(TV) Music For Film Press Release

[Keith Allison <keith@marquee.demon.co.uk>]

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Kino International is proud to release for the first time on DVD TOM
VERLAINE AND JIMMY RIP: MUSIC FOR EXPERIMENTAL FILM. Spearheaded by 
celebrated musician Tom Verlaine in collaboration with 
producer/guitarist Jimmy Rip, this one-of-a-kind DVD brings seven 
seminal experimental shorts, by diverse filmmakers such as Man Ray, 
Fernand Leger and Hans Richter, accompanied by original scores composed 
by Tom Verlaine and Jimmy Rip. Kinobs TOM VERLAINE AND JIMMY RIP DVD 
is set to prebook on August 28, 2007, with a SRP of 19.95. Its general 
street date is September 25, 2007.
B 
Mr. Verlaine was one of the founders of the NY punk group Television, a 
band that rose to fame with the landmark albums Marquee Moon (1977) and 
Adventure (1978). In 1992, Television re-united to record a new, 
self-titled album. Along with The Patti Smith Group, The Talking Heads, 
Ramones and other bands, Television ushered a new era in independent 
American music in the late 1970s, and is still remembered by the dueling 
guitars of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd and also, by their legendary 
concerts held at the then-unknown New York club CBGB's. Since then, as 
Rolling Stone has stated, Tom Verlaine has btaken a leisurely approach 
to his role as a New York guitar god,b and among other things, has 
dedicated his talents to performing live music along silent prints of 
classic experimental films. Verlaine remains a cited influence on many 
of todaybs new guitarists, ranking number 56 on Rolling Stone 
magazinebs b100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.b
B 
Trained as a classical pianist but widely recognized as a revolutionary
guitarist, Tom Verlaine has released several solo albums, starting with 
a
self-titled debut in 1979. His 1981 album Dreamtime was referred to by
Rolling stone as ba veritable monsoon of guitar playing,b and his 
1982 album Words From The Front and 1984bs Cover, only increased his 
already large fan base.  Jimmy Rip, who has played with Verlaine since 
1981, is a well respected session guitarist, producer, songwriter and 
film composer. He has worked with Mick Jagger, Jerry Lee Lewis, Rod 
Stewart, Willie Nelson and a host of other influential names. He has 
also released one solo record, entitled Way Past Blue, on the House of 
Blues label.
B 
Kinobs TOM VERLAINE AND JIMMY RIP: MUSIC FOR EXPERIMENTAL FILM 
provides a rare opportunity for an established musician like Tom 
Verlaine to add his considerable musical talents to a variety of 
visionary short films. While incorporating elements of rock, country, 
ambient and even classical music, many of the scores written for these 
works have a jazz-like structure, which introduces a melody and then 
masterfully explores its possibilities b mirroring the visual 
experimentations taking place in the films.
B 
Whether this unique blend creates the overriding sense of doom found in 
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, or the quickened beat reflecting the pace of 
the mechanical sensibility in BALLET MECANIQUE, Verlaine and Rip have 
remained sensitive to the intent of the film, while adding their own 
contribution to these works. Ultimately, at the heart of each score, one 
finds the very dynamic created by two intertwined guitars providing an 
audio counterpart to these celebrated experimental films.
B 
Tom Verlainebs newly written scores have been co-commissioned by The 
Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio and Tim Lanza of the Douris
Corporation through a grant from the Ohio Arts Council.B  First 
performed in
Brooklyn, NY, on October 15, 1999, this program has since played in a 
number of film centers, museums and festivals throughout the United 
States and Europe
B 
Here is a list of the films for which Tom Verlaine and Jimmy Rip 
provided
original score:
B 
ETOILE DE MER/STAR OF THE SEA (1928) Directed by Man Ray. Starring Kiki. 
12
minutes. B&W. 35/16MM.
B 
"A more integrated and consciously 'surrealistic' work inspired by 
Robert
Desnos' poem, a love affair thematically unites the whole film. The 
images
are more obviously linked by (sexual) association" - David Curtis,
Experimental Cinema
B 
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (1928)
Directed and photographed by Dr. James Sibley Watson. Written and 
designed by Melville Webber. Based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe. 12 
minutes. B&W.
B 
"Dr. James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber were the first truly
avant-garde American filmmakers ... They reduce the story to its 
essentials, the impact being largely transmitted through the careful use 
of silhouette, multiple exposure and rhythm, which successfully evoke 
the disembodied atmosphere of the piece ... Sets are suggested by light 
and by the patterns made by folded paper rather than by painted or 
three-dimensional props."
- David Curtis, Experimental Cinema
B 
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF 9413 - A HOLLYWOOD EXTRA (1927) Written, produced 
and directed by Robert Florey and Slavko Vorkapich. Starring Jules 
Raucort and Georges Voya. 11 minutes. B&W.
B 
One of the first American films to show the influence of German
Expressionism and the French avant-garde films of the Twenties, this is 
a
satiric fantasy about a man who wants to become a Hollywood movie star.
Reportedly shot for $96.00, this film was largely shot in Slavko 
Vorkapich's
kitchen using cut-out miniatures.
B 
EMAK BAKIA (1926) Directed by Man Ray. 13 minutes. B&W. 35/16MM
B 
According to Man Ray, this film was made in strict conformity with
Surrealist principles. "It opens with a series of apparently unrelated
shots: grain on film; flowers moving; drawing pins in negative; a prism,
reflecting bars of light, rotating at different speeds; car headlights, 
with
a huge single eye superimposed over the radiator between them. As the 
film progresses the car theme becomes dominant ... Individual images are 
striking for their humor and originality, but Ray still apparently felt 
it necessary to impose a conventionally readable theme - the car ride - 
to hold the film together." - David Curtis, Experimental Cinema
B 
RHYTHMUS 21 91921) Germany, 3 Minutes, Directed by Hans Richter.
B 
Dadaist Richterbs first film is a study in shape and form, deliberately
calling attention to the flatness of the projection surface. Of his own
work, Richter said: "The simple square of the movie screen could easily 
be
divided and 'orchestrated.' These divisions or parts could then be
orchestrated in time by accepting the rectangle of the 'movie canvas' as 
the form element. In other words, I did again with the screen what I had 
done years before with the canvas. In doing so I found a new sensation: 
rhythm b which is, I still think, the chief sensation of any 
expression of movement."
B 
B 
BRUMES D'AUTOMNE/AUTUMN MIST (1928) Directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff. 
Starring
Nadia Sibirskaya. 12 minutes. B&W. 35/16MM
B 
Almost a poem dedicated to Sibirskaya's face, the film conveys a single 
mood throughout. A women recalls her past. As she burns some old 
letters, hermemories are shown on the screen. The delicate photography 
makes a subtle essay in atmosphere.
B 
BALLET MECANIQUE (1924) Directed by Fernand Leger. Photography by Dudley 
Murphy. 10 minutes. B&W. 35/16MM
B 
Called one of the most influential works in the history of experimental 
film
by the American Film Institute, this is Cubist painter Leger's only 
film.
It's connection to his two-dimensional work can be seen in the 
fragmentation and multiplication of images, along with a certain 
obsession with mechanical objects.
B 
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