantly assaulted, is one of the satisfying qualities achieved by [Karen] Pearlman’s intuitive and sensitive approach to editing.”
Dr Mark Seton, "Movement towards innovation", Metro Magazine, Issue 154, October 2007
Quotes:
• “So intense, so kinetic, original and dark. Lovely."
Sara Rudner, New York Choreographer
• “A masterpiece."
Anna Brady Nuse, Festival Coordinator,
Dance On Camera Festival, New York
• “A wonderful film! I love the ‘Dance Opera’ mythology.
Intense and captivating and beautiful and uplifting.”
Jodi Kaplan, www.jodikaplan.com
• “A sweeping and sensual cinematic experience of music, dance and surreal fantasy - a shining example of putting the art back in arthouse.”
Leslie Harlow, Festival Director, Park City Film Music Festival,
Gold Medal Award Citation,
Director’s Choice for Artistic Excellence in a Feature Film.
• “A wildly inventive and highly entertaining film."
Andrew Mackie, Dendy Films
• “'Thursday's Fictions' is mesmerizing and fulfills the foremost requirement in the art of filmmaking, which is to experiment with content and form equally.”
Vahid Vahed, Artistic Director, CINEWEST and Festival Director,
The Fourth and the Last Experimental International Film Festival (flEXiff)
• “A dramatic and emotive film which is unique
and captures dance in a way I have not seen before on film”.
Edweana Wenkart, Director, Tsuki Pty Ltd
• “This (Australian) work is singular in its vision to create a full length dance film that is an amalgam of dance, music and drama.…The commitment and tenacity it takes to produce, on film, a dance work of this length, is testament to the company’s drive and vision.”
David Corbet, Artistic Program Manager, Dance Flicks
2004 REALISTIC (approx. 3 minutes)
Writer, Co-Director, Choreographer
A Physical TV Company Production in collaboration with Abigail Portwin, assisted by Reeldance/ One Extra Company.
Currently in postproduction. A short film about faith.
2004 TOGETHER (8.30 minutes) (webpage)
Co-Writer, Co-Executive Producer
A More Sauce, Danielle Kelly, Physical TV Company, Madeleine Hetherton Production.
A man enters a house and is confronted by a series of memories of events from the past. Together is a film about the things we leave behind. Staring Rowan Marchingo and Alexandra Harrison from internationally acclaimed Australian physical theatre company Legs on the Wall.
Awards:
Winner, Inside Film People’s Choice Award,
2004 ReelDance Awards for Australian & New Zealand Dance Film & Video
Finalist, 2005 IMZ dance screen Award for Best Screen Choreography
(not longer than 15 minutes)
Shortlisted for Best Dance Film, 2004 Australian Dance Awards
Certificate of Distinction, 2004 American Dance Festival, Dancing for Camera
Shortlisted for the 2004 ReelDance Awards
for Australian & New Zealand Dance Film & Video
Shortlisted for Best Dance Video, Il Coreografo Elettronico,
Festival Internazionale di Videodanza, Naples (Napolidanza)
Highly Commended by Bob Lockyer, BBC Judge,
Dance for the Camera Festival, Utah, USA
Runner up, SBS Eat Carpet Award, World of Women International Film Festival
Winner, Best Editing, Fitzroy Shorts 2005
Runner up, Best Film, Fitzroy Shorts, 2005
2003 DOWN TIME JAZ (11.38 minutes) (webpage)
Producer, Co-Writer, Co-Choreographer, Performer
A Physical TV Company Production.
A delightful and infectious animated dance film, Down Time Jaz is a ferris wheel ride through family life from the point of view of the second child who must save the rest of her family from itself.
Down Time Jaz was a Preselection Finalist for a 2003 ATOM Award
in the Best General Experimental Category.
2002 WHAT I DID ON MY NERVOUS BREAKDOWN (1.55 minutes)
Writer, Choreographer, Performer (webpage)
A Physical TV Company Production.
An edgy mix of text and dance, and a lateral look at the usual start of term school report on fun activities during the break(down).
Winner, People’s Choice Award, 2002 Australian Poetry Festival.
