A COLLECTIVE CINEMA -- Millennium Film Workshop Screening Series -- BEGINS JUNE 22 @ 8 PM

LE PETIT VERSAILLES AND MILLENNIUM FILM WORKSHOP PRESENTA MONTHLY SCREENING SERIES FOR THE SUMMER MONTHS!JUNE 22, 8 PMLE PETIT VERSAILLES346 E. Houston St. @ Ave CTWO WRENCHING DEPARTURES BY KEN JACOBSFILMMAKER IN PERSON!2006, 90 min, b&w, soundIn October 1989, estranged friends Bob Fleischner and Jack Smith died within a week of each other. Ken Jacobs met Smith through Fleischner in 1955 at CUNY night school, where the three were studying camera techniques. This feature-length work, first performed in 1989 as a live Nervous System piece, is a "luminous threnody" (Mark McElhatten) made in response to the loss of Jacobs' friends.This film was originally part of Jacobs' so-called Nervous System performances and was first screened in 1990. The Nervous System performances made use of two projectors and the necessary 3-D and other optical effects and were by definition unique and once only thanks to the improvisations of the operator Ken Jacobs himself. In 1989, two of his friends died in quick succession (albeit alienated from each other): Bob Fleischner, filmmaker and founder of the Collective for Living Cinema, and Jack Smith, the most legendary of all New York avant-garde film makers. Jacobs had especially worked very closely with Smith and thanks to their cooperation he had a treasure trove of film material by the two artists. Two Wrenching Departures provides insight into the early years of the New York new cinema in a way that makes the visual opulence and whimsicality of it tangible. Visual vibrations from a cosmic time. Jacobs has worked in recent years as the digital librarian of his own film performances that were legendary thanks to the surprising quality of the often one-off work that most people, even connoisseurs of the New York avant-garde, only know from standard works or secondhand.SCREENING BEFORE:HAND MOVIEYVONNE RAINER1966, 6:17, b&w, silentRainer's first film, Hand Movie, was shot by fellow dancer William Davis when Rainer was confined to a hospital bed, recovering from major surgery and unable to dance. The resulting five minutes of footage is a sustained close-up shot of Rainer's hand against a grey background as it stretches and contracts, bends and points, performing the kinds of everyday, quotidian movements that characterize her pioneering minimalist choreography.--The Millennium Film Workshop is dedicated to the exhibition, study, and practice of experimental film, video, and new media. Whether supporting artists in the development of their work, or critically engaging audiences, our wide range of programs and services place great value on the role artists play in stimulating social change, cultural awareness, and inspiring creativity in others. Much of the work shown and created at Millennium engages ideas and issues rarely covered in mainstream media, and acquaints audiences with new points of view that transcend race, ethnicity, class, age, and geography. This is the nature of non-commercial independent film, and our mission is to keep this art form vital, engaging, and accessible. This mission is fed by low cost access to facilities, equipment, and workshops; open dialogue between artist and audience; programs that provide freedom of expression to all regardless of experience and level of accomplishment; and the exploration of moving picture media in all its forms and its cultural, social, and political impact.--LPV Events are made possible by Allied Productions, Inc., Gardeners & Friends of LPV, Citizens for NYC, The Trust for Public Land, GreenThumb/NYC Dept. of Parks, Materials for the Arts, NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs, NYC Dept. of Sanitation, & NYC Board of Education. LPV Exhibitions are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.