Jarred Alterman is "Filmmaker pick of the week"

at Hammer to Nail with 'Convento' Review by Mike Tully

(Convento world premiered at the 2011 SXSW Film Festival. It has its New York City premiere on Saturday, July 16, 2011, as part of Rooftop Films. Visit the film’s official Tumblr page to learn more. NOTE: This review was first published on July 14, 2011, as a “Hammer to Nail Pick of the Week” at the Filmmaker Magazine blog.)

Jarred Alterman’s Convento is a multi-fold achievement. It’s an inspiring tribute to a well-adjusted family, it’s a reverent document of a very special place, and it’s perhaps most distinguishable as a stunning showcase for Christiaan Zwanikken’s artwork. As described in the film’s press notes, Christiaan is a “kinetic artist who reanimates skeletal parts and deceased wildlife with servomotors and robotics.” These creatures would be awesome (and by ‘awesome’ I mean the original definition of that term) in any environment, yet here, they become something altogether more indelible. They’re like wandering, leftover figures from some extinct futuristic planet. That said, it isn’t just the artwork itself that brings Convento to such rich life. In the way that Christiaan thrillingly fuses the natural world with mechanics in his work, director/cinematographer/editor Alterman delivers a similarly perfect marriage of form and content.

Just about anyone can become an accomplished technical filmmaker. Clearly, Alterman knows how to photograph and edit, and his collaboration with musician Lawrence Dolan cannot be understated—it’s an excellent sonic expression of the element of sci-fi naturalism that defines Christiaan’s work. But there is something deeper going on here. I have no idea how much time Alterman spent at Sao Francisco or how well he knew the Zwanikkens before pressing the record button, but with every static camera placement, every slow dolly, every edit, it feels as if he was connecting to his material on a more instinctive, spiritual level. Whatever energy is in the air or water that makes Sao Francisco such a special place, Alterman managed to bottle that into this film.

"Convento," Reviewed - Movies - News - IFC.com

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Unorthodox subjects demand an equally unorthodox documentary -- an "unortho-doc?" -- like "Convento," a quiet and curious film about a quiet and curious family living in a former monastery in Portugal, the Convento Sao Francisco de Mertola. They're the Zwanikkens: mother and former prima ballerina Geraldine, animal and nature lover Louis, and Christiaan, the "kinetic artist" who spends most of his time designing bizarre sculptures, like the one above, that fuse animal bones and remains with working robotics to create moving (practically living) works of art. In this former house of God, Christiaan gets to play God himself, giving life to these weird little robo-beasts.

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indieWIRE presents 'Meet the 2011 SXSW Filmmakers'

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Growing up in front of the camera…

I grew up with a super 8mm home movie camera shouting directions at me. In fact, for years I was convinced my father did not have a face. All I saw was a blinking green light (while I transformed into The Hulk or Spiderman) and a static red light while my father thought about the next shot. My mother was always concerned with the lens being too close, but I couldn’t get enough. I was able to wear a cape most of my childhood.

Once a month in our North East Philly apartment we had movie nights in our smoky living room. I have vivid memories of the loud motor from the projector and a silhouette of my father carefully setting up the screen. I watched our family become illuminated and immortalized, and this feeling of being a part of something truly magical. As a kid these images on the screen were hyper-real (and sort of psychedelic.) It was like some insane version of our lives, where we talked a lot faster and sometimes screamed for no reason. The muted colors, grainy texture and dramatic shifts from light to darkness were… shocking. But I think what made the strongest impression on me was this bizarre sense of time. I was flying around in my cape in one direction and suddenly I would enter the frame from another. Day would become night. Seasons would change. What the hell was going on here? This nightmarish collision of time and space made me sea sick, but it was so exciting!

From super 8mm to VHS…

Years later I began to experiment with my own home movies. Super 8mm became VHS. In-camera edits of my friends shoving cigarettes in their mouths and drinking black coffee in diners, became a Friday night ritual. I always had a camera with me. I was always looking for that hyper-realism I felt as a kid with those super 8mm home movies. And I guess I should thank that man with the blinking lights for eyes and the lens for a face, who lured me into this profession.

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TRUE/FALSE FILM FESTIVAL!

I was invited to the True/False film festival in Columbia, MO to present a series of kinetic art films
for a large, out door installation March 3rd to 6th.
The work is called: Cinema/Sculpture (a collaboration with Christiaan Zwanikken)
The films will screen every night of the festival from sunset to midnight.





More information about the festival: True/False Film Festival

OCEAN premieres at Baryshnikov Art Center

On Monday January 10th, Baryshnikov Art Center premiered the film Ocean (dir. Charles Atlas);
A 5 camera, 90 minute live performance dance/film with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
Ocean was staged in the bottom of a rock quarry in St. Cloud Minnesota, and performed in the round,
with the addition of a 150 member orchestra using quadrophonic sound.



I had the amazing opportunity to be hired as Director of Photography for this film- which celebrated 10 years
of filmmaking with Charles Atlas. We had 5 cameras and a dolly to cover this ambitious performance
which took place in the round, with a live audience. It was a lot of hard work, but we had a great crew.
After watching this film projected there is no doubt the reel stars are the editors.. Bravo.