Behind the Screens

Fall Interns join Aurora Team

2011-09-14T16:15:00.000-05:00

Oh how we LOVE our interns! They become a part of the team each semester and while we hate to see them leave, we are always so thrilled to welcome new faces into the office. We have said our farewells to Amber and Gisela, but have already been enjoying the company of our new recruits: Vanessa Godden and Jenny Lim.

As always, please welcome them to the Aurora team!

Vanessa Godden is currently pursuing her B.F.A. in the University of Houston’s Photography and Digital Media program. She is passionate about the arts and interested in achieving a career as a video artist. Some of her favorite artists/influences include Martha Rosler, Joan Jonas, Lewis Klahr, and Vito Acconci.

Jenny grew up in the suburbs of New Jersey and moved to Houston to go to Rice University, from where she graduated in May with a degree in philosophy and visual arts. As an aspiring filmmaker, artist, and writer, she hopes to combine her interests in religious studies, psychoanalytic theory, and cognitive therapy in teaching art at the university level. If she isn't watching a movie, she is usually listening to music or taking a walk. A short list of her favorite directors and dramatists are Anton Chekhov, Henrik Ibsen, Ingmar Bergman, Yasujiro Ozu, Akira Kurosawa, and Stanley Kubrick.

Please Welcome Our New Membership Associate!

2011-08-03T11:32:00.000-05:00

You might recognize this smiling face! We are thrilled to announce that we have hired former intern, Sinai Tirado, as our new Membership and Administrative Associate. It always feels good to promote a volunteer, and we have been fans of Sinai since her days of laboring for free for us- always with a smile and a positive attitude. Sinai will be our office and screening greeter, as well as coordinate all the membership responsibilities and general office management for Aurora Picture Show.

Her first big adventure as Aurora staff will be at the Boot Camp premiere this Saturday, so make sure to congratulate her and give her a big Aurora welcome the next time you see her giving member love at the table or on the phones. (FYI, pronounce her name "Sin-ah-ee")

Best of wishes to our former staff member Tara Roach has moved on to other office adventures with a full-time position in the corporate world of Downtown Houston.

THE BIO OF SINAI TIRADO

Adopting the artistic tendencies of her family back in Venezuela, Sinaí uprooted herself in Houston and received her BA in Media Production from the University of Houston where she discovered her love for video editing. A passion she strives to pursue on various production projects around the world. Besides helping create a unique cinematic experience, you can probably find her riding her bike, trying hearty food, or explaining to people how to pronounce her name (Xena-E).

Meet our Summer Interns- Gisela and Amber

2011-06-07T14:24:00.002-05:00

Each semester, Aurora hires two interns to take under our wing and show all the ins and outs of non-profit media arts administration. Teaching them skills from promotions to event management, and even getting their assistance with managing the video library, Aurora provides students with an opportunity to bridge the gap between studying arts as a student and working as a professional.

This Summer we welcome Amber Bertin and Gisela Parker to our team. If you see them at the office, talk to them on the phone, or see them at a screening please say "Howdy!"

AMBER BERTIN BIO:

Hailing from a family steeped in Texas history, Amber chose to break with tradition and flee the infamous Texas heat for the snowy tundra of central New York state during her collage years. After spending a semester abroad in London and missing the comforts of Southern cooking, she decided to return to her hometown of Houston to intern with the Aurora Picture Show. When she isn’t projecting films on campus, Amber studies English Literature as well as Film & Media at Colgate University. She also enjoys snowball fights, spending time with her dog, and weekly trivia nights with her roommates at the local inn.

GISELA PARKER BIO:

As a child, Gisela wanted to be an artist, a writer, and an astronaut. Now that’s she something resembling an adult, she’s both a photographer and a videomaker, which incorporates those first two dreams perfectly. She’s still working on the astronaut part, though NASA won’t return her calls.

Gisela is currently working on her BFA in Photography at the University of Houston, where she is learning more about digital media, video, and knife throwing. Being an intern at Aurora is very exciting, as it gives her the opportunity to learn more about video art and how it’s made. She’s been to a few Aurora events, and is excited to help with screenings in the future.

Support the Arts in Texas

2011-02-08T12:04:00.000-06:00

Aurora Picture Show recently participated in Arts Advocacy Day organized by Texans for the Arts. We met with elected officials to let them know how important it is that they support the arts in Texas, but one day of advocacy is not enough! They need to hear from you too. With pending budget cuts, the Texas Commission on the Arts is at risk. Please visit www.texansforthearts.com to find out who your elected official is and make your voice heard by calling, sending a letter, writing an email or making an appointment to let them know you support the arts. Make your voice heard and keep the arts alive in Texas.

Here is some useful information from Texans for the Arts created for our meetings:

Legislative Talking Points for the 82nd Legislature
Why the Arts Matter

The arts enrich our lives. From the small-town high school musical that packs the auditorium with beaming family and friends, to the regional theater where groundbreaking new plays are brought to life, the arts enlighten us, bring us happiness and allow us to connect with each other more fully. Quite simply, the arts are essential to the vibrancy and fullness of American life.

Arts Use of Hotel Occupancy Tax
It is critical to protect the current provisions of the Texas Tax Code regarding the authorized use of municipal hotel occupancy tax for the encouragement, promotion and improvement of the arts in all its forms, including those disciplines referred to as the creative industries.

Funding for the Texas Commission on the Arts
TFA has long been a proponent of increased funding for the TCA - funding to equal at least the national average of state per capita spending -- $1.00 per Texan. However, we are keenly aware of the current fiscal health of our state and the reality that all state agencies must sacrifice. We are, therefore grateful for the current level of funding present in HB & SB 1 that provides for continued investment in local arts organizations.

TFA also recognizes, however, that one small portion of the TCA budget that has been totally eliminated is the strategy that supports participation in arts and cultural events: most importantly funding for cultural tourism grants and marketing for cultural tourism events. TFA urges reinstatement of these funds for the following reasons:

- TCA works under an existing Memorandum Of Understanding with four other state agencies to promote Texas cities and towns as tourist destinations.
- This support, and Cultural District designations, strongly impact small businesses in many communities that lack a cohesive presence.
- Each of these cultural districts, which now number 12, demonstrates that the non-profit arts industry directly contributes to the community's economy. These non-profit arts organizations directly employ a substantial number of workers and generate more jobs indirectly through businesses that support the cultural districts. As these small businesses grow and prosper, and cultural tourism increases, more businesses are encouraged to start positively impacting the local economy and state sales tax revenue.
- A few examples of the impact of these funds:

The musical drama TEXAS brings an economic impact of more than 30 million dollars per season to the Panhandle area; The Denton Art and Jazz Festival attracts more than 200,000 annually to Denton (population 109,561); The James Dick Foundation for the Performing Arts summer international music festival, attracting an audience of more than 35,000 people to Round Top (population 77) and; The International Latino Arts Festival and student arts competition benefiting more than 4,000 young people in El Paso and along the Texas/Mexico border.

The Arts in Texas Mean Business
- The creative sector fuels the Texas economy. A 2008 study commissioned by the Texas Cultural Trust and produced by Texas Perspectives found an undeniable connection between support for the arts, a vibrant creative sector and a strong economy.* The findings included these points:
-   Texas' creative sector employs nearly 675,000 workers, representing a 20% growth rate over the past five years.
-   Creative sector wages are, on average, 80.8% higher than non-creative industries, representing the real power behind the state's economy.
-   Creative sector employment will create 140,000 new jobs between 2006 and 2016. This labor force must have the appropriate skill sets, or Texas will risk losing these opportunities to other states.
-   Access to talented, creative people determines where companies choose to locate and grow.
- Non-profit organizations are a vital part of the quality-of-life infrastructure.
-   Attracting and retaining an innovative workforce is accomplished by focusing on three factors communities can directly influence: vitality and diversity of non-profit cultural arts, a well-rounded curriculum in public schools, and economic development emphasizing quality of place.
-   Young professionals consistently rank the availability of a strong arts and cultural sector as one of the top three factors in determining where to live.
- Arts, non-profit arts and cultural organizations combine to form the centerpiece around which large and small communities build successful cultural tourism programs.

Texas Must Lead in Supporting the Creative Arts in Schools
- According to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, creativity, collaboration, critical thinking communication, innovation and problem-solving are essential to prepare our children for the future. The arts are the key component in teaching each of these skills in our schools.
- Multiple studies have found arts education strongly and positively impacts both academic and personal success across socioeconomic groups, especially among disadvantaged populations.
- Studies have also found a substantial overlap between the skills required for innovative occupations and the skills fostered by K-12 arts curriculum.

People who create in our companies - whether they be scientists, marketing experts or business strategists - benefit from exposure to the arts. People cannot create when they work in a culturally sterile environment. The economic benefits of the arts greatly transcend and outlive any of the normal cycle. That is why business invests in the arts - even when times are tough, and when there is increased pressure to manage money more carefully.
                                                                                        -- John D. Ong, Chairman Emeritus, B. F. Goodrich Company

*"20 Reasons the Texas Economy Depends on the Arts and the Creative Sector" is available at www.txculturaltrust.org.

Happy Holidays from Aurora Picture Show!

2010-12-22T11:37:00.000-06:00

Happy Holidays from Delicia, Rachel, Mary, Camilo, Guy & Tara!

We hope all of you are enjoying a wonderful holiday season. As usual, the Aurora family has been so busy popping up cinemas across Houston, hosting coffee talks with emerging artists, hobnobbing with future filmmakers, and keeping up with avant-garde (those kids are crazy), we barely have time to sit down and write this. But it was an exciting year and we know that everyone cherishes these annual holiday letters.

A quick update on the family:

Camilo seems to be liking his latest job assignment - "to finish all the leftovers". Just so you know, the second shelf is his. He continues to complain that we do not provide enough savory treats, so we ordered him some pepperoni pizzas when he spent three weeks at Aurora Boot Camp with thirty-six tweens and teens ALL DAY LONG. He survived unscathed and went on to host classes from most of Houston's university art education programs at the Aurora Video Library, not to be mention still being the only one who really knows how to make sound come out of our speakers and put video on our screens.

We are so proud of our Rachel too, she has finally quit drinking at work - sodas of course. Our resident food truck expert no doubt, she has lead the Aurora team to victory on over twelve free outdoor public screenings this year, complete with pedal parties, live music, and balloon arches, not to mention the countless other screenings, fundraisers, and events this year. Just please don't mention that Willie/rain thing to her... still has her torn up inside.

Mary helps keep the women in the office well-supplied with chocolate candies, much to the dismay of Camilo. Not only has she had sweet success with her personal art endeavors, but she has also proven that no one compares to her when it comes to curating custom shorts programs and one-of-kind live cinema performances like Luke Savisky's —a night that included a lot of sweat, six projectors, 4 cameras, and multiple projections on grain silos over 60 feet tall. And she still looked cute afterwards.

Delicia is just rocking the whole motherhood balancing act, and even with bouts of "mommy brain," she makes sure that Aurora walks the fine line between classy style and raunchy fun. She even has the other ladies thinking about wearing red lipstick in the new year. But we all know that only the one who rocks the grant deadlines deserves that honor.

The most recent addition of Tara has been seamless. She leaped into the Aurora family 100%, putting on her prom dress when instructed, hitting the streets to sell Aurora memberships and raffle tickets, and always making sure to gather the gang for the perfect "say cheese" moments.

Guy, well he's our guy. No request seems over the top for him, from photo back-drop creation to constructing scaffolding, he is our go-to guy and the first person we all want to share a Saint Arnold brew with at our events.

We also have news from Aurora's first lady Andrea, who is multitasking trudging through the Pittsburgh snow, blogging for Glasstire, completing her Warhol Research fellowship, and working on a desk-wide exhibition (www.andreagrover.com) all while missing her Aurora comrades. Good thing she is the holder of the warmest fruitcake recipe in the South.

Couldn't be prouder of the little Aurora tikes this year - all growing up so fast - and proving their selves and their talents every day. Especially, since, while the family sure knows how to stretch a dollar, this year has been especially rough year for us.

