The second annual Migrating Forms experimental media festival will descend on the Anthology Film Archives in NYC on May 14-23 featuring the world’s greatest experimental videos, cultural documentaries, some that are a little of both; plus, several filmmaker retrospectives, some classic films and the endearingly popular Tube Time! video tournament.

Migrating Forms is such an entirely different beast than its predecessor, the New York Underground Film Festival, that we don’t have to keep saying this new event arose from the NYUFF’s ashes, do we? Ok, we’ll just say that one more time. Next year we won’t mention it because, even in it’s first year, Migrating Forms proved itself to be a completely unique arena in the field of experimental media making.

A couple of highlights from the lineup below: The new feature film by cultural  explorer Kevin Jerome Everson, Erie, which captures life in the Lake Erie region; a screening of the rarely seen early David Cronenberg film Stereo; the only two films made by American artist Ed Ruscha; a retrospective of documentarian Jean-Pierre Gorin; a new film co-directed by Anthology’s own Andrew Lampert; two new short films by Peggy Ahwesh; and videos by Kent Lambert and Robert Todd.

It’s really an extensive and intense lineup of some really fascinating sounding work:

May 14

8:30 p.m.: Erie, dir. Kevin Jerome Everson. This is a collection of single take shots filmed in the communities around Lake Erie that all relate to the experience of Black migration in America.

May 15

2:00 p.m.: “Group Program 1”

Soy mi madre, dir. Phil Collins

Belfast Trilogy (Tea at Four o Clock/The Hollow Ball/The Apprentice), dir. Redmond Entwistle

In the Air, dir. Liza Johnson

3:45 p.m.: “Group Program 2”

Gathering, dir. Robert Todd

54 Days This Winter 36 Days This Spring for 18 Minutes, dir. Dani Leventhal

Golden Hour, dir. Robert Todd

Into the Unknown, dir. Deimantas Narkevicius

If There Be Thorns, dir. Michael Robinson

5:45 p.m.: “Jean-Marie Straub”

Le genou d’Artemide, dir. Jean-Marie Straub

L’Itinèraire de Jean Bricard, dir. Jean-Marie Straub & Daniele Huillet

Le Streghe-femmes entre elles, dir. Jean-Marie Straub

7:45 p.m.: “Group Program 3”

My Way 1, dir. dir. Amie Siegel

My Way 2, dir. Amie Siegel

Kari & Knut, dir. Lars Laumann

After School Special, dir. Corin Sworn

[sic], dir. Eric Baudelaire, dir. Zhao Liang

9:45 p.m.: “Soziale Plastik I”

Curator Brian McCarthy will screen an early David Cronenberg film, Stereo (1969), plus work by Leslie Thornton, Stom Sogo, and Ben Russell.

May 16

2:30 p.m.: “Group Program 4”

Wolfs Froth / Amongst Other Things, dir. Paul Abbott

The Task of the Translator, dir. Lynne Sachs

to the horse dream of arms, dir. Stephanie Barber

Prim Limit, dir. eteam

Trans Trans {Transformers Transformed}, dir. Bradley Eros & Tim Geraghty

4:15 p.m.: Journey to the Moon, dir. Kutlug Ataman. In 1957, four villagers living in the province of Erzincan in Eastern Turkey attempt to become the first men on the moon.

6:15 p.m.: Petition, dir. Zhao Liang. In this documentary, several Chinese citizens travel from their poor, remote villages to Beijing to air their grievances against their local government in a desperate bid to clear their names.

9:00 p.m.: “Group Program 5”

Ape of Nature, dir. Peggy Ahwesh

Kept Alive, dir. Nira Pereg

My Necropolis, dir. Moyra Davey

Bethlehem, dir. Peggy Ahwesh (Watch online)

May 17

7:00 p.m.: Made in Hollywood, dir. Bruce Yonemoto & Norman Yonemoto. Several desperate people, including a small-town gal and a screenwriting couple from NYC, attempt to find fame and fortune in Los Angeles. Starring Patricia Arquette, Mike Kelley, Ron Vawter, and more.

Screening with:

Vault, dir. Bruce Yonemoto & Norman Yonemoto

9:15 p.m.: The Golden Mean, dir. Andrew Lampert & Saul Levine. The two filmmakers capture a bizarre performance by Charlemagne Palestine, who tells tales about Morton Feldman, drinks cognac and plays two Steinway pianos.

