A Change of Pace From Mainstream Movies

The American Cinematheque this weekend presents at the Directors Guild, 7920 Sunset Blvd., “Cinema Alternative: The 1991 Whitney Biennial,” the 21st edition of experimental film and video programs organized by New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art. Tedious, obscure, tantalizing, provocative and exciting, the Whitney Biennials reliably offer a mind-blowing respite from mainstream movies.

Several of the offerings have had repeated local exposure, such as Marlon Riggs’ poetic celebration of love between black men “Tongues Untied” and Gregg Araki’s “The Long Weekend (O’ Despair),” which takes an amused, compassionate view of a group of college graduates overwhelmed with what to do with their lives. A number of the offerings have gay or feminist themes.

Juan Downey’s “Hard Times and Culture, Part 1” (Saturday at 7:30 p.m.) is a kind of speculation on the complex relationship between history and the arts, as exemplified by Vienna at the turn of the century, an era during which the decline of the Austrian Empire was well under way, and, in turn, New York City in the ‘80s. Even if some of Downey’s associations strike you as either elusive or dubious, you’re left with a lovely and exuberant travelogue of Vienna.

The concern that Downey expresses with the manipulation of history and, by extension, the visual media itself permeates much of this program; indeed, Antonio Muntadas’ six-minute “Video Is Television?” (Saturday at 9 p.m.) is an attempt to define video as Muntadas scans a bank of TV sets in a store display.

Among the most ambitious offerings is video-maker Steve Fagin’s “The Machine That Killed Bad People” (Sunday at 5 p.m.), a bold and largely successful attempt to appraise in a fresh, stimulating way what has happened--and is happening in the Philippines. If you can imagine a TV newscast designed (and sent up) by Jean-Luc Godard, you will have a rough idea of what Fagin has tried to do, as he attempts to get a purchase on the absurdities and excesses of the Marcos era and what they reveal about the United States and our government, which for so long condoned them. Fagin in fact is really considering the history of the country in the light of American colonialism and cultural imperialism and is also exploring the role of TV itself in creating political myths that determine the course of entire societies.

The title of Warren Sonbert’s infectious, vibrant, 32-minute “Friendly Witness” (Friday at 7 p.m.) refers to the veteran San Francisco experimental filmmaker’s camera. A warm, lively personal yet accessible visual scrapbook, this short is an inspired assemblage of bits and pieces of film shot by Sonbert over several decades. The result is a kaleidoscopic celebration of everyday life, recording far-flung travels, sports events, the performing arts, friends, pets--Sonborn must be crazy about cats and circuses. He gives us the impression that he must keep his camera running all the time, intent on not missing anything that makes people feel glad to be alive.

In a somewhat similar vein, Hans Breder’s “From Here to There: Moscow Postcards” (part of the Sunday at 4 p.m. program) salutes the dawning of the freedom of expression in the Soviet Union with lyrically reprocessed images of everyday life in Moscow marked by lush streaks of color.

Another major offering is Charles Atlas’ 127-minute “Because We Must” (Saturday at 9 p.m.), a video record of choreographer Michael Clark’s witty drag ballets that is as deft, inspired and playful as the gender-bending dance/revue itself--which performs to everything from Chopin to the Velvet Underground to punk rock.

Zeinabu irene Davis’ 17-minute “Cycles” (part of the Friday at 7 p.m. program) deals poetically with a young black woman getting in touch with herself, her body and her ancestral culture, whereas Yvonne Rainer’s “Privilege” (Sunday at 2 p.m.) could not have succeeded more perfectly in making the most boring movie imaginable on the subject of menopause.

By way of contrast, Su Friedrich’s 48-minute, 26-chapter “Sink or Swim” (part of the 7 p.m. Friday program) is a beautiful (and demanding) memoir of childhood centering on the loss of a father through divorce.

Not all the videos were available for review, including Amy (Rankin) Morgana’s “The Man in the Mirror” (part of the Friday opening program), a consideration of how Michael Jackson’s public persona has been constructed by the media.

Full schedule and information: (213) 466-FILM.

‘Border’ Shorts: Among the many offerings in the second and final weekend of USC’s outstanding “Border Crossings” series are three splendid short films dealing with the Chicano and Mexican experience. Sylvia Morales’ tender, stirring “Esperanza” (Saturday at 6 p.m. in USC’s Norris Theater) reveals the precarious plight of two Mexican children, a brother and a sister, who are illegals and have been separated from their parents and who speak no English.

It is followed by Carlos Avila’s subtle, witty and sophisticated “Distant Water” (1990) in which a 10-year-old Chicano boy (Lennard Camarillo) resourcefully copes with his anger in the wake of the racist hysteria surrounding the bloody zoot suit riots of 1943.

Written by Paul Cooper and directed by Jesus Salvador Trevino, the 1988 “Gangs” (Sunday at 6:20 p.m.) cuts right to the heart of the gang mystique, a lethal mix of macho and desperation, as a young soldier, home on furlough with a fresh perspective and maturity, realizes that gangs are not the answer--especially for his 14-year-old brother.

Full schedule: (213) 740-3339 or 740-3334, weekdays; (213) 688-2787, evenings and weekends.