In fact, we hate to ask, but if any of you have anything you could spare in the way of a gift to Aurora this holiday season, it would sure make us all do a special thank you dance and bask in the knowledge that we can make 2011 an even greater year of offerings for Houston and beyond.

Wishing you the most cinematic of holidays,

The Aurora Gang

Design+Film

2010-12-14T12:29:00.002-06:00

Each month Aurora Picture Show hosts a free educational video salon with a visiting curator and/or artist at the Aurora Picture Show Video Library. In November we were lucky enough to have artist, Peter Lucas join us. Lucas facilitated a one-hour discussion on the history of title sequences in film, which included sample excerpts from some popular titles.

Lucas presented a primer on those dynamic, first few minutes of the featured films that set the stage. At their best, these movie appetizers were great short films in and of themselves, combining elements of typography, animation, visual effects, still and live-action photography, music and sound, and clever editing. While it's largely ignored in historic overviews of both cinema and design, Lucas explained, this fringe history of creative, efficient, and often experimental movie intros have had a great impact on contemporary film, art and motion graphics.

Lucas screened a selection of opening sequences that were created in the 1950s and 60s- the "golden age"- and discussed the interdisciplinary history. The clips that Lucas brought for us are listed below, along with their You Tube links (if they are available) in case you missed the salon.

Kreise (Circles) (1933) Short film by Oskar Fischinger

Man with the Golden Arm (1955) Saul Bass http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGnpJ_KdqZE

Anatomy of a Murder (1959) Saul Bass http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLtRcd-BXQ8

Psycho (1960) Saul Bass http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cabjo6bIkk

Vertigo (1958) Saul Bass http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz46qS38OgM

North by Northwest (1959) Saul Bass   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFBzIp3Njao

Ocean’s Eleven (1960) Saul Bass   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWPiwQqv65Y&playnext=1&list=PL4998D4DADCFE2285&index=15

Dr. No (1962) Maurice Binder http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAGXOTUvrB8

Charade (1963) Maurice Binder http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjGDjwxRwpI

From Russia With Love (1963) Robert Brownjohn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2-4NTsFJ6E

Goldfinger (1964) Robert Brownjohn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2-4NTsFJ6E

Nine Hours To Rama (1963) Saul Bass

Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) Wayne Fitzgerald

Dr. Strangelove… (1963) Pablo Ferro http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpikKUy13UE&playnext=1&list=PL9C9407AF26B26EE8&index=11

To Kill A Mockingbird (1962) Stephen Frankfurt

Seconds (1966) Saul Bass http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEDCYAXcl6U

Alfie (end titles) (1966) Vic Singh & Harri Peccinotti   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48oLsDImC5A

Billion Dollar Brain (1967) Maurice Binder http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efvhQ8kWIEY

Thomas Crown Affair (1968) Pablo Ferro http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELgjuHTbT3o 

Bullitt (1968) Pablo Ferro http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkj84Bn3N_s&playnext=1&list=PLFE53A025A3FE4076&index=16

We want to thank the Brown Foundation for their support and Peter Lucas for coming and educating us on this fascinating topic. Aurora is proud to generate meaningful discussions that provide context and encourage media literacy.

To all who missed November's salon, we hope to see you in December! Check our calendar!

Tips from Marcy Garriott

2010-10-06T11:59:00.016-05:00

The Aurora staff were thrilled to host independent documentary filmmaker Marcy Garriott from Austin, this past Sunday. Marcy joined us for a dialogue on the challenges and rewards of independent documentary filmmaking, drawing on her 10 years of experience to cover topics such as selection of subject matter, production tips, collaboration & creativity, finding the story structure, and festivals & marketing. In addition to showing clips from some of her films -- Inside the Circle, and The Least of These; she also shared some useful resources for indie documentary makers out there. Here are some of Marcy's picks:

Directing the Documentary by Michael Rabiger

Documentary Storytelling for Film and Video Makers by Sheila Curran Bernard

Trust the Process: An Artist’s Guide to Letting Go by Shaun McNiff

I Wake Up Screening: What to Do Once You’ve Made That Movie by Laura Kim

Story by Robert McKee

The Complete Independent Movie Marketing Handbook by Mark Steven Bosko

Other useful sites she mentioned were the following:

Austin Film Society- “Docs-in-Progress” and “Narratives-n-Progress” programs. PLUS TFPF grants.
The Independent- print and web-based magazine
Independent Documentary Association
Indiewire
Doculink
Independent Film Project
Center for Social Media- source of Fair Use Best Practices

Hope this is helpful for those who could not make it and stay tuned for Aurora's next Video Salon on "Title Designs in Film" with curator Peter Lucas in November.

Fall Interns Rock Aurora!

2010-09-27T14:43:00.000-05:00

As another semester at Aurora has come and gone, we have welcomed a new intern, but we have been so busy with all things Aurora that we have not had a moment to share all the changes in our internship program. Since last semester we have promoted Tara to a part-time position as our Membership Associate and given a going away pizza party for Summer intern Ariana, but we are not done there. We have had two other changes in our intern army.

Ashley remains with us for another semester in an advanced intern position as an apprentice helping us with all our non-profit responsibilities, and even learning more about development. She keeps our sweet tooth happy and brightens our day with her smiles and yellow dresses.

We are also pleased to welcome Sinai Tirado to our team. Sinai relocated along with her family to Houston at a young age from her native country of Venezuela, but continues to retain the festive tendencies, salsa loving, and flavorful traits of her culture. When not working on video and independent film projects, she spends her time stomping away to the passionate beats of flamenco music, trying new restaurants around the city, or making plans to travel. Her goal is to one day intertwine her love of media and travel to collaborate in various production projects around the world.

Not sure what we would do without these lovely ladies helping us out at events, especially Media Archeology where they glistened alongside the staff with all the set-up needs.

Thank you Ashley and Sinai! We miss you Ariana! Belated congratulations to Tara too! Our interns really do rock.

Tara, Ashley and Sinai

Aurora Curator Mary Magsamen Receives TFPF Grant for Hillerbrand and Magsamen project

2010-08-31T13:31:00.005-05:00

Congratulations are in order to Aurora curator Mary Magsamen and her husband Stephan Hillerbrand. The artist duo received one of thirty-three grants awarded by the Austin Film Society's Texas Filmmaker's Production Fund for their latest video work "Four Place Setting." The fund that began in 1996 has given away over 1.1 million over the years and this year gave away a total of $111,000 in cash and goods to Texas filmmakers. If you missed the recent exhibit of "Four Place Setting" in Houston, you'll hopefully have another chance soon as the artist duo will be using funds to distribute the work to festivals around the country. So look for it at a festival near you!

Not short of a good time at Extremely Shorts

2010-06-28T16:58:00.006-05:00

As June comes to a close, another Aurora anniversary passes (13 years and counting) and Aurora staff put away the karaoke mics, picnic tablecloths, and voting ballots for our annual Extremely Shorts festival. We'd like to send out a special thanks to our juror Donald Harrison from Ann Arbor Film Festival who endured the sauna-like Houston weather, a surprisingly loud visitor at 1 a.m. Saturday, and sing-a-long peer pressure (resulting in a great rendition of "Common People") for this year's fest. All that and he still left the Aurora staff brownies. And congratulations to this year's Audience Choice Winners of Extremely Shorts: (1) La Pinata by Manuel Arija, (2) Short Stitched by Jenalia Moreno (2) and (3) Bulldozer by Melissa Hung (who also happens to the curator behind Aurora's annual Slant Film Festival). Your checks are already in the mail. Thanks to Aurora's ever-kind sponsors for the event including Saint Arnold Brewing Company, Ruggles Green, Whole Foods Market Houston, Tony Mandola's, Brasil, Carlos Lama, Molly Gochman, and Aztec Rentals. See you all next year - we are already plotting for more shorts, more songs, and more beer, naturally.

Meet our Summer Interns

2010-06-02T16:13:00.007-05:00

Each semester, Aurora Picture Show recruits aspiring media arts leaders through our internship program. Interns are integral to the Aurora team and provide much needed support for the many programs that we host. In exchange, Aurora offers hands-on experience and guidance for their ambitions beyond the time in our office.

This Summer, we invited three interns to join our ranks and they have already proven themselves worthy by helping us with all kinds of projects ranging from administrative duties to curatorial assistance. Come and meet Ariana Reyes, Ashley Powell and Tara Roach at an upcoming event where they will be learning the "nomadic-cinema ropes."

ARIANA REYES

Ari Reyes is a quirky writer and digital media artist. She roams the halls of the School of Art at the University of Houston as a Photography/Digital Media student. When not laboriously designing sets for her films, she is found chasing neighborhood cats and hunting down new coffee and tea houses around town. She spends her working days as an academic advisor at Lonestar College and can always be found awake, at the hour that most choose to sleep, catching up on the latest bestsellers. Her work in stop motion animation is her excuse for why she must watch cartoons; her addiction to cereal is just inexplicable. When she heard about the Aurora Picture Show, she quickly grew an attachment and was encouraged by many to apply for an internship, which she was thankfully awarded.

ASHLEY POWELL

My name is Ashley Powell, and I am a Senior at the University of Houston at Clear Lake. My major is Public Service Leadership, which is a fancy name for Non-Profit and Governmental Agency Management. The choice to study under this program has given me many wonderful opportunities, like getting the chance to work as an intern here at the Aurora Picture Show. I absolutely love working here! My skills within the areas of management, marketing, and interpersonal relations are flourishing! I also get to learn a lot of awesome things about the film industry from our awesome staff members! I feel so lucky to have this internship with such an amazing organization with a sush a strong mission and dedication!!

TARA ROACH

Having spent the majority of her childhood in such diverse locations as Scotland and Virginia, Tara recently came to rest in Houston, which is warmer than the other places she has called “home”. She is in her senior year at the University of Houston, studying Photography and Digital Media, and she has a deep and abiding love for video art. When she is not assisting Aurora with sorting, cataloging, and other vital tasks, she loves to cook, swim, hike and take photos. Her dream is to one day run a bunny rescue.

The Story Pirates Were Here

2010-05-03T15:34:00.015-05:00

The Aurora staff are rejuvinated after a truly exhilirating weekend with The Striking Viking Story Pirates. This talented team of New York actors and performers make it their mission to celebrate the words and ideas of young people, and they do so by working with kids in public schools and at special events to create original stories that the Pirates then perform for the young authors, and young writers across the nation. Aurora's action-packed Pirate weekend included a public performance Saturday afternoon, a one-on-one workshop with the Pirates and twelve 6-10 year olds on Sunday, and two performances at Woodrow Wilson Montessori on Monday morning. In a special collaboration with Writers in the Schools, students enrolled in the WITS after school program at Wilson Elementary wrote a story, "Puppies in the Pound" in preparation for their visit and sent it to the Pirates in advance of their performance. The students then got to see it their own story performed by the Pirates at their school. Two other Wilson Montessori classes also participated with stories that came to life on stage before their eyes. Aurora Picture Show would like to thank Woodrow Wilson Montessori, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and Writers in the Schools for making the Story Pirates' Houston visit such a huge success. For videos from these inspiring kids and adults, click here.

Aurora's Curator Featured at Fusebox

2010-04-13T16:13:00.006-05:00

As Austin's annual contemporary art and performance festival, Fusebox, gears up for its week-long set of performances, installations and more (April 21-May 2), Aurora's stellar curator Mary Magsamen packs her bags and prepares for her own performance as part of Blender Love, with her husband and collaborative partner Stephan Hillerbrand and collaborator Kirk Lynn of the Rude Mechs. Hillerbrand and Magsamen take Austin by storm with their "modern day séance for cell phones using interactive performance and live cinema" next Thursday night, April 22. If you live anywhere near Austin, or just need an excuse to go to Austin, be sure to see this extraordinary performance.

Glasstire Interview with Aurora's Visiting Artists

2010-03-29T15:55:00.003-05:00

Aurora founder Andrea Grover interviews artists Jennifer and Kevin McCoy for Glasstire in anticipation of Aurora's screening tomorrow night entitled Co-Existing and Co-llaborating. Read the full article here and come to the show!

