At Where is the Avant-Garde Cinema Today?, Michael Sicinski will tell you exactly where: on the Internet. "I pull up on YouTube [illegally uploaded] works by Michael Snow, Ernie Gehreand...every time you find a clip, it gives you ten-plus other related things," says the writer/lecturer for today's Aurora Picture Show salon. Sicinski will be exploring - through what he hopes will be more of a discussion than a talk - whether e-films that mimic the aspects of '70s avant-garde film, such as repetition and flicker, are a matter of intention or chance. "The question is, can we infer influence? Can we infer a kind of scholarly connection through that, or is it just something that a YouTube-bot generates spontaneously?" he says. Help Sicinski search through an offline social network at 1 p.m. Aurora Video Library, 1524 Sul Ross. For information, call 713-868-2101 or visit www.aurorapictureshow.org. Free.
Sun., Aug. 16, 1 p.m., 2009