Expresión en Corto honors Peter Greenaway
By Daniel Kandell

Film Festival
Expresión en Corto
San Miguel
Fri–Tue, Jul 24–28, 10am–4am
Guanajuato
Wed–Sun, Jul 29–Aug 2, 10am–4am
Free

Tulse Luper VJ Performance
Sat, Aug 1
Alhóndiga de Granaditas
300 pesos advance, 350 pesos at the door

Expresión en Corto International Film Festival visits the beautiful colonial cities of San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato this year between July 24 and August 2.

In its twelfth edition, the festival hosts and honors the distinguished British director Peter Greenaway.

Greenaway receives his tribute on July 30 at 9pm in the State Auditorium of Guanajuato. The following day, on July 31 at 11am, Greenaway gives a Master’s Class on the topic “Cinema is dead—Long live cinema!” in the same auditorium. Greenaway supplements his lecture with audiovisuals. On August 1, Greenaway officially closes Expresión en Corto 2009 with a spectacular sound and light show entitled “Tulse Luper VJ Performance” in Guanajuato’s majestic Alhóndiga de Granaditas. 

Sarah Hoch, Executive Director of Expresión en Corto, says, “This year will be an exceptional event thanks to a solid and ample cinematic presence from the United Kingdom, this year’s Spotlight country, and in particular for Peter Greenaway’s participation. This event is possible thanks to the gracious help of the state government of Guanajuato and the Council for Touristic Promotion of Mexico.”

Greenaway first revealed himself as a VJ (video jockey) in the Amsterdam club “11” in June of 2005. Accompanied by the music of DJ Serge Dodwell (aka DJ Radar), VJ Greenaway used large plasma screens for his set, specially developed for him by BeamSystems. Greenaway projected the 92 Tulse Luper stories on the 12 club “11” screens and mixed the images “live.”

The result was amazing: Greenaway rocked the crowd in “11,” Amsterdam’s VJ temple, blending his avant-garde cinematographic imagery (taken from The Tulse Luper Suitcases movie) with the movie score remixed by DJ Radar.

 Mastering the giant touch screen, the newborn “real-time image conductor” Greenaway provided a totally new experience to the audience: live cinema at its best.

The magnificent VJ debut of Peter Greenaway did not go unnoticed. As “real-time image conductor,” he finally freed himself from classic cinematographic linearity. With his outstanding eye and energetic approach, Greenaway won the respect of fellow VJs worldwide and thereby set the pace in the top-level international VJ scene.

The tremendous success of this performance led to a decision by producer NoTV and Greenaway to take the performance to the next level and bring it to the international audience: Milan, Benevento, Barcelona, Seville, Zurich, Antwerp, Eindhoven, Gdynia, Krakow, Amsterdam, Säo Paulo, Rio, Bilbao, Moscow and now…Guanajuato, Mexico!

Born in Wales and educated in London, Greenaway trained as a painter for four years, and started making his own films in 1966. He now lives in Amsterdam and has continued to make films in a variety of ways. Cinema also has informed his curatorial work in creating exhibitions and installations in Europe from the Palazzo Fortuny in Venice and the Joan Miró Gallery in Barcelona to the Boymans van Beuningen Gallery in Rotterdam and the Louvre in Paris.

He has made 12 feature films and some 50 short films and documentaries; been regularly nominated for the film festival competitions of Cannes, Venice and Berlin; published books; written opera librettos; and collaborated with composers Michael Nyman, Glen Branca, Wim Mertens, Jean-Baptiste Barriere, Philip Glass, Louis Andriessen, Borut Krzisnik and David Lang.

His first narrative feature film, The Draughtsman’s Contract, completed in 1982, received critical acclaim and established him internationally as an original filmmaker. This reputation was consolidated by the films, The Cook, the Thief, his Wife & her Lover, The Pillow-book, The Tulse Luper Suitcases and most recently by Nightwatching.

Greenaway’s latest adventures in film are extravagant multimedia experiences which include the most innovative techniques. In Greenaway’s mind, we haven’t yet seen what can be done with film. His ambition is to reinvent cinema. For this, and for the spectacular variety that he has introduced to cinema, the film world owes him its thanks.

Live this experience during Expresión en Corto in Guanajuato. For more information about how to purchase tickets to the Tulse Luper VJ Performance, visit www.topticketmexico.com or call toll-free within Mexico: 01 (800) 823-5914. For information on the Peter Greenaway Tribute and Master’s Class (both free of charge) as well as general information about Expresión en Corto, visit www.expresionencorto.com.