| About |
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| Evan
Mather is an independent filmmaker and animator based
in Los Angeles. His eclectic body of work has screened at
the Sundance Film Festival, South by Southwest, the International
Film Festival Rotterdam, Seoul Net Festival, and the One
Reel Film Festival – as well as profiled in RES, Sight & Sound,
Wired, Newsweek, Senses of Cinema, and The New York Times.
He has been a guest lecturer at UCLA and MIT and the subject
of a retrospective at
the Seattle Art Museum. |
| Email | Blog | PDF | Twitter | Facebook | Linkedin | IMDb | Wikipedia |
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| Buzz |
| The most successful web-stream films,
of course, are made with the format in mind. American film-maker
Evan Mather's work, such as Icarus of Pittsburgh,
is a good example: densely packed with visual and aural information,
his films seem made to be watched intently, in isolation
and cocooned by headphones. – Sight & Sound |
| Cinema has Spielberg, television has Bochco,
and - thank the Lord - webfilm has Evan Mather. Every medium
needs a practitioner who can play to its unique strengths
and streamed video gets that in spades with Mather. His work
runs from lovably lo-fi animation to
this experimental black comedy,
about two brothers determined to prove that the Apollo moon
landings were faked. – Guardian
Unlimited |
| You would probably expect a collection
of shorts with titles like Buena Vista Fight
Club, Les Pantless Menace and Booger to
be a little on the offbeat side, but even so, this set of
recent works by animator/filmmaker Evan Mather often proves
downright inscrutable. Those expecting straightforward parodies
of the "Swing Blade" variety are likely to be disappointed,
but adventurous viewers will be rewarded with a cutting-edge
mix of traditional stop-motion animation and digitally-tweaked
weirdness. – Film
Threat |
| A series of shorts that combines the Star
Wars mythos with stop motion action that recalls the Rankin/Bass
Christmas specials ... the imaginative parodies involve
outlandish comedic situtations and a host of Kenner aciton
figures from the space saga ... Mather's more trenchant
and witty films [includes] the exuberant and gloriously
sleazy animated short Fansom the Lizard and
the live-action subversive conspiracy piece Airplane
Glue. – IFC
Rant |
| While most fan films are relatively straightforward
homage, Mather's movies are strikingly original, charmingly
amateurish and defiantly noncommercial. – Wired
News |
| Certainly, Mather's filmography runs the
gamut: animation (Fansom the Lizard,
2000), music videos (Aimee Mann's “Red
Vines”, 2001, and “Pavlov's
Bell”, 2003), live-action narrative films (“The
Trilogy of Tragedy”, 1999–2003), documentaries
(A Fool's Errand, 2004), bizarre
portraits of both himself and his collaborators (Clowntime
is Over, 2003), open source projects (Agave,
2001–present), fan films (Quentin Tarantino's
Star Wars, 1998, et al.) and even a digital take on the
Dogme95 manifesto (entitled Dogma 2.0) can all be found within
the ever-expanding borders of his bizarre, irreverent and
strangely intoxicating cinema. – Senses
of Cinema |
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| A Necessary Ruin: The Story of Buckminster Fuller's Union Tank Car Dome |
| Completed in October 1958 just north of Baton Rouge, Buckminster Fuller's Union Tank Car Dome was the largest clear span structure in the world and a symbol of the future. It would soon become obsolete due to changes in technology and sit abandoned in the wilderness. Its secret demolition in 2007, shortly before it would have received historic preservation protection, resulted in an uproar within the surrounding community. This is the story of the dome and its place within the south Louisiana industrial landscape. |
| By: Evan
Mather | U.S.A. | 2009 | 28:30 | Color | Digital