2002 NO SURRENDER (12 minutes) (webpage)
Writer, Director, Choreographer, Producer
A Physical TV Production in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
No Surrender tells the story of a young Indigenous woman who is invaded, terrorised and physically attacked by an unseen intruder wielding a camera. As she nears the point of surrender, the woman’s spirit separates from her body and, through the language of dance and spiritual movement, she finds the strength to fight back and overcome her attacker.
Winner, Best Experimental Film at the 2002 Annual ATOM Awards
for Film, Television, Radio & Multimedia in Melbourne
Winner, Best Music for a Short Film in the 2002 APRA-Australian Guild of Screen Composers
Screen Music Awards
Winner, Gold Medal for Excellence: Audience Favorite at the Awards for Best Impact of Music
in Independent Film - Short Films, 2004 Park City Music Festival, Utah.
Highly Commended, the Australian Cinematographers' Society, Short Film Category
Shortlisted for Best Sound Design, the Australian Screen Sound Guild Awards,
Short Film category
Shortlisted for the 2002 ReelDance Awards for Australian & New Zealand Dance Film & Video
Finalist for the Short Trips @ The Melbourne Fringe 2002 Best Film Award
“A powerful partnership of performance and screen techniques…a memorable short film.”
Jill Sykes, The Sydney Morning Herald
“No Surrender points the way to the possibilities that abound when collaboration occurs across forms and new technologies are integrated into the totality of the vision.”
Hunter Cordaiy, RealTime/New Media Scan 2002: film
2001 RUBBERMAN ACCEPTS THE NOBEL PRIZE (6 minutes) (webpage)
Co-Writer, Choreographer, Producer, Performer
A Physical TV Production in association with the Australian Film Television and Radio School.
A superhero who speaks only the language of dance makes an outrageous, graceful and rambunctious physical acceptance speech.
Shortlisted for Best Dance Film at the 2001 Australian Dance Awards
Shortlisted for Best Short Film at Shepparton Shorts Short Film Festival in Victoria.
Winner, the 2001 AFTRS Critic’s Circle Award for Best Production Design for Kate E. Wills
Shortlisted, the 2001 AFTRS SMPTE Creative Technology Award for Digital Effects
for Andy Canny
Featured in Dance, Camera, Action2, Dennis Alexander’s trailer for
the 3rd Constellation Change Screen Dance Festival in London,
Winner, DPA Award in Germany for Best Editing in a Promotional Trailer.
“Part poetic manifesto, part movement piece, Rubberman also does karate in comic strip colours, KAPOW! style text harking back to the days of cheesy Batman stoushes. Warped screen effects and lightning zooms show that the Physical TV Company is easing with maturity into film, doing much more with it than merely recording performance. They also seem to be the only bunch attempting this sort of thing in Australia, and doing it well.”
Christopher Strickland, Independent Filmmaker
2001 BREATHE (5 minutes) (webpage)
Co-Producer, Script Consultant, Yoga Choreographer, Performer
A Sattvic Production in association with The Physical TV Company.
In a dance film which contrasts yoga and fight choreography, violent thoughts interrupt a search for tranquility.
2000 A DANCER DROPS OUT OF THE SKY (1:40 minutes) (webpage)
Co-Producer, Co-Choreographer, Performer
A Physical TV Production.
In A Dancer Drops Out of the Sky digitally generated choreography allows our hero to slide from Italy via Sydney to Poland and back to the clouds in one extended phrase.
A Dancer Drops Out of the Sky was a Finalist for Best Original Music for an Animation at the Australian Screen Composer’s Guild for composer Amanda Brown, and a Quarter-Finalist for Animation at the Moondance International Festival in Boulder, Colorado. It was included in DISCulture, a compilation DVD celebrating the creativity of Australian independent film makers and audio video creators in 2002.
1997 THE HOPE MACHINE (23:13 minutes) (order)
Co-Director, Producer, Co-Choreographer, Writer,
Supervising Editor, Performer
A Tasdance/Southern Cross Television Production.
