Lucy Raven's Demolition of a Wall (Album 1) is the second film in her trilogy of "Westerns." In American cinema, the Western has traditionally celebrated the expansionist myth that the region is somehow primal or untouched. Raven, by contrast, engages with a West that–while still dramatic in its natural beauty–has been industrialized, militarized, and colonized. She filmed this work at an explosives range in New Mexico that is typically employed as a test site by the US Departments of Defense and Energy and private munitions companies. Notably, it is close to Los Alamos, a national laboratory known for its role in the development of the nuclear bomb. Using a variety of cameras and imaging techniques, Raven captures the trajectory of the pressure-blast shockwaves that move through the atmosphere in the wake of an explosion. [Overview courtesy of the Whitney Museum of American Art]
Dean extrapolated landscape images from 1920s Ford advertisements, leaving out the cars to focus on their representations of place and nature. She made the animation using a digital version of a multiplane camera technique employed in early Disney films to create an immersive and 3D illusion by separating two-dimensional images. This technique was itself inspired by Ford’s assembly line; Dean uses it to explore historical depictions of the American dream, exaggerating the subject matter’s fantastical style. [Overview courtesy of the Whitney Museum of American Art]
Staff Sergeant Blaine, a decorated sniper recently discharged from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Army Night Stalkers), goes back to his hotel to get some sleep. Due to PTSD and noisy surroundings, Blaine can't sleep and is compelled to take matters into his own hands.
Jack Marston is the sheriff of a western town and Jennie, his sister, is postmistress and operator at the stage station. Among the inhabitants of the town is an Indian breed. An outcast from his own people, he is looked down upon by the race of his adoption, although his education has included a college course. The express company has posted a reward for the apprehension of one Apache Kid and his band of fellow robbers. The next night the band arrive in the town and hold up one of the main saloons. Peggy, a dance hall girl, takes the fancy of the leader, the Apache Kid, and he abducts her and takes her with them when they make their escape.
Brig Harris, a renegade Mexican, casts off his sweetheart, telling her he is tired of her. Harris and a pal now find that a shipment of ore from the Catspaw mine is to be left overnight at the house of Barnes, the town agent. A plot to rob Barnes is instantly laid. Barnes is also a doctor, and Harris lures him to his shack by shamming sickness.
A sheriff apprehends a bank robber and recovers the money. On the way back to town, the sheriff loses the recovered money in a crooked card game. The bank robber helps him recover it.
Tom is given the position of Cowboy on Sid Jordan's ranch. Vicky, Sid's daughter, is annoyed by Buck, the ranch foreman, who is discharged and Tom is given the position.
The First Story is the first film in a trilogy of "westerns." Here the central idea is Power in its various forms, especially as seen overland in the quintessential American West: the big rigs on I 90 and the freight trains crossing Wyoming. It is the contrast of these machines to the broad landscape and animal life that digs at this mythological space and questions what other meanings might be created.
The story of Calaveras Creek was inspired by characters introduced in Roaring Camp, a short film that has been screened successfully in many film festivals around the country. At the heart of the "saga" are two aging gunfighters, Ben Hale and Malcom McCoy, who, despite a conscious decision to passively pan for gold, must confront their lawless past
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