May 18

6:30 p.m.: Vapor Trail (Clark), dir. John Gianvito. This documentary explores the toxic contamination that has occurred around abandoned U.S. military bases in the Philippines.

May 19

6:30 p.m.: In Comparison, dir. Harun Farocki. An insightful look at the different ways bricks are manufactured and utilized in different cultures around the world.

8:00 p.m.: “NDP Exchange Program”

Programmed by Matt Keegan & James Richards

From Migrating Forms: “A screening of works by Steve Reinke & Jean Paul Kelly, James Richards and others celebrating the spirit and final installment of North Drive Press, the non-thematic artist publication.”

9:45 p.m.: The t.A.T.u. Project, dir. Jesper Nordahl. Profiling the eccentric lesbian Russian pop duo t.A.T.u.

May 20

6:30 p.m.: Butterflies Have No Memories, dir. Lav Diaz. This documentary captures the devastation caused by a goldmine company shutting down their business in the Philippines.

8:00 p.m.: As Long As There’s Breath, dir. Stephanie Spray. A Nepali family eagerly awaits the return of its son.

9:45 p.m.: My Crasy Life, dir. Jean-Pierre Gorin. Profiling the lives of Somoan gang members in Long Beach.

May 21

7:00 p.m.: Routine Pleasures, dir. Jean-Pierre Gorin. Profiling the lives of model train enthusiasts.

9:00 p.m.: “Ed Ruscha: 16mm Films”

Introduced by Linda Norden.

Premium (24 min., USA 1971)

Miracle (28 min., USA 1975).

10:30 p.m.: “Tube Time!”

Triple Canopy’s Sam Frank, Rhizome’s Ceci Moss, dump.fm’s Ryder Ripps and filmmaker Jessie Stead screen their most outrageous online video finds in a tournament to the death.

May 22

2:00 p.m.: “Group Program 6”

I Know Where I’m Going, dir. Ben Rivers

Minor, dir. Patty Chang

3:30 p.m.: “Group Program 7”

Whispering Pines #9, dir. Shana Moulton

Hard Feelings, dir. Rich Bott

Kegel, dir. Shahryar Nashat

Whose Toes, dir. Barry Doupe

Cities of Gold and Mirrors, dir. Cyprien Gaillard

5:15 p.m.: “Retrospective: Kerry Tribe”

A survey of the moving image artist’s works created over the past fifteen years. The filmmaker will be in attendance.

7:45 p.m.: Poto and Cabengo, dir. Jean-Pierre Gorin. Profiling two San Diego twins who developed their own private language.

9:45 p.m.: “Group Program 8”

I hate. . . what ?, dir. Mark Ther

Gay Acting Class, dir. Alexandro Segade

For Sale, Cougar, dir. Asher Hartman

Homegrown, dir. Nina Schwanse & Matt Savitsky

All That Sheltering Emptiness, dir. Gina Carducci & Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore (Read the underground movie review)

Fantasy Suite, dir. Kent Lambert (Watch online)

Puppy, dir. Matthew Savitksy

Charming for the Revolution, dir. Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz

k-a-t-e-(s), dir. Nina Schwanse

May 23

2:00 p.m.: “Group Program 9”

Thale, dir. Barry Doupe

Film for Invisible Ink, dir. David Gatten

Journals and Remarks, dir. David Gatten

((((( ))))), dir. Leslie Thornton

The High Trail, dir. Lucien Castaing-Taylor

Three Short Films on Hawks and Men: fell / his brilliant eye / garden, dir. Ruth MacLennan

The Varieties of Experience, dir. Mungo Thomson

3:45 p.m.: “Group Program 10”

Podworka, dir. Sharon Lockhart

Loneliness in West Germany, dir. Declan Clarke

Monuments, dir. Redmond Entwistle

5:30 p.m.: Port of Memory, dir. Kamal Aljafari. The filmmaker’s family is forced to evacuate their home in the Ajami, Jaffa neighborhood in Tel Aviv.

7:15 p.m.: A Grammar for Listening (Parts 1-3), dir. Luke Fowler. Explorations in sound and film featuring collaborations between the filmmaker and sound artists Lee Patterson (Manchester, England) and Toshiya Tsunoda (Yokohama, Japan); and composer Eric La Casa (Paris, France).

8:30 p.m.: “Films by Stanya Kahn”

Sandra, dir. Stanya Kahn

Kathy, dir. Stanya Kahn

It’s Cool, I’m Good, dir. Stanya Kahn