David Waddell's Recent Salon at Aurora

2010-03-25T14:23:00.004-05:00

For those of you who did not make the Menil Community Art Festival, Aurora hosted a salon with local artist, David Waddell on stop motion animation. Waddell is also one of the instructors for Aurora's Summer Boot Camp. Click here for a quick clip from the salon.

Reports from the SXSW front

2010-03-17T21:03:00.009-05:00

The Aurora gals are fresh from their pilgrimage to Austin and the SXSW Film Festival with news and new friends to report on. Great to meet and see in Austin were fellow jurors (for the Time Warner Cable and Ovation TV Young Filmmaker Award) Bart Weiss (who has screened his Dallas VideoFest at Aurora numerous times), Marcy Garriot (accomplished documentary filmmaker behind the film Inside the Circle), our favorite East Coast organizational crush, Rootop Films, and our favorite West Coast friends, Wholphin, not to mention several of our Houston neighbors including artist Kelly Sears, Microcinema International, SWAMP, and Houston Film Commission, and the filmmakers behind the Anderson Fair documentary For the Sake of the Song. A highlight of the trip was Aurora founder Andrea Grover's panel on Indirect Collaboration: Collective Creativity on the Web, and though we missed these, we wish we had been able to see Matt McCormick's (who appeared at Aurora with the You Are Here seminar curated by Bree Edwards) film Some Days Are Better Than Others, and our Texas Filmmaker Production Fund Workshop Host Bryan Poyser's (of Austin Film Society) new film Lovers of Hate. If any of our readers are Austin-bound, you still have opportunities to catch some of these films in their final screenings. See the full schedule here.

Aurora at Fotofest

2010-03-11T17:18:00.008-06:00

If you didn't know already, Aurora's talented curator, Mary Magsamen, is a well known artist in her own right. Her and her husband, Stephan Hillerbrand, form the video art duo Hillerbrand and Magsamen and have a nation-wide exhibition history including exhibitions at the Butler Institute of American Art, the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia and being accepted into the Ann Arbor Film Festival multiple times. They are currently presenting four new videos in the Houston FotoFest exhibition titled, "4 Place Setting." The show runs from March 12-April 10 and the opening reception is April 1st from 6-8pm at the Spacetaker Gallery, 2101 Winter Street.

Magsamen is doing double duty for Fotofest as she has also curated the Aurora Fotofest Screening entitled "Co-Existing and Co-llaborating," featuring six collaborative teams of media artists including Jennifer and Kevin McCoy, Darrin Martin and Jamil Hellu, Potter Belmar Labs, Duke and Battersby, Voshart and Humphries and Dana and Travis Hanmer. More on these artists and this event here

Hope you'll join both Mary and Aurora on the Fotofest tour and stop by both events if you can!

Works by Gary Hill, Pierre Huyghe, William Kentridge and Pipilotti Rist added to the Aurora Video Library

2010-02-25T12:16:00.000-06:00

The Aurora staff are very excited about our new library acquisition, Point Of View: An Anthology of the Moving Image. Come to our library at 1524 Sul Ross to see these amazing works that you can't see anywhere else in Houston!

Point Of View: An Anthology of the Moving Image is a DVD series that features eleven leading artists from different generations and cultural perspectives, who are among the most important artists working in film, video, and digital imagery today: Francis Alys , David Claerbout, Douglas Gordon, Gary Hill, Pierre Huyghe, Joan Jonas, Isaac Julien, William Kentridge, Paul McCarthy, Pipilotti Rist, and Anri Sala.

The anthology includes eleven separate DVDs in a boxed set. Each DVD features a newly-commissioned work; an in-depth interview with the artist conducted by Dan Cameron, senior curator for the New Museum of Contemporary Art, curator Hans Ulrich Obrist of the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, or Richard Meyer, Associate Professor, Department of Art History, University of Southern California; an image library of the artist's previous work; and bibliographical material.

If you or your school would like to arrange a special viewing, please make a reservation with our lovely, learned Media and Education Library Guru, Camilo Gonzalez (gonzalez@aurorapictureshow.org). Special thanks to the Brown Foundation for their support of our Video Library.

The Ten Best Latin American Films of the Decade

2010-01-19T12:45:00.003-06:00

This weekend we had a great video salon discussion with curator and film critic Margarita De La Vega-Hurtado at our office where we explored the history and diversity of Latin American Cinema. At the conclusion of the salon, Margarita mentioned that Cinema Tropical had compiled a list of the Top Ten Latin American Films of the Decade (2000-2009), based on a survey of distinguished critics, scholars and film professionals based in the New York City area.
In all, 124 films representing 14 Latin American countries were nominated for the distinction of being Best of the Decade, demonstrating the great quality and diversity of films from the region.
Therefore here is the TOP 10 and the link to the rest of the films:

1)La Ciénaga (2001) Lucrecia Martel, Argentina
2)Amores Perros (2000) Alejandro González Iñárritu, Mexico
3)Luz Silenciosa / Silent Light (2007), Carlos Reygadas, Mexico
4)Cidade de Deus / City of God (2002), Fernando Meirelles, Brazil
5)Ônibus 174 / Bus 174 (2002), Jose Padilha, Felipe Lacerda, Brazil
6)Y Tu Mamá También, Alfonso Cuarón, Mexico
7)Whisky (2004), Juan Pablo Rebella, Pablo Stoll, Uruguay
8)La mujer sin cabeza / The Headless Woman (2008), Lucrecia Martel, Argentina
9)La niña santa / The Holy Girl (2004), Lucrecia Martel, Argentina
10)El laberinto del fauno / Pan's Labyrinth (2006), Guillermo del Toro, Mexico

To see more images of the salon visit our Flickr page.

Rich in Love

2009-12-14T12:27:00.009-06:00

While Aurora's recent burglaries at our Library location have left us poor in equipment, it has reminded us just how rich we are in LOVE. Love from Aurora patrons, fans, tweeters and facebookers. We wanted to thank all of those people who have stepped forward in one form or another to support Aurora since the burglaries.

Thank you to the following Aurora supporters:

David Brown & Christa Forster, Dan O'Shea, Lillian & Bob Warren, Chris Wilcha, Andrew Lampert, Marisa Avelar & Scott Howard, Emily Todd, Fumiko Chino, Marcy & Douglas Newman, Sorcha Landau, Molly Gochman, Gabriela Trzebinski & Carlisle Vandervoort, Gina & Major Miller, Martha & Richard Finger, Steve Seid, Nicole Laurent & Joey Romano, Joe Cooper, Laura Harrison, Joanna Spitzner, Caroline Gallay, Kelly Sears, Julie Shapiro, Casey Williams, Jenny Stark, Josephine Grover, Joanna Grover-Watson, Patrick Brooks, Emily Sloan, Michelle Engelman Berns, Monica Kressman, Lucy Anderson, copy.com, Jenni Stephenson, Cathy Power, Sara Cotner, Jordan Biren, Roxanne Claire, Hazuki Chino, Chris Wilcha, Paul and Elizabeth Nelson, Steve Seid, Michael Zilkha and Helen Fosdick, Frances Miller, AE Broyles Breier, Leigh Smith, Dmitry Bazykin, Kathryn Blackney, Donna Blackney, Richard Blackney, Leigh Molano, Judy Golden, Heather Harvey, Clemencia Reyes

And thank you to Aurora members:

Elizabeth Abraham, Sam Ackerman, Alex & Mark Adshead, Surain Adyanthaya, Lisa Albracht, Ana Maria Alvarez, Anne Amis, M. Lucille Anderson, Cameron Armstrong, Bill Arning, Marisa Avelar, Marilynn Barber, Regine Basha, Enid Baxter Blader, Dmitry Bazykin, Jayne Bellyk, Michelle Berns, Barbara Best, Jordan Biren, Lulu Black, Donna Blackney, Kathryn Blackney, Richard Blackney, Jaques Bluett, Duane Bradley, Camille Breaux, Patrick Brooks, Catherine Brown, Melissa Brown, David Buck, Genevieve Buentello, Amy Camarillo, Bob Camp, Claire Cardwell, Alfred Cervantes, Jereann Chaney, Fumiko Chino, Hazuki Chino, Craig & Holly Cieslikowski, Lisa Cohen, Catherine Colangelo, Meade Collard, Barbara Cowart, Ella Craig, Molly Cumming, Kevin Curry, Stewart N. Davis, Kate & Jonathan Day, Margarita De la Vega-Hurtado, Alison de Lima Greene, Jason Dibley, Sicily Dickenson, Mary Dickson, Jim and Sandy D'Imperio, Cindy Bishop, East Sunset Heights Ass., Alice Epley, Ethan Epley, Susan Epley, Mark Everleth, Marion Fairbanks, Mark Fehrs-Haukohl, Sara & Carlos Fernandez, Kristin and William Flanagan, Kevin Flores, Christopher French, Arianna Garcia, Jennifer Garza, Molly Gochman, Adam Goldberg, Michael Gonzales, Mario Gonzalez, Liz Gorman, Holly Gracey, Donna Graham, Rob Greenstein, Nonya & Jonathan Grenader, Josephine Grover, Andrea Grover & Carlos Lama, Joanna Grover-Watson, Donald Harrison, Guy Harrison, Heather Harvey, Rachel Hecker, Mary & Jim Henderson, Patricia Hernandez, Douglas Hoffman, Vinod Hopson, Scott Howard, Robert Hughes, Fredericka Hunter, Alice Suzanne Ivey, Dawn Jackie Madison, Jan Johnson, Blackburn Jones, Toby Kamps, Patrick Keegan, Tracey Keegan, Brian Kelly, Mr. and Mrs. I. H. Kempner, Carol Jean Kern, Kalyn Kimmel, Mike & Maria Kirby, Jeanne & Michael Klein, Katy Kleinhans, Kay Knippa, Julia Kovacs, Judy Kwon, Robin La Belle, David Lake, Lisa & James Lamb, Sorcha Landau, Leticia Loya, Mary Magsamen, Terry Mahaffey, Merrick Mainster, Nick Mann, Lorena Martinez, Benjamin Mason, Marie Masterson, Eileen Maxson, Connie McAllister, Robert McClain, Carol/Herman McDavid/Kluge, Jodi McLaughlin, Deborah McNulty, Adan Medrano, David Miller, Amelia Molina, Michelle Mower, Eric Mun, David Nelson, Lauri Nelson, Paul Nelson, Susan Nichols, Jessica Ninci, Alicia Nuzzie, Susan Osterberg, Nieros Oyegun, Sharad Patel, Steve Patlan, Nic Philips, Douglas Pickett, Archie Pizzini, Troy Powell, Heather Pray, Ian Price, David Purdie, Kelly Quarles, Lee Raymond, Leslie Raymond, Joey Jr. Romano, Nancy Sarnoff, Alice Savage, Leslie Scates, Lane and Robert Schultz, Kelly Sears, Beth Secor, Julie Shapiro, Jeff Shell, Maria Sicardi, Anton Sinkewich, Emily Sloan, Jane Smith, Margaret Smith, Scott Sparvero, Sharman Speed, Joanna Spitzner, Jenny Stark, Rand Steven, Shannon Stiles, Mary Lou Swift, Deborah Thomas, Emily Todd, Ttweak, Aaron Valdez, Audie Valls, Robert & Lillian Warren, Christine West, Michelle White, Whitten and Proctor Fine Art Conservatory, Allison Wiese, Gail & Jim Wiese, Casey Williams, Cary Wolfe, Amy Wright, Kyle Wright, Katherine & Mark Yzaguirre,

And thanks for the following mentions and sponsors:

Media Mentions:
CultureMap, The Houston Chronicle, SwampLot, Bad Lit, ESPN 97.5

Sponsors:
SXSW, Hotel Sorella, Cyclone Anaya's, Shade Restaurant, Canopy Restaurant, Kiehls at Highland Village, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Crave Cupcakes, Block 7 Wine Company, 13 Celsius, Whole Foods Market, DiverseWorks, Cinema Bomar, Saint Arnold Brewery, Stockholm Vodka, treebeards Restaurant, Tacos A-Go-go, Worldfest Film Festival, Carnegie Mellon, Picture Me Perfect, Sinapps, CopyDotCom, Copy Craft Printers, Sharp Egg Design, Marisa Avelar Design, Judith Uzcategui design

Thank you all for your continued support.

