Editor’s Note: Cinema Reset had another successful “Open Screen” event that took place at on April 21st at Indywood. Mediamakers of all shapes and sizes showed up with short video pieces, and a few of them offered to share their work and experiences with NolaVie. Not everyone can make it out to these open-mic style film screenings, but these are emerging artists making local stories — and we think they’re worth checkin’ out. Here’s one:
Filmmaker:Tiny Circus Current NOLA Neighborhood:Holy Cross and Bywater How would you describe/introduce your video?Tiny Circus is a collaborative project that uses the medium of stop-motion animation to facilitate community-based, community-built experiences for our participants, creating films that are meaningful and engaging for our audiences. All of our projects have been created with a non-hierarchical, truly collaborative process. “Creativity” was conceived and shot during the summer of 2012 by about 15 Tiny Circus members. Audio interview footage on the subject of making and creativity are paired with visual documentation of Tiny Circus’ own making and animating process. Components of the animation come together in a kaleidoscope of creativity in everyday life.
“Pornucopia” was the first project published under our adult circus monicker, “Tiny Circus Big Top.” It’s a pretty literal interpretation of #foodporn. ‘Nuff said.
What do you do when you’re not making cinema?When we’re not working on animations or doing workshops on the road, we can be found hatching ducks, dancing by the light of the silvery disco ball, wearing glitter, doing social projects, drinking High Life, making music, being with friends. Any future movie-making plans?Well, we’d love to do some more Big Top projects. More generally, we want to make things that are meaningful social experiences for people involved in making and people involved in viewing. We’ve been doing more documentary-style animation projects as a way to extend our process outward into the space of communities around us. We want to keep finding ways to start discussions and make animations (or make whatever) with lots of different people!Thoughts on the local cinema community/industry (What’s missing? What’s great? What are you excited about?)?Film is such a great medium, subject, and experience for true collaboration and community. We’re excited to see indie and grassroots cinema projects around the city that invite people of all backgrounds and experiences to enjoy movie making and viewing together.See all videos presented during Open Screen here.
Big Chem-EZ: How can small Louisiana communities access clean drinking water after a hurricane?
When I went to visit the Pointe-au-Chien tribe after Hurricane Ida with my Service Learning class, I heard that one of the biggest challenges in the aftermath of the hurricane was finding enough drinking water, so in this article, I explore water purification methods: 1) when they are necessary, 2) how they work, and 3) if they really make your water safe to drink.
Big Chem-EZ: Why is southeastern Louisiana heavily impacted by storms?
This article explores the positive and negative impacts of the engineering industry on Louisiana, including how it is impacted by storms. The author also suggests a call to action to support Louisiana coastal restoration. Big Chem-EZ discusses how finding the best course of action can be challenging, and introduces various proposed solutions to wetland loss and environmental impacts on Louisiana industries.
