by Jen Scoville
Film programming is an important part of every respectable museum calendar, and
our Austin Museum of Art (AMOA) is no exception. Though I wasn’t around for the
early days of quixotic outdoor screenings in Laguna Gloria’s amphitheatre — on
a big white screen overlooking the water — AMOA’s involvement in the PBS
series The Territory (currently running on KLRU) has made alternative
works about as accessible as they can be, while also reinforcing the museum’s
dedication to film as an art form. In this town, where alternative and rare
film events are apt to occur almost every night of the week, the need for AMOA to focus on the medium is arguable; the passion of film lovers,
however, is not. AMOA seems to be getting more aggressive about curating film
events, perhaps due to the video screening facilities at the newly opened
downtown AMOA location. Tonight, Thursday, November 7, AMOA is hosting a
special screening of the recent film Basquiat, in conjunction with the
exhibition Two Cents: Works on Paper by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Poetry by
Kevin Young, on view at the Laguna Gloria site through January 5. Visiting
from New York to attend the screening (7:30pm at the Dobie) will be
writer/director/producer Michael Holman, a longtime friend of the artist and
the author of the original story that Julian Schnabel adapted for the film. A
Q&A will follow; tickets are $5 at the Dobie box office. Look in this
section next week for the announcement of another museum-sponsored film/video
event… Austin Free-Net (along with partners Digital Arts and SER-Jobs for
Progress, Inc.) continues their mission to wire the city for cyber access, this
time with the co-founding of the East Austin Media Lab (EAML), which is
celebrating its grand opening Saturday, November 9, 10am-1pm at Our Lady’s
Family Center on Sixth & Chicon where it is housed. By supplying computers
with Internet access to kids and providing the training for them to create
their own multimedia on the Web, EAML hopes to turn a basic Internet access
center into a full multimedia development lab where the artistic ability of
East Austin youth will be explored through technology. A trained, volunteer
staff will be teaching the kids how to use the hardware and software; computer
access will be available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6:30-9pm, and
Saturdays from 9:30am-12noon. With increased funding, EAML hopes to offer
regular seminars and guest presentations to the kids. For more information call
Free-Net director Sue Beckwith at 326-9084 or visit the website at: http:/www.
austinfree.net/… Nerdstock III, a benefit concert for EFF-Austin, local
spiritual brethren to the national cyber-rights organization, The Electronic
Frontiers Foundation, and MAIN (Metropolitan Austin Interactive Network), the
organization dedicated to getting non-profit agencies up on the Web, is
happening on Wed. Nov. 13 at La Zona Rosa. Check the ad on p.37 for the musical
line-up and more details… Don’t miss AFS’s Powell/Pressburger series film
selection for this week (Tue., 8pm, Union Theatre): Peeping Tom, Michael
Powell’s solo, career-stunting horror flick about a bizarre killer who
photographs women as they watch their own murder in his camera lens.
This article appears in November 8 • 1996 and November 8 • 1996 (Cover).