Top Ten Ways to Support Aurora

2009-12-11T12:49:00.006-06:00

By now, you have probably heard that Aurora Picture Show is in the midst of a rough patch due to decreased grant funding, underwriting and our unfortunate break-ins. Despite an amazing year with stellar programming, innovative partnerships, and our best attendance, we have been hit.

You may be thinking that you would like to help, and are not sure how you can do it with your limited resources, but there are so many ways to support Aurora right now. We wanted to take a moment and give you the top ten ways you can help Aurora bounce back in 2010.

1. Make a general donation

2. Attend our shows and bring a friend

3. If you know a company or foundation or patron that might be interested in supporting Aurora, let us know. We are always looking for in-kind donations or new friends to help us grow.

4. Purchase a raffle ticket

5. Vote for us with the Chase Community Giving program

6. Buy gift memberships for your friends for the holidays

7. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and spread the word to your friends. Invite them to be fans and RT our posts. We also love to hear your reactions online!

8. Check if your employer gives matching gifts

9. Forward this blog article to friends

10. Shop for Aurora Purchase holiday gifts using Aurora's Amazon link

I am thankful for @AuroraPicture because...

2009-11-16T14:11:00.005-06:00

This holiday season Aurora Picture Show has partnered with several amazing companies for a holiday raffle and un-office party extravaganza that will get your holiday sweaters out of the closet and onto the dance floor. We hope that you will consider supporting Aurora by purchasing a raffle ticket or becoming an Aurora member today. For that, we would be very appreciative!

As a friend to the Muses, we want to know what arts inspired you in 2009 and what you are thankful for this holiday season. We know it has been a tough year, but even in gloomy times there is still inspiration and beauty. Show your gratitude and let us know what you are thankful for to be entered for a chance to win one free raffle ticket!

Help us spread the word about the Aurora Holiday Raffle by letting us know "@AuroraPicture, I am thankful for..."

Submit your entry to @AuroraPicture via Twitter, on the Aurora Facebook page, or here in the comments section of the Aurora blog anytime between 11/16 and 11/26. We will giveaway five (5) raffle tickets to the best responses. Just let us know what you are thankful for!

Aurora is thankful for our Holiday Party and Raffle Sponsors, including SXSW, Hotel Sorella, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Shade Restaurant, Canopy Restaurant, Kiehl's in Highland Village, Cyclone Anaya's, DiverseWorks, Block 7 Wine Company, Crave Cupcakes, 13 Celsius, Whole Foods Market, Tacos A G0-Go, Treebeards Restaurant, Cinema Bomar, Saint Arnold Brewery, WorldFest Film Festival and Stockholm Vodka.

To learn more about the raffle and purchase tickets, CLICK HERE

To join Aurora Picture Show, CLICK HERE

To visit the Aurora Picture Show Twitter Page, CLICK HERE

To visit the Aurora Picture Show Facebook Page, CLICK HERE

CONTEST RULES

Contest is from Monday, November 16, 2009 and will end on or around 4 p.m. on Thursday, November 26, 2009.
Aurora is not responsible for technological difficulties that may prevent an individual from completing an entry.
To participate in the Contest, you may enter via the following method: Submit what you are thankful for via Aurora Picture Show Twitter account @AuroraPicture. All entries submitted become the sole property of Aurora Picture Show and will not be acknowledged. Use of any device to automate entry is prohibited. Proof of submission of an entry shall not be deemed proof of receipt by Aurora Picture Show.
One entry per person.
The contest is open to all persons who are 21 years of age or older.
Only one winner per household is permitted.
Aurora may reject and delete any entry that it determines to be false or fraudulent or who do not meet the eligibility requirements, and will also delete any entry received from persons under the age of 13.
Decisions of Contest Entities management with respect to the Contest are final.
Winner need not be present to win but must provide contact information.
By participating in the contest, the winner or winners agree to have their name and information used in promotions about the contest.
Failure to comply with the Contest rules may result in a contestant’s disqualification solely at the discretion of the Contest Entities.

Aurora Artists and Co-presentations at Cinema Arts Festival Houston

2009-11-03T14:31:00.017-06:00

Aurora Picture Show is delighted to have been among the arts organizations that helped shape and define Houston’s newest film festival, Cinema Arts Festival Houston. Running November 11-15, 2009, Cinema Arts Festival highlights contemporary art and artists through feature films, panels, workshops, and special events. Listed below are screenings co-presented with Aurora, and events that feature past Aurora Artists who will be in attendance.

Be sure to check out the Cinema Arts Festival website for a full schedule and ticketing info. Aurora will also be hosting ticket give-aways to some festival events, so stay tuned to our Facebook and Twitter pages for chances to win!

What if, Why Not? Underground Adventures with Ant Farm
Thursday, November 12 at 7PM, UH College of Architecture Auditorium
Presented with Aurora Picture Show
What If, Why Not is the first film to delve into the work of the renegade 1970s architecture collective Ant Farm, best known for its iconic land-art piece Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas. Radical architects, video pioneers, and mordantly funny cultural commentators, the Ant Farmers created a body of deeply subversive work that questioned everything by posing a set of creative and comedic alternatives. Combining futuristic notions gleaned from Buckminster Fuller and NASA with lo-fi production methods; utopian visions with a love of trashy backyard Americana; and a respect for "high" intellectual ideas with an irreverent, often crass sense of humor, Ant Farm's work was quintessential American in its ethos and methodology and emblematic of a period in American history that continues to captivate and shape modern culture.

Aurora Connections:
Laura Harrison: Co-director, Aurora Advisory Board member, and past Aurora artist
Beth Federici: Co-director, former Aurora Advisory Board member, and past Aurora artist
Chip Lord: Art Farm member, recipient of Aurora Award 2004, past Aurora artist
Curtis Schreier: Art Farm member, recipient of Aurora Award 2004, past Aurora artist

Experimental Film and Visual Arts: Holly Fisher and Jennifer Reeves
Moderated by Andrea Grover
Friday, November 13 at 1PM, Alabama Theater
The moving image, as manipulated in striking, painterly ways by experimental filmmakers Jennifer Reeves and Holly Fisher, will be explored in relation to painting, sculpture and photography.

Aurora Connections:
Andrea Grover: Founder, Aurora Picture Show
Jennifer Reeves: Featured artist on Aurora Video Label, Cinemad DVD.

Pictures from a Revolution
Friday, November 13 at 4PM, Museum of Fine Arts Houston
No one captured more powerfully the suffering, sacrifice, and finally celebration that accompanied the Sandinista victory than Susan Meiselas, the award-winning photojournalist who covered the Nicaraguan revolution for the New York Times and London Times. In Pictures from a Revolution, Meiselas returns to Nicaragua a decade later with codirectors Richard P. Rogers and Alfred Guzzetti to track down the people—soldiers, revolutionaries, and ordinary people—pictured in her original photographs and their previous film, Living at Risk (screening Saturday at the Cinema Arts Festival Houston). Pictures from a Revolution is not a sequel to the previous work, which explored the life of a Nicaraguan family; rather, it is a deeper and wider analysis of a country and its people.

Aurora Connection:
Alfred Guzzetti: Past Aurora artist

When it was Blue
Friday, November 13 at 7PM, Rice Media Center
Cine artist, Jennifer Reeves is again showcased in a screening night that includes a double-projector performance with live musical accompaniment by Skúli Sverrisson. When It Was Blue is an ode to nature and 16mm film as they rapidly vanish. This double-projection 16mm film rejoices in the splendor of seasons, landscapes, and wildlife as we traverse land and ocean.

Aurora Connection:
Jennifer Reeves: Featured artist on Aurora Video Label, Cinemad DVD

Living at Risk: The Story of a Nicaraguan Family
Saturday, November 14 at 4PM, Rice Media Center
Filmed before Pictures From A Revolution, Alfred Guzzetti's Living at Risk is a snapshot of the life of a family during a period of civil war, uncertainty, and despair, five years after the Sandinistas gained power in Nicaragua, overthrowing the brutal and long reign of the Somoza family. The documentary centers on five brothers and sisters who commit themselves to work with the Sandinista revolutionary government and to contribute to the social changes in their professional and personal lives.

Aurora Connections:
Alfred Guzzetti: Past Aurora artist

What if, Why Not? Underground Adventures with Ant Farm
Friday, November 13 at 9:45PM, Angelika Film Center
See description above.

The Time We Killed
Saturday, November 14 at 1PM, Rice Media Center
The Time We Killed is the first feature by avant-garde filmmaker Jennifer Reeves, who had been generally known for her formal experimentation with optical printing and painting directly on film (as in the extraordinary When It Was Blue, screening Friday) and her exploration of a range of topics including women’s sexuality, mental health and recovery, poetry, and dogs. The Time We Killed is a surprising departure, a remarkably assured narrative feature.

Aurora Connection:
Jennifer Reeves: Featured artist on Aurora Video Label, Cinemad DVD

The Yes Men Fix The World
Saturday, November 14, 7PM, Rice Media Center
Winner of the Panorama Audience Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, The Yes Men Fix the World is a screwball true story about the satirical activist team the Yes Men. Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno’s theatrical performances take place on unusual stages. Dressed in thrift-store suits, posing as top executives of corporations they consider criminal, the Yes Men lie their way into business conferences and parody their corporate targets in outrageous, yet strangely plausible ways.

Aurora Connection: The Yes Men: Past Aurora artists

H Box: A conversation with Banjamin Weil
Sunday, November 15 at 1pm, Alabama Theater
In Conversation with Toby Kamps and Mary Magsamen
The artistic director of H BOX, an innovative, mobile screening room presenting work by ten international artists, talks about commissioning original works of art and exhibiting them in this exciting new venue, on display in the Alabama Theatre through November 15.

Aurora Connection: Mary Magsamen: Current Aurora Artistic Director, past Aurora artist

The Yes Men Fix The World
Sunday, November 15, 1PM, Angelika
See description above

You Can Take Our Equipment But You Can't Take Our Passion

2009-10-27T13:45:00.008-05:00

Stealing from a non-profit seems lower than low, right? Unfortunately, everyone's favorite microcinema was broken into last night (the thieves came through the back room window) and stole several pieces of Aurora equipment that we use for our salons and screenings -- including our LCD Monitor, Blue Ray Player, two DVD Players, our sound mixer, our PC Laptop, a DVD burner, and some other small items (Pint glasses - We always knew those were popular!). Here is the complete list.

We have filed a police report and will be following up with our insurance but wanted to make everyone aware of what has happened.

If anyone has any connections to equipment vendors or are getting rid of anything in the near future, let us know. Aurora fans can also help by purchasing tickets to our annual raffle fundraiser which will take place in December with two sought-after badges to SXSW as one of the many prizes.

Thanks for the support and be on the lookout for any pint-glass-carrying bad guys selling film and video equipment.

Sending Aurora Love to our Gala Sponsors

2009-10-22T16:53:00.001-05:00

IMG_3004
Originally uploaded by Aurora Picture Show

Just wanted to make sure that we send our love and appreciation to the Aurora Award sponsors, including:

Hotel Sorella
Saint Arnold Brewery
Stockholm Krystal Vodka
City Kitchen Catering

Along with all the supporters who came out in support of Aurora Picture Show and to see Doug Aitken.

THANK YOU!

A New Framework

2009-10-22T14:28:00.005-05:00

Aurora friend Anne Pasternack of Creative Time is circulating a petition that calls on Congress and the Obama Administration to support art’s public purpose to mend our social fabric, promote freedom of expression and a vibrant, inclusive national dialogue, and revitalize both education and commerce with the creativity that has always been the wellspring of our energy and success. If you care about creativity, culture, public art and their role in our future, read the petition here.

