This ArtVenture, in collaboration with Northwest Film Forum’s
Children’s Film Festival and in partnership with
Interbay Cinema Society, welcomes experimental filmmakers Devon Damonte and Avida Jackson for a fun, all-ages, hands-on filmmaking experience with options to participate online or in-person. Participants will combine Japanese “MT” washi tape and Sharpie drawings on clear and black 16mm film leader using a special serrated-edge tearing tool (adult collaboration recommended) to create experimental animation movies. Washi tape is a richly patterned adhesive tape made from Japanese rice paper. It is also a handy material for creating abstract, cameraless animated movies on 16mm film leader, which interacts with the tape’s patterns and textures in magical ways when the film is projected. All materials will be provided; online participants will be mailed a kit (one per household), which will include a prepaid mailer to return the completed strips for processing. All film from the workshop participants, both in-person and online, will be spliced into a collaborative group film to be professionally transferred to digital format by LightPress in Seattle. The film’s world premiere online screening will take place on Sunday, March 13 and will feature a live soundtrack made by participants (a digital copy will also be made available to all participants for download).
Any workshop participants younger than 15 should be accompanied by an adult co-animator. All in-person participants will be required to present EITHER proof of COVID-19 vaccination OR a negative result from a COVID-19 test administered within the last 48 hours by an official testing facility.
Please direct any questions to Derek Edamura at derek@nwfilmforum.org.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Devon Damonte is an artist based in Olympia, WA working with cameraless 16mm & 35mm film animation, rubbings, printmaking, handmade papermaking, and book arts. Damonte is adjunct faculty at The Evergreen State College teaching an intensive experimental motion graphics “Visual Music” adventure in the summertimes. His work has shown at New York Film Festival Views From the Avant Garde, REDCAT at Disney Hall in Los Angeles, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Engauge Experimental Film Festival Seattle, and McMurdo Station Antarctica. Damonte currently sells his own line of handcrafted washi tape, and he believes we all currently live smack dab in the golden age of adhesive tape.
Avida Jackson is a Black multimedia artist and filmmaker living in Portland, OR. She enjoys working with analog and digital techniques and has worked on music videos for Grammy-nominated musicians. She is currently working in Post-Production for Wieden + Kennedy.