Brooklyn, NY’s expanded cinema festival, Mono No Aware, is back for its third year with a half-dozen film performances that will take place on one night only: November 29.

Mono No Aware is a totally unique cinematic event, especially these days, in that it has an insistence that artists include actual film for their performances. No video! This year’s participants incorporate either 16mm or Super 8mm film into their work, along with different audio techniques such as live narration, music, vinyl records, toy synthesizers and more.

The title “Mono No Aware” actually refers to a Japanese philosophy of finding or seeing the beauty in the transient. So these are six one-time performances that can never be perfectly reproduced ever again. If you’re in the NYC area, then, make sure you don’t miss out.

Below is the listing of the six expanded cinema pieces. Typically on the Underground Film Journal, I like to write my own film synopses from whatever info I’m given or can find. But, since this is such a unique event, I’m reprinting exactly the performance descriptions as sent to me by the good folks over at Mono No Aware. However, if you want more info or learn more about the artists, please visit the official Mono No Aware website.

Here’s the listing:

El Ojo, La Boca, El Ano
16mm film & 35 mm slide multi-projection / Live narration, foley, music & performance
Juan David Gonzalez Monroy & Julio Monterrey

“El Ojo, La Boca, El Ano” is a live audio-visual sexual education lecture produced by The School of Radical Anthropology for the promotion of healthy habits in children ages 5 to 25 which will lead you through the parable of The Eye and The Mouth. The conjoined twins, born with an eye and a mouth for heads, are separated after their birth by their overbearing father. The complex story begins with their separation in the back lot of the “Tomorrowland” theme park, the twins are then enslaved to work in eyeglass and toothpaste ads they grow divided yet secretly longing for each other. When the economy falls apart and the market for toothpaste mouths and eyeglass eyes disappears, they meet each other again at the Pay Per View battle organized by their Father as a last ditch attempt at a profit. Will the war between the eyes and the mouths bring the siblings together? Will they claim revenge on their father? Or will they succumb to the violence of battle? Perhaps the ghosts of the dead will rise from the ground and cut down the Father by the roots, like an ancient tree.

Etching With Light
Super 8mm film projection / Live musical accompaniment
David Mason & Jon Davis (Ray Sohn, collaborator)

Beautifully constructed, this performance plays with the duality of the screen as a surface to reflect and capture light. Shot in Super 8mm black and white, the subject – Ray Shon – illustrates with light. The soundtrack for the film will be performed live by David Mason and John Davis using an assortment of tape loops, acoustic instruments and analogue synthesizers.

Honeybed
Super 8mm projection / Live musical accompaniment & performance
Syni Pappa, Myrto Karapiperi & Anna Maria Rammou

Honey Bed is an intimate portrayal of Syni Pappa in a period of wild depression. The actresses in the film represent her two conflicting moods. Their interaction with the objects around them is calm, playful, yet raw & genuine. To further invite you into her world, this one reel super 8 black and white film shot straight with no retakes or editing will be projected on a canopy of a bed in which the performers will play the original score.

Lunar Flare
Super 8mm projection / Live spoken word & toy synthesizers
Julie Buck & Levi Rubeck

This film has been hand processed, hand dyed & scraped to blend together scenes of green space, urban space and interiors of New York City. The poem “lunar flare” will be read live by the author, as well as accompanied by an atonal piece on cello and synthesizers to create a connection between visuals, language and sound.

Spillway Study / Carpe Diez
16mm film multi-projection / Live projection mixing & color modification
Ross Nugent

The forces of nature are alternately represented in a pulsating three-part projection. Vibrant colors and pulsating rhythms are worked out by hand using filters and some precise hand jiving. The result is a spell binding remix of natural beauty taken from the archived 70’s footage of naturalist filmmaker Tom Diez.

Safe & Sound
Super 8mm film / Live 45 vinyl manipulation
Rachael Rene Abernathy

This Super 8mm film dances and sways to the music. Sound manipulated from an old soul 45 record playing the melody of “Safe & Sound” by Fontella Bass complement the silhouetted images. The scratches and static of the record are visualized on the surface of the original film material.

For more info, please visit the official Mono No Aware website.