Southern Exposure Gets Passive/Aggressive

2009-10-21T11:37:00.000-05:00

If you are an artist in Northern California, don't miss an opportunity to enter your work in Southern Exposure's 2009 Series of Juried Projects (and get your work seen by Aurora's founder and nonstop curator/media arts wonder woman Andrea Grover) Here are the details:

PASSIVE/AGGRESSIVE: SoEx's 2009 Series of Juried Projects

Juried Film/Video Screening
Juried Public Art/Urban Interventions Day
Of Works by Northern California Artists

SoEx is commited to creating a space for innovative, experimental, and risk-taking art and with this in mind, invites artists to submit public and film/video works in response to a theme that encourages as broad a range of artistic interpretation as possible. This year's theme, Passive/Aggressive, was chosen in response to our current cultural, economic and political climate and reflects on how decisions are made when faced with extreme challenges. We invite artists to submit work that responds to this idea in some way, shape or form.

DEADLINE:
SoEx must receive your submission by Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 6 pm.

EVENTS:
Public Art/Urban Interventions Day: Saturday, December 5, 11 am - 5 pm
Film/Video Screening: Sunday, December 6, 5 pm
Details to be announced in November!

2009 JURORS:
Film/Video Juror: Andrea Grover is a Houston-based independent curator, artist, writer and founder of Aurora Picture Show, a now recognized center for filmic art that began in Grover's living room as “the world's most public home theater.
Public Art/Urban Interventions Day Juror: Jeannene Przyblyski is an artist, historian, urban strategist and founder the San Francisco Bureau of Urban Secrets, a visual arts and urbanism think tank that incubates and promotes art and other public interventions in city life.

To obtain information about eligibility, rules, submission drop-off, jurors, jurying and to get a submission form, please download the Call for Entry form from the SoEx website.

Fletcher in Might Be Good

2009-09-11T14:21:00.004-05:00

One of Aurora's favorite artists and earliest supporters, Harrell Fletcher , is featured in Fluent Collaborative's art e-journal Might Be Good this week. Read early and often.

Look Out Pittsburgh

2009-09-10T13:50:00.004-05:00

Aurora's fearless founder, Andrea Grover, heads to Pittsburgh this week for the opening of 29 Chains to the Moon, an exhibit she curated for Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University. You can read more about it, and Andrea's organization of the Houston Lyceum Lecture series at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, on Andrea's blog.

A Good Time Was Had By All

2009-09-01T16:37:00.009-05:00

The past weekend brought laughs and cheers for all of the Aurora staff. While some of the Aurora team (Associate Director Rachel Blackney and founder Andrea Grover) headed to Boston to munch on Oysters Rockefeller and absorb panels at the NAMAC conference (returning with renewed energy and some great ideas!); the rest of the Aurora gang showed Houstonians a good time once again with the help of visiting curator Skip Elsheimer of AV Geeks. His Naughty Girls screening highlighted the best of instructional and educational films from the 70s and 80s that taught girls not to steal, lie, nor hide in fur coat storage closets. See more photos from both screenings here.

Emerging Artists at Aurora Boot Camp

2009-07-30T11:55:00.002-05:00

Look out John Baldessari! Aurora has some young filmmakers that are hot on your heels. Last week, Aurora concluded their first ever Aurora Boot Camp, featuring fifteen very talented aspiring filmmakers. From "Art" to alien attacks, no subject was too much to tackle for these innovative campers. Check out the photos at Aurora's Flicker Site.

Found was a Hit!!!

2009-06-01T12:28:00.003-05:00

Our friends from Found Magazine did it again. Their stories and music made us laugh and cry. Their Denim and Diamonds Tour 2009! is still not over though. Check out when they are coming near you.

Media Archeology!!!! Total Success

2009-05-01T12:36:00.000-05:00

Media Archeology: Joshua Light Show & Silver Apples LIVE from Aurora Picture Show!!!!

Emily Hubley takes the Texas Tour

2009-04-06T14:10:00.005-05:00

Emily Hubley, daughter of famed animators John and Faith Hubley, landed in Houston this past weekend to grace Aurora with several screenings, co -presented with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. After an evening of short films Friday, Hubley shared her feature The Toe Tactic with audiences Saturday, who were filled with questions about the process of making a live-action and animated film. Hubley heads to Austin today, so be sure to stop by the original Alamo Draft House Cinema if you happen to be in Austin.

Green condos coming to Hyde Park

2009-03-08T15:43:00.006-05:00

On the corner of Hyde Park and Waugh, a long established neighborhood is intersecting with the future.

Rachel Blogs!

2009-01-26T16:48:00.002-06:00

OK, OK... I have been here for how long? And I have never done a blog. I admit to not being very good at them. Though I do OK at Facebook, so look me up if you really want in on my personal details. It is thrilling stuff.

Sundance 2009 was great. This was my 8th year, I think. I have been quite a few times... I actually won a trip in 1997 while I was in college. To be honest, I kinda cheated by stealing all the entry forms and having parties for people to help me fill them out. But it worked, so no guilt. Then I volunteered several years. I was lucky to go with Austin Film Society and Austin Studios for marketing as well. But I think I enjoyed going with Aurora the most because it was not only about spreading the love of Aurora, but also about seeking out ideas for programs. I think that the short films and the documentaries are what make film festivals special, especially when you are in a big festival where narratives will likely be picked up and distributed.

For me, the documentary shorts were the most memorable. But it was also our first screening, with all the Aurora ladies together (Mary Magsamen, our new Curator, and Sorcha, our esteemed board member) AND it was at the Egyptian... which is really the iconic venue located on the Main Street.

My next favorite was THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD, which will likely get exhibition nationally as it was so entertaining. Go see it. Join the Yes Men website too.

There were other films, though I walked away not seeing as many as I would like. I look forward to either bringing them in through Aurora or other organizations in Houston.

Outside of films, I loved the Austin Film Society party where I got to see familiar faces and celebrate some Texas films. We hope to bring some of them to Aurora.

I did notice that I am older and can not see as many films as I did in 1997 where I would totally wear myself out, but I enjoyed myself.

A special thank you to Winsie Tow and the Sundance Filmmaker Lodge for allowing us to come and spread the Aurora word. We even met people from Houston there! Wild.

Anyhow, I still have lots of laundry to do and all kinds of catching up, but I definitely think film lovers should experience Sundance or any other major film festival in their lifetime. Inspiring and fun!

All the best from a tired Aurora Fan,

Rachel

Aurora at Sundance Film Festival

2009-01-26T16:41:00.001-06:00

IMG_0022
Originally uploaded by Aurora Picture Show

Fundance with Aurora at the Filmmaker's Lodge

2009-01-24T11:55:00.009-06:00

Here we are at the Filmmaker's Lodge telling everyone how great Aurora is and giving away stuff.

Fundance with Aurora day 2

2009-01-24T11:48:00.006-06:00

Rachel and Sorcha at the New Frontier area playing with an interactive piece about feelings.

Mary and Rachel in front of the Egyptian theater.

Fundance with Aurora

2009-01-24T11:41:00.004-06:00

We arrived at Sundance! Here is Rachel and Sorcha on the bus going to a theater!

MOCK UP ON MU

2008-12-16T15:38:00.004-06:00

So this is the new film by Aurora Advisory Board member Craig Baldwin! He is the godfather of microcinema one could say. In a radical hybrid of spy, sci-fi, Western, and even horror genres, Craig Baldwin's Mock Up On Mu cobbles together a feature-length "collage-narrative" based on (mostly) true stories of California's post-War sub-cultures of rocket pioneers, alternative religions, and Beat lifestyles. Pulp-serial snippets, industrial-film imagery, and B- (and Z-) fiction clips are intercut with newly shot live-action material, powering a playful, allegorical trajectory through the now-mythic occult matrix of Jack Parsons (Crowleyite founder of the Jet Propulsion Lab), L.Ron Hubbard (sci-fi author turned cult-leader), and Marjorie Cameron (bohemian artist and "mother of the New Age movement"). Their intertwined tales spin out into a speculative farce on the militarization of space, and the corporate take-over of spiritual fulfillment and leisure-time. Definitely a must see!!!

NY THEATRICAL PREMIERE RUN!
Craig Baldwin’s
MOCK UP ON MU
January 14 – 20
ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES
32 SECOND AVENUE NEW YORK, NY 10003; (212) 505-5181 fax (212) 477-2714

Alex Rivera's Web Project

2008-12-02T21:18:00.004-06:00

Visiting filmmaker Alex Rivera shared with Aurora all sorts of video work, shorts and awesome films; nevertheless, his take on the immigration issue does not end there. He is also working with Angel Nevarezon on a web project called Low Drone which consists of a remote controlled low-rider spy drone that jumps in between the US and Mexico in order to increase the level of satire surveying the US border patrol.

Aurora visiting artist, Ximena Cuevas

2008-11-14T13:47:00.002-06:00

Ximena Cuevas music video clip, featuring the performer Astrid Hadad; shows the arrays of imagery that make her a leading figure in Latin cinema.

The Yes Men in the "special edition" of today's New York Times.

2008-11-12T16:19:00.007-06:00

If you had the chance to see The Yes Men in 2005 at Aurora, you might be interested in what they came out with:

In an elaborate operation six months in the planning, 1.2 million papers were printed at six different presses and driven to prearranged pickup locations, where thousands of volunteers stood ready to pass them out on the street. Early this morning, commuters nationwide were delighted to find out that while they were sleeping, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had
come to an end...

Toypunks Rocks the House

2008-08-18T17:10:00.007-05:00

Aurora Picture Show hosted filmmakers Chris Nelson and Carl Wormley (pictured) this weekend with a screening of their recently completed documentary Toypunks featuring designer toy creators Bounty Hunter and Frank Kozik. Nelson and Wormley filled audience members in on the highlights of shooting in the Harajuku shopping district of Tokyo and plans for a next installment of the documentary series. To hear Chris Nelson's interview about Toypunks on KUHF-FM (Houston's NPR affiliate), download the interview from the station's website here.

Extremely Shorts Rock the House

2008-07-01T11:38:00.010-05:00

Aurora closed our the first half of our calendar year with a packed house for Extremely Shorts Eleven. The weekend kicked off with four hundred plus attending a "Best of" Extremely Shorts screening at
Discovery Green Park(photo provided by Arie Moghadden-thank you Arie), followed by three screenings at the Aurora home venue of new shorts from emerging film and video artists hosted by curator Ed Halter. This years top three films were David Purdie's "Astrowhirled", Sarah Grass' "I'd Rather Have a Puppy" and Brandon Van Meter's "Who I'll Be." After several hours of karaoke the final night of the festival, Aurora is ready for some much deserved R&R. Please join us again in August for Houston filmmaker Chris Nelson's screening of Toypunks. Get ready for toys, fashion, and punk rock!

Weiss Talks

2008-05-20T22:15:00.005-05:00

Bart Weiss, founder of the Dallas Video Festival, hosted two screenings of the "Best of Fest" from the past twenty years of his festival at Aurora Picture Show this weekend. He also kicked off Aurora's debut salon series with a short talk entitled "What is Video Art?" at Aurora's video library on Sunday. Weiss walked visitors through the main periods of video art history and some of the more defined genres such as performance-based video art, showing samples of works from William Wegman and
Ant Farm, both of which are available to view for free at Aurora's video library, 1524 Sul Ross.

Harrell Fletcher is a Member, Are You?

2008-05-13T16:42:00.004-05:00

Join or renew your Aurora Picture Show membership now and be entered to win a limited edition Harrell Fletcher print made exclusively for Aurora Picture Show. All new or renewed memberships, purchased between now and June 30, 2008, will be entered for one chance to win this special artwork.