Video | Narrator:
Frances Anderton | Music: Juuso
Auvinen |
| Watch
"Trailer No.1" QuickTime (LAN) | Watch
"Trailer No.1" YouTube |
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| The Image of the City |
| This short film is an adaptation of the
classic urban design tome - "The Image of the City" -
by Associate Professor Kevin Lynch (1918-1984) of the Center
for Urban and Regional Studies of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. |
| By: Evan
Mather | U.S.A. | 2006 | 6:23 | Color | Digital
Video | Music: Joe Hahn | "American
Portraits Theme": Troy Sterling Nies | 16mm
Source Material: Prelinger Archives |
| *** – At a first glance, you may
think that “The Image of the City” is a painfully
pretentious and awfully presumptuous pseudo-art house documentary
short, and in many respects, you’d be correct ... but
what’s also available beneath the seams is a clear
parallel of man to every other worker automaton in nature,
from the random animal to the average worker ant that familiarizes
itself with landmarks and paths, and is somehow conditioned
to follow these pre-destined designs to get them to their
destination ... in many ways, we are also the worker ants,
as Kevin Lynch examines how we’re more so conditioned
to follow designs and comfort zones, rather than we are street
smart. Much like worker ants of their colonies, Lynch examines
how we’re also born with a sense of radar and how the
world is more built for the easy ability of production and
less for the individual ... though it’s overbearing
in its presentation, “The Image of the City” is
a fascinating glimpse at the world we live in and our ever
growing connection to the common animal. Film
Threat |
| Senef
2006 | MicroCineFest
2006 | The Hand-Made
Films of Evan Mather Melbourne
Underground Film Festival 8 |
| Watch
QuickTime (Medium) | Watch
QuickTime (High) | Download
for iPod (ZIP) |
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| A Fool's Errand |
| Drawing upon
the Korean penchant for elaborate public art, A Fool's
Errand documents the construction of a recent installation
by artists to celebrate the season of Lent and the temporal
nature of decay. |
| By: Evan
Mather | U.S.A. | 2004 | 5:00 | Color | Digital
Video | Narrator: Kirk
Hostetter |
*** – After watching Evan Mather’s
short documentary “A Fool’s Errand,” one
is very tempted to think, “so what?” Running
only five minutes in length, Mather’s film documents
the creation of a particular piece of art by Naomi Wong
Mai-Xing. With no explicit arguments presented, “A
Fool’s Errand” impresses one as strictly educational.
Made possible in part by support from Western Pennsylvania
Public Television, the documentary’s tone is ideal
for public television. It is informative, and rather than
make some ideological statement or leave the viewer with
any significant sense of enlightenment, “A Fool’s
Errand” offers pieces of knowledge.
Film
Threat |
| "The Hand-Made
Films of Evan Mather" | Melbourne
Underground Film Festival 8 | The
Documentary Channel | 1
Reel Film Fest 10 | Detroit
Docs International Film Festival 2004 |
| Watch
QuickTime (Medium) | Watch
QuickTime (High) | Download
for iPod (ZIP) |
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| Airplane Glue |
| Story of twin brothers Randy and Rusty
McNally who are convinced the Apollo moon landings were faked
in an unholy pact between Hollywood and the government. Filmed
in wide screen, Airplane Glue features multiple
film stocks, wireless mikes, seizure-inducing split screen
panels, and Mr. Hostetter in an acclaimed dual role. Know
the facts. |
| By: Kirk
Hostetter and Evan
Mather | U.S.A. | 2001 | 12:25 | Color | Digital
Video |
Weaving a cunning combination of archive
and surveillance-style footage and multiple POVs into the
story presentation, Mather's film exudes an edgy, pixilated
paranoia which suits the computer screen like nothing else.