The Hope Machine maps the elision between live work for the screen and screen work for the stage. The dancers glide between the ‘black box’ of the famous Theatre Royal in Hobart, the empty space of the ruined Church at the Port Arthur Historic Site, the four live screen spaces of ‘The Hope Machine’ created by Australian visual artist Simeon Nelson, and the multiple screens created by the directors in filming and post production. Backstage, on stage, on set, on camera, in the stream of technology. Hope, pain, fear, exultation. The Hope Machine is a very contemporary look at the subject of hope with a techno pop edge and a worldly point of view.
"The understanding and patience at times required...to accept such a new innovative style of production and editing has been extremely beneficial and all involved have broadened their skills from the experience."
Ren Middleton, Operations Manager, Southern Cross Television
1997 13 ACTS OF UNFULFILLED LOVE (19:05 minutes) (order)
Producer, Co-Choreographer, Writer, Co-Editor, Performer
A Tasdance/Southern Cross Television Production.
One man's journey through the memories, hopes, dreams and projections of what his emotional life has been or might have been. Through these 13 different dance duets with a range of tonalities, details, innuendos and revelations (and of course 13 is a rather unlucky number) we see the high points, the low points, the sublime and the deeply painful, the confronting, and the just plain silly moments from different relationships he has had or might have had, or wished he'd had.
"In recording the poetry...[we were] plagued with technical problems in the studio....I was aware of Karen and Richard's refusal to compromise or accept second-best. Particularly in the second session, Richard demonstrated a meticulousness and precision in directing me in order to obtain the particular nuances he wanted from the words. For an actor, this was a challenging and satisfying experience."
Michael Edgar, Actor, Lecturer in Drama, University of Tasmania
Winner, Artistic Director's Choice Award, Bathurst Film Festival, 1997. "Their mixture of video and dance arts is perfectly spliced together to form a unique, fresh and exciting visual experience which can only be described as masterful!" Geoff Clifton, Artistic Director
Winner, Best Choreography, Special Sidebar Award, Sydney New Video and Film Awards, 1997.
Finalist, Best Cinematography, Sydney New Video and Film Awards, 1997.
1997 THE FRIGHTENING OF ANGELS (41:23 minutes) (order)
Director, Choreographer, Producer, Writer, Supervising Editor
A Tasdance/Southern Cross Television Production
A video dance about pain and suffering and the ability of the human spirit to overcome despair. The soundtrack which alternates a rain of explosions with music by Beethoven emphasises the beauty, glory and power of the possibilities of human creation.
"Very well produced, with striking cinematography."
Cynthia Mann, Australian Film Institute
"It is very tasteful, watchable and disturbing at the same time."
Geoff Clifton, Director, Bathurst Film Festival, Central Western Daily
1997 3 DOCUMENTARIES ON DANCE (approximately 5-6 minutes each)
Producer, Co-Choreographer, Performer
A Tasdance/Southern Cross Television Production
Interviews and discussions about the work with the directors, choreographers and dancers of the New Life on the 2nd Floor trilogy: The Frightening Of Angels, 13 Acts Of Unfulfilled Love, and The Hope Machine.
1996 WHAT IS VIDEO DANCE? (11:25 minutes) (webpage)
Co-Director, Producer, Co-Choreographer, Performer
A Tasdance/Southern Cross Television Production
Interviews with the directors, choreographers and dancers introducing the art form of dance made for the screen. Discussion of camera angles, editing, locations; the difference between working live and for film and television; with examples from previous video dances by Richard James Allen and Karen Pearlman.
1996 SAM IN A PRAM (18:10 minutes) (order)
Co-Director, Producer, Co-Choreographer, Co-Editor, Performer
A Tasdance/Southern Cross Television Production
Sam remembers wild childhood adventures with his uncles and aunts ‘riding roughshod around the corners of the sky’. Sam in a Pram is a light-hearted sequel to the much loved What To Name Your Baby, featuring six exuberant dancers whipping around the cavernously industrial Inveresk Railyards in Tasmania. The rough and tumble movement vocabulary references Mad Max films and Keystone Cops comedy and then stretches these references into highly articulate and astoundingly fast-paced, fully extended, electrically crackling dancing.
"I know I, with other invited guests, were captivated by your artistic interpretation and movement and I eagerly look forward to future presentations."