A participant in the 2004 Whitney Biennial, Fletcher´s work has been shown at SF MoMA, the de Young Museum, The Berkeley Art Museum, and Yerba Buena Center For The Arts in the San Francisco Bay Area, The Drawing Center, Socrates Sculpture Park, The Sculpture Center, Domain de Kerguehennec in France, and The Royal College of Art in London. In 2002, Fletcher started Learning To Love You More, an ongoing participatory web site with Miranda July. Visit the
Harrell Fletcher site for more about his work.

Join now for a chance to win this exclusive work by clicking
here to become a member.

Aurora Does it Again

2008-04-24T16:27:00.005-05:00

Aurora Picture Show rounded out another successful annual multimedia festival last Saturday, with the final performances of Media Archelogy: Live and Televised. This year's performers included Negativland, who performed at Rice University; Brent Green, who performed with musicians Howe Gelb (of the popular band Giant Sand), Jeremy Gara (of the band Arcade Fire) and Thoger Lund at the Orange Show and artists Tara Mateik, and Shana Moulton, who performed at DiverseWorks. Photos featured include shots from Tara Mateik's "Putting the Balls Away" and Moulton's "Cynthia's Moment." The artist-heavy week drew great audiences and closed with an extravagant brunch hosted by Hotel Icon's new restaurant Voice. Our thanks goes out to all the Media Archeology artists, sponsors, volunteers and Aurora staff who helped make this a festival like no other.

Aurora Adds New Faces to Advisory Board

2008-02-22T11:37:00.005-06:00

Aurora Picture Show has added some familiar Aurora friends to the official Aurora family. Curators Bree Edwards and Astria Suparak have graciously agreed to join the Aurora Advisory Board. Welcome Bree and Astria!

Bree Edwards is an independent curator and cultural producer who has held the positions of Program Manager at the Mitchell Center for the Arts at the University of Houston and Curator of Public Programs at the Asheville Museum of Art. In Asheville she organized a year-long, interdisciplinary series focused on the legacy of the experimental college Black Mountain College (1933-57). She has organized numerous group exhibitions and screenings and her writing has been published by The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Museu do Chiado in Lisbon, as well as appearing in various blogs and art publications.

Astria Suparak is the Director of Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. From 1998-2000 she directed the weekly Pratt Institute Film Series in Brooklyn, which included live music, performance and installations. In 2006 she became the inaugural director of the contemporary art space The Warehouse Gallery at Syracuse University, organizing acclaimed and sometimes controversial exhibitions including Faux Naturel, COME ON: Desire Under the Female Gaze, and Networked Nature with Rhizome. Her conceptually and aesthetically diverse shows have exhibited and screened at sites including Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, The Kitchen, Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo, Yale University School of Architecture, The Liverpool Biennial, P.S.1, Anthology Film Archives, International Film Festival Oberhausen, Eyebeam and Participant, Inc. Gallery.

Grover Cleans Up

2008-02-13T17:13:00.008-06:00

Aurora's fearless Artistic Director Andrea Grover cleaned up this past weekend at the DiverseWorks Gala. Grover was one of three "visionary" honorees for the evening which included Project Row Houses' Rick Lowe and Fotofest founders Wendy Watriss and Fred Baldwin. Other honorees included artists Mel Chin , William Steen, and Sharon Engelstein and patrons Cindy Bishop and David Donnelly (Cindy is also an Aurora Board member!), Charles Mary Kubricht, Ron Sommers and Jeff and Toni Beauchamp. Congratulations Andrea! (Photo features Andrea Grover and Delicia Harvey).

You Are Here Symposium: Instant Replay

2008-01-09T13:15:00.002-06:00

If you missed the December symposium You Are Here, you can watch video documentation online (courtesy of Bree Edwards and Johnny DeKam).

You Are Here- Nato Thompson

You Are Here- Matt Coolidge/CLUI

You Are Here- Institute for Applied Autonomy

You Are Here- Matt McCormick 1

You Are Here- Matt McCormick 2

Mapping/Tactical Media Brain Trust

2007-12-02T10:57:00.000-06:00

This weekend's excellent symposium YOU ARE HERE, curated by Bree Edwards and co-presented by Aurora Picture Show and the Mitchell Center for the Arts, is immortalized via live blogging on Matt McCormick's Action Items.

The symposium featured artists and curators working with mapping and tactical media, including Matt McCormick (who performed his live score to his film Future So Bright), and talks by Nato Thompson (Creative Time), Rich Pell (Institute for Applied Autonomy), and Matthew Coolidge (Center for Land Use Interpretation). Coolidge has begun a longer term project in Houston, investigating the ripe-for-the-picking Gulf Coast. This weekend the CLUI field office (a mobile trailer) arrived and was plunked down on the edge of Buffalo Bayou. So begins our journey...

Big thanks to curator (I mean cultural context provider) Bree Edwards, and Karen Farber and Nancy Zastudil of the fabulous Mitchell Center for the Arts at UH for making this event happen.

Pictured: ISee (created by Institute for Applied Autonomy) a web-based application charting the locations of closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance cameras in urban environments.

2007-10-31T16:39:00.000-05:00

Aurora Picture Show and the Menil Collection enjoyed a night in the park last Saturday. In association with the Menil Collection's exhibition A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s, Aurora presented works by some of the artists working during the time of Nauman's early experiments in film and video. Artists featured included John Baldessari, Vito Acconci, William Wegman and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. We'd like to thank Steve Seid from Pacific Film Archive for helping us pull together this screening and the Menil Collection for the opportunity. Also, if you missed this wonderful evening of early conceptual video in the outdoors, please join us Saturday, January 12, 2008 for another screening in the park -- this time featuring works from contemporary artists forging new paths in film and video. Save the date!

Aurora Advisory Board Member at MOMA

2007-10-22T17:14:00.000-05:00

Aurora Picture Show's Advisory Board Member Kevin Everson has a series of screenings coming up in New York. Short films by Everson will be screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York tonight, Monday October 22, at 7:00 p.m. and Thursday, October 25 at 6:30 p.m. The screenings will be in The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 2, T2 at the Museum of Modern Art located at 11 West 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues.

Congratulations Kevin!

Rachel Blackney, Come on Down!

2007-09-25T11:26:00.000-05:00

The Aurora girls (and one Guy and a Lama) are extremely excited about adding a new member to their team, Rachel Blackney. Newly engaged, Rachel recently moved to Houston to be with her fiancee, Dave, who works in sports radio. She is thrilled to be joining the Aurora Picture Show as Operations Manager! For the past four years, Rachel lived in Austin where she worked for the Austin Film Society as Director of Operations. She was responsible for the management and booking of their non-profit production facility, Austin Studios, along with oversight of general operations including the internship program. Prior to that, Rachel lived in Los Angeles for several years working in Hollywood for several television and film production companies, before returning home to Texas. Rachel attended the University of Texas at Austin and studied Radio/Television/Film. Returning to Houston is like coming back home for her, as she grew up here and her family still resides here. During her time off, you will find Rachel at Memorial Park running with her two dogs, Coach and Madden. Welcome Rachel!

One Month: Two Opportunities to Give

2007-09-17T16:25:00.000-05:00

October brings many opportunities to show your love for Aurora! On October 4th, the Seventh Annual Aurora Award Dinner honors Steina and Woody Vasulka, founders of the legendary interdisciplinary art center, The Kitchen. This intimate evening and fundraiser is a rare opportunity to mix and mingle with these pioneers of electronic art. For tickets and table information, visit the Aurora website. Next, belly up to the bar for Aurora on Sunday, October 7th at everyone's favorite drinking spot, Poison Girl (1641 Westheimer). For one night only, bar proceeds after 5 p.m. benefit the Aurora Picture Show. So show you care, and make that a martini!

Successful Texting

2007-08-27T13:40:00.000-05:00

Aurora's joint event with the Houston Center with Photography on Friday night, entitled "Spin 3: Txt Me L8r," drew texters and photography enthusiasts alike. The exhibit, curated by Aurora and HCP, explored the potential for distributed creativity through the use of cell phone technology. Artists and the general public were invited to sign-up to receive text messages with specific photography assignments sent throughout the course of the exhibition. Two screens were set up in the galleries showing both the slideshow of "Txt Me L8r" participants and a slideshow of cell phone photos taken that night by attendess of the event. See more photos on the Houston Chronicle website.

Take my class, please

2007-07-27T16:07:00.000-05:00

Andrea Grover is offering a class at University of Houston, School of Art this Fall

Intermedia Course:
Participation Art: From Social Sculpture to Distributed Creativity

What was it about the social climate of the 1960s that gave way to group-participation, happenings and actions? And can today's networked communication give the crowd even greater creative agency? This course looks at the history of participation art from the 1960s to present, and examines the social and technological trends that have ignited a new genre of democratic art-making--incorporating ten to ten-thousand participants in the creative process. Students will become familiar with seminal participatory art works of the last 40 years, read critical texts on Social Sculpture, Distributed Creativity, Gift Economies, and Relational Aesthetics, and finally, collectively create a new "crowdsourced" work of art. Course #: Art 4397 / Section #15735 or Art 6397/ Section # 3344. Visit www.uh.edu for enrollment info!

Image: Ant Farm, 50x50' Pillow, 1969

Grover Gets Wired

2007-07-09T23:02:00.000-05:00

Aurora's Founding Director, Andrea Grover is interviewed this week in Wired by Leah DeVun for a story on art and crowdsourcing. The interview was a result of Assignment Zero-- itself an experiment in crowdsourced journalism.

Karaoke, Take Me Away

2007-06-29T17:50:00.001-05:00

This weekend marks Aurora Picture Show's 9th anniversary, and 10th installment of Extremely Shorts: Works 3 Minutes and Under. One hour of short films and videos were selected by this year's juror, Jytte Jensen of MoMA, and will be screened three times during the course of the weekend. Sunday ends with the ritualistic backyard or indoor (depending on the gods) picnic and no-holds-barred karaoke singing. FYI, I have reserved all Peggy Lee titles, so don't even think about it, sister.

Pictured: Carlos Lama and Nancy Novotny

Aurora in New York Magazine Online

2007-06-04T13:01:00.000-05:00

Look at all those pews. Isn't Aurora photogenic? Aren't we proud to be in New York Magazine's online Weekend Escape Plan?

And the Winners Are

2007-05-23T16:36:00.000-05:00

Thank you to everyone who bought a raffle ticket for Aurora's mini-fundraiser! We shuffled and shook a hat full of tickets and (drum roll please) ....the winning tickets belonged to Paul Nelson and Stewart Davis. Congrats Paul and Stewart! We wish you two the best of luck (not that you need it;-) in Vegas or wherever your airline vouchers take you.

Raffle Time

2007-05-10T11:42:00.000-05:00

Support Aurora Picture Show's Mission with Aurora's Summertime Raffle

Aurora Picture Show (800 Aurora Street, Houston, TX 77009) is raffling off two packages to Vegas's Cinevegas Film Festival, taking place June 1st - June 16th, 2007 at the Palms Casino Resort. Two prizes will be drawn and each of the two winners will receive two rountrip airline vouchers on Southwest Airlines and 20 tickets to the film festival. The raffle tickets are $10 each and each ticket purchase enters you in a drawing to win one of these exciting trips to Vegas.

The Aurora Picture Show Raffle ENDS MAY 20, 2007, and WINNERS WILL BE AWARDED MAY 21, so buy your tickets now and enter to win a getaway to the film festival "...that mixes pure pleasure with a mighty serious ambition for discovery" (Variety)

Go to Aurora's homepage to buy a ticket now!

Bad-Ass Here: Quintron & Ms. Pussycat at Aurora's Media Archeology Festival (Orange Show)

2007-04-27T15:51:00.000-05:00

John Carrithers contributes this lovely video of the fun times at this year's Media Archeology: Below-Fi Festival. I was in the pool, were you?

Media Archeology Hits Below the Technology Belt

2007-04-17T16:06:00.000-05:00

Aurora's biggest and bestest annual festival of unclassifiable a/v performance starts this Thursday, April 19 and runs through April 21 at Aurora, Domy, and Orange Show. MEDIA ARCHEOLOGY: BELOW-FI is curated by musician/a/v curator Nick Hallett, and brings to town BRUCE MCCLURE, RAY SWEETEN, NAUTICAL ALMANAC, DYNASTY HANDBAG, TRISTAN PERICH, QUINTRON & MISS PUSSYCAT, and MIGHTY ROBOT. If you are interested in live, multimedia performance that crosses platforms, genres, and astral planes, Media Archeology is the festival to attend. Plus, it's fun, like a big nervous party.

Pictured: Dynasty Handbag who performs Friday, April 20, 8:30pm at Domy Books;

A Buzz That's Never Been

2007-04-03T11:11:00.000-05:00

Aurora is abuzz with international publicity and blog posts surrounding the exhibit "Never Been to Houston," which was co-curated by Aurora Picture Show and Jon Rubin. With information being posted in Croatia, Italy, and Scotland, Aurora really is BIG in Europe. Here are some of the highlights:

Italy
Iran
Scotland
Croatia
More Croatia Coverage
And More from Croatia

Anyone speak Italian? And, for those who want to hear more, join us for a gallery talk with Jon Rubin (on his first visit to Houston!) at 6:30 p.m. April 11 at Lawndale, 4912 Main.

Kia Neill Joins the Aurora Team

2007-03-19T11:05:00.000-05:00

Welcome Kia Neill! In addition to being our fabulously friendly new membership contact, Neill is a fine artist, who completed her MFA from The University of California, San Diego in 2005, and her BFA from The Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio. She grew up in the northern suburbs of Chicago, and relocated to the Houston area last summer from Los Angeles, CA. Neill is very excited about Houston's immensely vibrant and arts-supportive community, and the many relevant and bracing contemporary artists, writers and collectors that reside here. We hope we have hooked her into staying a long time;-)

Never Been To Houston

2007-03-15T11:48:00.000-05:00

This image (by Lindsay Perth, Edinburgh, Scotland) is one of 100+ photos that make up the exhibition Never Been to Houston, curated by Aurora Picture Show and Jon Rubin, at Lawndale Art Center through April 14. More than 20 worldwide participants (who have never been to Houston) were invited to contribute photos of what they think Houston might look like, using their own city as the subject. The contributors upload images every day to a photosharing site that is projected live on a large projection screen at Lawndale gallery. The exhibit evolves daily, as the contributors continue to add photos and respond to other contributions. Read all about it in the Houston Chronicle.

Contributors include:

Blue Rihn Productions: Jan Van Woensel & Vanessa Albury (New York, NY USA); Takayuki Yamamoto, Japan (Nagoya, Japan); John Marriot (Toronto, Canada); Lindsay Perth (Edinburgh, Scotland); Francesco Nonino (Bologna, Italy); Elena Perlino (Saluzzo, Italy); Sean McFarland (San Francisco, CA, USA); Amirali Ghasemi (Tehran, Iran); Peter Edmunds (Canberra, Australia); Ana Rodriguez (Quito, Ecuador); John Marriott (Toronto, Canada); Marko Pekica (Zagreb, Croatia); Elia Patricia Pekica Pagon (Zagreb, Croatia); James Charlton (Auckland, New Zealand); Jon Rubin (Pittsburgh, PA USA); Eiji Watanabe (Nagoya, Japan); Sean McFarland (San Francisco, CA, USA); Heidi Hove Pedersen (Copenhagen, Denmark); Kurt Keifer (Seattle, WA USA).

Anna Bids Auf Wiedersehen

2007-02-28T16:43:00.000-06:00

After three months as the Aurora Intern Extraordinaire, Anna Ballheimer bid us Auf Wiedersehen in order to finish her degree in Cultural Design in Dinkelsbuhel, Germany. Ballheimer was the force behind the newly organized and appropriately "pretty" Aurora video library, and also served as Aurora's main functionability barometer with her famous catchphrase, "That is not working, girlfriend." Though we realize the importance of completing her undergraduate degree, we hope she'll come back to Aurora soon to remind us who's the boss and shower us with more German chocolate. God speed Anna to Germany and back.

Dance Power

2007-02-07T11:36:00.000-06:00

The January screening of the DC cable access show Pancake Mountain turned into one big kiddie mosh pit at Aurora Picture Show. Learn the latest dance moves (through photographs) from these hipster toddlers and tweens on the Aurora Flickr site. Warning: Kids, don't try these moves without a parent or adult companion nearby. You could bust a groove or break something expensive.

Read Amy O'Byrne's report on her PM visit to Aurora Picture Show.

The success of Pancake Mountain has lead the Aurora powers-that-be to revive our Popcorn Kids screening series. You and your small humans will love coming to Popcorn Kids events, which highlights alternative kids shows geared toward pre-K through elementary school-age children and their parents. Check our website for updates on the series, or e-mail suggestions for kids screenings to Andrea Grover.

On a related note, those Dutch are planning to use dance floor energy to power their nightclubs!

Photos by Steve Patlan

Sundance Bound

2007-01-23T13:01:00.000-06:00

Aurora foxes Grover and Harvey are heading to Sundance this week. Naturally, our main purpose is R & D (research and development for you non-NASA types), so we will be seeing the latest in short films and animated shorts, documentaries and naturally investigating just how one makes a margarita in a dry state like Utah. Tough job, but someone has to fall on the sword........Wish us luck an let us know if anyone else is heading there as well.

For you name-droppers, artists from past Aurora screenings at Sundance 2007 include Nick Broomfield, Paul Chan, Martha Colburn, Mike Plante, Nicolas Provost, Jay Rosenblatt, and Travis Wilkerson, plus our friends Chris Wilcha (The Target Shoots First), Mark Elijah Rosenberg (Rooftop Films) and Ruby Lerner (Creative Capital) will be there to share their brains.

Aurora Makes Headlines

2007-01-15T15:13:00.000-06:00

While the Aurora staff would like to think that we have trendsetting status (at least among the four of us), we were thrilled to find out that the Greater Houston Convention and Visitor's Bureau has graced us with that recognition (don't laugh). This week, Aurora Picture Show, will be honored along with The Art Guys, Chloe Dao, Rick Lowe, Carolyn Farb, and Lauren Anderson, as part of Houston's "headliners and newsmakers" event in appreciation of local media. We'd like to thank the fans, without which none of this would be possible, and the academy, of course.

Pancake Mountain Is Here

2007-01-11T17:31:00.000-06:00

This weekend, Scott Stuckey's alternative kids show, Pancake Mountain, comes to Aurora. Amy O'Byrne, one of the show's producers and characters is arriving with new footage from episodes 9 and 10 featuring acts like Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins, Built to Spill, The Flaming Lips, X and more.

The first 10 people to each showing will receive free Yummy-Scrummy Pancake Mountain pancake mix!! So, make sure to beat the competition and be the first through the door. Shows are on Saturday, January 13th at 10 am or Sunday, January 14th at 3pm.

Creative Capital Grant Applications Open Soon!

2007-01-04T13:20:00.001-06:00

2007 is the year for Film/Video (and Visual Arts) grant applications to the world's greatest funder for artists: Creative Capital Foundation. What makes Creative Capital Captain? They don't just give you cash--they provide professional development support, and real life funds for things like childcare, a personal assistant, and other items which open up new paths to productivity. The online inquiry form will be available beginning February 5 - March 5, 2007. Go get it! You can check out past fundees on the Creative Capital Channel website.

Pictured: Still from Jem Cohen's Chain, a previously funded Creative Capital film/video project.

Aurora Announces New Headquarters

2006-12-13T15:29:00.000-06:00

1524 Sul Ross: Aurora's Future Office/Library
Originally uploaded by Aurora Picture Show.

Great News. Aurora announces our new headquarters. Starting December 15th, Aurora Picture Show is moving on down to the Montrose, taking over a house at 1524 Sul Ross, in the heart of the Menil Campus. The new digs will have room to showcase Aurora's video library, and enable us to make it available by appointment for any and all film fans. Just imagine your own private A/V Geeks marathon! Screenings will still be at Aurora, 800 Aurora Street, complete with disco ball and everyone's favorite under-five hosts, Gigi and Lola. Come by and see us next time your at the Menil.

Bill Daniel on CINEMAD

2006-12-10T12:35:00.000-06:00

Reading in FUNdamental.

Read an interview with Bill Daniel (at Aurora December 16-17, 2006 with WHO IS BOZO TEXINO), who tells all to CINEMAD:

http://www.iblamesociety.com/cinemad/interviews/billdaniel.html

This excellent interview is conducted by MIKE PLANTE, no relation to Robert.

Aurora eBay Super Seller Sale Sells OUT!

2006-12-06T15:24:00.000-06:00

Aurora posted a few must have books, DVDs, and CDs here:

Aurora Holiday Shop

John Edward Ross and Laura Harrison on KUHF 88.7

2006-12-02T09:07:00.000-06:00

Planning to come to Elements this weekend at Aurora? Listen to a preview and interview with the two artists on KUHF.

Phantom Captain a Hit

2006-11-09T14:42:00.000-06:00

The reviews are in and Phantom Captain is a hit! Andrea Grover's Apexart exhibit showcasing the art world's use of "crowdsourcing" has received notices in Flavorpill, Gothamist, Saatchi Gallery, and now Time Out Magazine. Read the latest from Time Out here...

Mini Fundraiser Fumiko-style

2006-11-09T11:28:00.000-06:00

Former Aurora board member and volunteer champion of the world, Fumiko Chino, has surprised us with an eBay on-line auction benefiting Aurora Picture Show. Featured items are anime and manga DVD titles (Orphen, Saint Selva, Sister Princess, Gravion Zwei, Wandaba Style, and more), and a mixed lot of Farscape DVDs! Bid here, bid now, viva Aurora!

Anna Travels 4719 Nautical Miles!

2006-11-07T13:04:00.000-06:00

Aurora has a wunderbar new intern, Anna Ballheimer! Anna hails from the idyllic town of Dinkelsbuhel, Germany where she was raised in a family-run youth hostel-- a 500 year old grain storage facility. She has a degree in Cultural Design, which Anna describes as "something between making art and selling art." Besides working in the family business, she also worked in a castle, which gave us slight inferiority complex when she first came to Aurora. Anna is working diligently on the future Aurora public video library. Check back for the grand opening.

Anna illustration by Annika Mayer

Aurora Adds a Guy

2006-10-25T14:29:00.000-05:00

Welcome Guy Harrison, Aurora's new Facility Manager! A long-time Volunteer Coordinator for the Aurora, Guy has finally been suckered, I mean hired, as a full fledged Aurora staff member. Besides his time at Aurora, Guy spends his daytime hours working away at School of the Woods Montessori. While he can sometimes be found repairing and building things around the school, his main job consists of waving and greeting all the kids on the playground in response to "Hi, Mr. Guy." At home he hangs out with three dogs (Iggy, Trixie and Buddy) and two cats (Squeaky and Lucy) and a motorcycle (which he hasn't named). He's all giggly with pleasure at being part of the Aurora crew!

Aurora Friend Takes on ANT

2006-10-11T12:20:00.000-05:00

Local filmmaker and Aurora friend Laura Harrison has Texas on her side. Harrison just received a grant from the Texas Filmmaker's Production Fund (from Austin Film Society ) to help her complete her documentary ANT, about the 70s art/architecture collective Ant Farm, who were best known for the iconic land-art piece Cadillac Ranch. Harrison has previously received grants for the film from the Graham Foundation and Cultural Arts Council of Houston and is aiming for a finish date of Spring 2007. Also the force behind the films Secret People (2000), Thurmond, W. Va (1995) and more recently, Voting in America, Harrison is well on her way to an ant-tastic production, no doubt! Congrats Laura!

Grover Creates a Phantom

2006-09-27T14:09:00.000-05:00

Aurora Founder Andrea Grover (aka boss lady to us) has spread her curating wings to New York and is taking no prisoners as she shows the big apple just how it's done. Grover has created a show for Apexart gallery entitled "Phantom Captain: Art and Crowdsourcing", dealing with the new trend in "user" made art. The show runs Wednesday, October 18 to Saturday, November 25, 2006 and features some names Aurora fans may recognize such as Jeff Howe, Peter Edmunds, Harrell Fletcher and Miranda July, Aaron Koblin, Davy Rothbart and Allison Wiese.