David Heath, Manager, Village Launceston
1995 WHAT TO NAME YOUR BABY (12:45 minutes) (view excerpt)
Writer, Co-Choreographer, Associate Producer, Performer,
with responsibility for direction of performers,
consultation with director of photography,
and overseeing of editing.
An SBS-TV Production in association with That Was Fast.
A video dance of exaggeration about the joys and terrors of expectant parents as they contemplate the arrival of their first baby. The locations and speed capture the manic energy of the hyper-expectant father and preserve a glimpse of a magical moment in the delighted dancing of the nine months pregnant Karen Pearlman.
"Ms Pearlman, many months pregnant, dances as if she's carrying a soufflé; Mr. Allen provides the poetic narrative about the angst of having a baby."
Dulcie Leimbach, The New York Times
“A sweet-natured and witty look at the pre-parental state.”
Danielle Wood, The Mercury
1993 BLUE CITIES (8 minutes)
Writer, Co-Choreographer, Associate Producer, Performer
An ABC-TV Production in association with That Was Fast.
A Party Girl and an Angel meet on the border of heaven. "Blue Cities is an encounter between a gently bureaucratic border angel and a woman caught in limbo between death and heaven" (The Village Voice, New York City). She has a lot of questions for him and he for her: "What message do you want to leave for eternity? State your name and number clearly at the sound of the beep." Blue Cities combines text ("urban poetry, immediate and demanding", Adelaide Advertiser), with dance ("exhilarating", The Sydney Morning Herald) and chroma key/blue screen technology in a cinematic blend that "touchingly evoked the uncertainties of fallible human beings who find themselves confronted by eternal mysteries" (The New York Times).
1992 DO FOR YOU (4:30 minutes) (webpage)
Co-Choreographer, Co-Acting Coach, Co-Supervisor of Editing
A World's End Film Production for EMI Records.
A music video for the band Euphoria, featuring a girl dancing on top of a TV, a dinning table, a piano and in a bath.
1991 MISTAKES OF HEAVEN (12:25 minutes)
Director, Writer, Camera, Choreographer, Co-Producer, Co-Editor
A That Was Fast Production in association with the New School for Social Research.
Mistakes of Heaven is a poetic/expressionistic film, which shows a man’s progress upward from one stage of hell to the next. It is an experimentally expressed narrative – told in images and movement – of a man tangled in dreams and ambitions which are at once uplifting, mystifying and humbling. Mistakes of Heaven is a humanistic vision of a man who discovers his empathy for others and thus gains some ascent from his own misery.
"All surreal imagery and no words...a poem in visuals."
Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice
1987 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER:
OVER TEN MILLION COPIES SOLD
(approminately 20 minutes)
Co-Director, Writer, Co-Choreographer, Producer, Co-Editor
A That Was Fast Production.
A video dance about quixotic small town characters.
1986 WHITE (12 minutes)
Director, Writer, Co-Choreographer, Co-Producer
A That Was Fast Production commissioned by the New England Computer Arts Association
A computer generated dance film projected as the backdrop to a multi-media performance. A collaboration with award-winning New York video artist Irit Bastry, famed Princeton University computer composer pioneer Paul Lansky, and Obie-award winning actor and Artistic Director of The Talking Band Paul Zimet.
"Painterly black and white video of shifting forms." Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice
1986 THINK TOO MUCH (17 minutes)
Co-Director, Co-Producer, Writer, Co-Choreographer, Co-Editor
A That Was Fast Production.
Two dancers go through the ringer of twentieth century referentiality.
1985 THE WAY OUT AT LAST & OTHER WORK (approximately 1 hour)
Director, Writer, Co-Producer, Co-Editor, Co-Choreographer, Performer
A That Was Fast Production.
One of the first in a now popular form: the video poem. Plus documentary material and examples of collaborations in dance and film in Richard James Allen’s first year in New York City, including America, Information, Vermilyean Rushes and The Way Out At Last.
"A journey into the unconscious. Both verbal and visual images swirl and fade in this experiment with video as an artistic medium. Mr. Allen is a talented, award-winning young poet. His imagery and the cadence of his many phrases are haunting."
Nancy Jack Todd, The Falmouth Enterprise
|