Watch out NYC - Grover can not only tango with the best in media arts, but can balance a two-year old on her shoulder while running a projector, and can take down some talented opponents (or Aurora staff) in a mean pool game too.

For those of you who need more Grover, like everyone does, there is more info on the Phantom Captain exhibit, here.....
www.apexart.org

Aurora Staff Return From Outward Bound Experience Intact

2006-09-19T17:53:00.000-05:00

Following the Aurora Staff's return from our retreat with mother nature and fellow media arts enthusiasts (read geeks) which you can read about below, we dove right in with a screening weekend September 15-17 from Brent Hoff of Wholphin, the DVD Magazine from McSweeneys. Friday nights' event was graciously hosted by Domy Bookstore and included highlights from Spike Jonze, Miranda July, and Lisa Chang, among others. The full program (which any good Theorist would require) is listed on the Aurora website under calendar. Here is a shout out to Brent who suffered through Houston humidity with the dignity of any new mixed breed mammal. Thank you Brent.

Aurora Staff Sighting in Oregon

2006-09-16T21:05:00.000-05:00

From September 10-14, 2006, the Aurora staff (Melissa, Delicia, and Andrea) went on retreat to the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, Oregon. Told through photos on Aurora's Flickr site is the story of their profound bonding experience, plus drinking, pool playing, and WHITE GRAVY. The retreat was conducted by NAMAC and The Learning Commons, and focused on leadership styles/learning styles. If you can guess each of our Learning Styles (Theorist, Pragmatist, Reflector, or Activist) we'll give you a free All Access pass to Aurora for one year (that's free admission to all $5 screenings). First correct reply wins!

Another Aurora Wedding

2006-09-08T10:15:00.001-05:00

Andrew Ladd and Fumiko Chino tie the knot at Aurora

Aurora Picture Show has been the home to 15 weddings, and the latest was the marriage of our dear friends Fumiko Chino and Andrew Ladd on September 2, 2006. Fumiko is the former Art Director of ADV Films, and Andrew is a very smart Computer Science Canadian (CSC). Aren't they a lovely couple?

The first couple to be married at Aurora was Bill Davenport and Francesca Fuchs in 1999, followed by Pat Phipps and Claire Chauvin. Other Aurora unions included Scott Calhoun and Lisa Cooley, and Dianna Ray and Kathy Johnston.

A/V Geeks HQ

2006-08-29T16:06:00.000-05:00

Last week I infiltrated the high security compound known as the A/V Geeks Headquarters, home of 16mm film collector Skip Elsheimer and Germaine Fodor in Raleigh, NC. Skip and Germaine live in an eight bedroom boarding house with 18,000 films, misc. film strips, a telecine, assorted projectors, and a whole lot of small objects that *could* choke a toddler like the one pictured here (Gigi). Perhaps in retaliation, Gigi inserted an everything bagel into their VCR.

Every good Aurora-ite knows about Skip's ongoing thematic screenings of educational films, which have screened at Aurora every year since 1999. But did you know that Skip is also in the business of film transferring and stock footage licensing? Among his clients are Wonder Showzen, VH1, The History Channel, and other people he asked me not to mention.

The complete A/V Geeks photographs are on the Aurora Flickr site.

The Yes Men in the News

2006-08-29T15:37:00.000-05:00

The Yes Men (Mike and Andy) at Aurora December 2005

The Yes Men have successfully pranked again. This time "Andy" posed as a HUD representative in New Orleans.

Diane Shamash

2006-08-15T08:42:00.000-05:00

Diane Shamash, curator, writer, public art presenter, and founder of Minetta Brook, passed away on Sunday, August 13 at her home in New York. I had the privilege of working with Diane on the Floating Cinema in Houston this past June. Diane was a visionary, affable and elegant woman, whose demeanor earned her the ability to produce some of the most challenging large scale public art works. Among her many accomplishments was bringing to fruition The Floating Island by Robert Smithson, 32 years after his death. Diane also was behind Riverrun-- projections on New York's Holland Tunnel ventilation system (a collaboration between Minetta Brook and the Whitney), The Thames and Hudson River Project (a public art collaboration between New York and London) and many others. For someone who could move mountains in the public art realm, Diane was rarely in the spotlight but the impact of her vision is lasting and beautiful. She will be missed.

Seattle Post Intelligencer obituary here.

Floating Cinema

2006-08-13T23:23:00.000-05:00

June 10, 2006, fireworks, fried food, jugglers, CCR, live TV coverage, and then quiet, structuralist landscape films. These are professional photos from the Buffalo Bayou Partnership's grand opening of the Sabine-to-Bagby Promenade in downtown Houston. Andrea Grover of Aurora Picture Show and Diane Shamash of Minetta Brook curated the films, which included Peter Hutton's Two Rivers, James Benning's Ten Skies, and Andy Warhol's Sunset. The floating cinema is the creation of artist Jon Rubin.

As you can see, there were thousands of viewers, and we are now considering contacting Guinness Book to see if we broke the world record for attendees to a structuralist landscape film screening.

Top two photos by Jim Caldwell
Bottem photo by Raymond Groscrand
(Courtesy of Buffalo Bayou Partnership)

Take Me to Monkeytown

2006-08-03T12:47:00.000-05:00

The July 27 show at Monkeytown was chest-poundingly good. I screened the Best of Aurora, Volume 3 (Jona Bechtolt, Tommy Becker, Andre Silva, Gerald Straub, Jim Finn, Skip Elsheimer, Eileen Maxson, Jeff Butterworth, Adad Hannah, Arthur Jones, Matt Hulse, Enid Baxter Blader, Bill Daniel, Andy Mann), and got to reconnect with some top Aurora buddies.

The Monkeytown screening room is a theater in the square, with gi-normous screens on all four walls, a killer sound system, and futons with coffee tables for food service. Initially I thought the four screens would be distracting, but not at all. The brain works miracles when given too much information, and settles into plain old stereo vision. Monkeytown started out in the apartment of Montgomery Knott, and was later underwritten by some investors who thought it a pretty good idea. I agree. The current home of Monkeytown is a storefront on 3rd Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It's more comfy than Alamo Drafthouse, Austin-- the futons and coffee tables invite people to lounge and hang out. I wonder if Montgomery was influenced by Alamo, as he is a former Austinite.

In attendance at the screenings were your friends and mine: Colleen Burke (We Ragazzi), Mary Ellen Carroll, Nick Hallett, Sara Hines (Apex Art), Arthur Jones, Ryan Junell (Slomo Video), Kyle Lapidus (Lovid), Marisa Olson (Rhizome), Caspar Stracke and Gabriela Monroy (Mostra), and Butcher Walsh. There was also a big group from an design agency called Farenheit 212. I read somewhere that Jonas Mekas once said that advertising professionals were some of the biggest clients for film rentals from Filmmakers' Coop.

Stovepipe and Scanner

2006-07-18T10:35:00.000-05:00

And another thing... Our neighbor and long time friend Michael Stovall was an animator on the film "A Scanner Darkly." Mike and his wife Miss Anne (Stovepipe Design) have designed the last three Best of Aurora Picture Show program books. And when we built a wheelchair ramp at Aurora, Mike and Chris Lockwood (Aurora's full time volunteer designer for the last 5 years) poured the cement for the landing. Brawn and brains, all in the family.

Speaking of Best of Aurora, Volume 3 in the series will be at Monkeytown, Brooklyn on July 27, 2006. Free admission if you wear cowboy boots. More on that later.

Movie Graham

2006-07-06T15:11:00.000-05:00

Graham Reynolds, the Austin-based virtuoso behind the band Golden Arm Trio and alum of many Aurora programs (he played live scores for three shows and GAT was the official band of Carlos and Andrea's unholy union), created the soundtrack for the soon to be released A SCANNER DARKLY, directed by Richard Linklater. The soundtrack is on sale now, and the movie opens July 7.

Though music is not expressly part of our mission, a few interdisciplinary musicians have vibrated the walls of our old church. Who? Calvin Johnson, Khaela Maricich, Phil Elvrum, Jana Hunter, Jody Hughes, Dat Politic, Slump, Childcraft, Loreta Kovacic; and offsite Aurora shows Jona Bechtolt, Extreme Animals, TV Sheriff, My Robot Friend, who am I forgetting? Help?

Delicia Harvey, Come On Down!

2006-06-30T17:14:00.000-05:00

No, she's not a contestant on The Price Is Right, she's Aurora's new Associate Director! Aurora is delighted to welcome Delicia Harvey to our staff. Delicia will take her post at Aurora in August 2006. She comes by way of The Alley Theatre, where she was Public Relations Manager, and has formerly worked for Landmark Theatre Corporation and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Film Department. Delicia has an MA in Public Communications from Fordham University, and a BA from University of California, San Diego. Please join us in welcoming her to Aurora.

What Happens at Aurora Stays at Aurora

2006-06-28T16:26:00.000-05:00

Aurora spares no expense when it comes to our visiting artists. Here we see Extremely Shorts 9 juror Kevin Jerome Everson receiving a substantial honorarium in $5 bills.

Pictured below are some of the annual picnic attendees, and an unnamed karaoke victim. More pictures can be seen on our Flickr site. Thanks to photographers Marisa Avelar and Steve Patlan!

A Comeback for Allison Wiese

2006-06-14T08:38:00.000-05:00

Viewers may remember this former cast member at Aurora, First Mate Allison Wiese. Wiese was the first employee at Aurora beyond Captain Andrea Grover, and was hired in January 2002. Since her departure in 2004, our first mate has been on a Nantucket Sleigh Ride of adventures, with exhibits and artist residencies across the whole US of A!

Hold onto your lifevests, because for a limited two-week engagement, First Mate Wiese will return to the Aurora to batten down the hatches, and work during our 8th Anniversary weekend (Extremely Shorts 9, June 24-25). Come sing some shantees with her at the annual anniverary picnic on Sunday, June 25, 6pm-10pm!

Ethan the Greyhound (1994-2006)

2006-06-02T07:17:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, June 1, was Ethan's last day with us. After his companion, Patti, died on May 1, Ethan's health rapidly deteriorated. Like an old married couple, one died right after the other.

Ethan Sleet was his racing name and his racing statistics are still on-line. He was a solid third placer a few times before a hip injury placed him in early retirement--lucky for us, because we adopted Ethan in 1996. Ethan was the first canine resident of Aurora, and is best known for actually being able to say "Aurora." We had visions of Ethan saying Aurora at every screening, but when we actually tried our pet trick before a live audience, Ethan just wandered down the aisle looking for lovin'. Apparently, he didn't like to show off.

Two of the finest pets ever, Ethan and Patti R.I.P.

Miranda July: Aurora Award Honoree 2006

2006-05-19T08:02:00.000-05:00

Save the date, friends. On October 5, 2006, Aurora will present the 6th annual Aurora Award to artist Miranda July. The Aurora Award is an honor given to an artist who has exhibited extraordinary originality in the fields of media and multimedia art. Past honorees have been Tony Oursler (2001), William Wegman (2002), Laurie Anderson (2003), Ant Farm (2004), and Isaac Julien (2006).

Miranda July is a filmmaker, performing artist and writer. She grew up in Berkeley, California where she began her career by writing plays and staging them at the local punk club. July's videos, performances, and web-based projects have been presented at sites such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and in the 2002 and 2004 Whitney Biennials. Her short fiction has been published in The Paris Review, The Harvard Review, and Zoetrope All Story, and a collection of stories is forthcoming from Scribner in spring 2007. July created the participatory website learningtoloveyoumore.com with artist Harrell Fletcher and a companion book will be published by Prestel in fall 2007. She wrote, directed and starred in her first feature-length film, Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) , which won a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. July currently live in Los Angeles.

Photo: Todd Warnock

xxoo
aurora