The
Guardian |
| Don't let the government continue the
charade for a second longer. Check out Airplane
Glue, the revealing short film by mavericks Kirk
Hostetter and Evan Mather, and learn the facts about
one of the biggest cover-ups of this century...well, last
century. Film
Threat |
| "The Hand-Made
Films of Evan Mather" Melbourne
Underground Film Festival 8 | "By
Land, Sea, Or Air" Carnforth, UK | "Short
Spot: Evan Mather" Seattle Art Museum | LoveBytes
Digital Media Festival | SXSW | Catacomb
microCinema | Strange
Brew Coffeehouse | The
Milky Way | Winner: Senef Grand
Prix Online Senef 2001 | Backup
2001 | 28th
Northwest Film and Video Festival | MicroCineFest | Light
Plays Tricks Short Film Festival | Festival
du Film de L'Internet | Independent
Exposure |
| Watch
QuickTime (Medium) | Watch
QuickTime (High) | Download
for iPod (ZIP) |
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| Godzilla Versus Disco Lando |
| Disco star Lando Calrissian has a
few secrets: he and Admiral Ackbar are having a "relationship",
and while he pretends to be straight he has quite an attraction
for men. However, soon his disco spot is under threat from
the legendary Japanese monster Godzilla. Lobot sends an urgent
distress call, and soon Lando and the Rebel Alliance in their
Y-Wings has assembled to battle the giant mutant. Lando is
in charge along with Obi Wan Kenobi. When the ships' weapons
seem useless against Gojira, Lando gets a bright idea and
straps dynamite to Yoda, kicking him into the monster's mouth,
but when he detonates it all he gets is a flaming burp from
Godzilla. |
| By: Evan
Mather | U.S.A. | 1998 | 7:04 | Color | Digital/Analog | Music: "Love's
Theme" (Love Orchestra Unlimited), "Disco
Inferno" (The Tramps), "Ana Ng" (They Might
Be Giants), "The
Girl From Ipanema" (Antonio Carlos Jobim & Frank
Sinatra), Selections from "Sketches of Star Wars" (The
Trotter Trio), Selections from "The
Best of Meco" |
| **** - Not including the price of a Macintosh
and software, this film's budget looked to be about $7.99
... yet Evan Mather's work is a low-res tour-de-force involving
Kenner Star Wars action figures, a boxing Godzilla doll,
and yes, disco ... this is a brilliant deconstruction of
the Lucas trilogy, and reveals that percolating just beneath
the surface sparkle of gee-whiz futurism lies barely suppressed
homoeroticism, religion, violence, and bad dancing ... Yoda
explodes - what more do you want? Film
Threat |
| 1st
International Animation Celebration | "Short
Spot: Evan Mather" Seattle Art Museum | Senef
2001 | Festival
of Darkness | Image
Film and Video Center | Cinequest | Best
Animation Microcinefest |
| Watch
QuickTime (Medium) | Watch
QuickTime (High) | Download
for iPod (ZIP) |
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| Scenic Highway |
| Due to the recent unpleasantness, Baton
Rouge has eclipsed New Orleans as the largest city in Louisiana.
Is the city destined for greatness? Scenic Highway is the name
of US Highway 61 as it passes through northern Baton Rouge.
It is also this trip to the city – and such landmarks
as Huey Long’s art deco State Capitol building and Buckminster
Fuller’s hidden geodesic dome. This darkly affectionate
memoir is also an exposé of the city’s colorful
history – told through the use of animated motion graphics,
archival Super 8 footage, and re-created & faux-created
elements. |
| By: Evan
Mather | U.S.A. | 2007 | 18:15 | Color | Digital
Video | Music: Juuso
Auvinen | "American Portraits
Theme": Troy Sterling Nies |
| ***1/2 – Mather uses a combination
of archival Super 8 footage, iconic still photographs, animation,
and loopy recreations of famous events in Baton Rouge’s
history to create his sardonic and irreverent ode. Relevant
selected readings from such authors as Mark Twain and Jack
Kerouac set to Juuso Auvinen’s moody, dreamy score
provide an aural complement to Mather’s oddly engaging
visual history. If Scenic Highway were just some sort of
bland Chamber of Commerce puff piece about Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
it certainly wouldn’t even bear a mention here. Fortunately
for Mather and his viewers, Scenic Highway is to the common
travelogue what the triple latte is to coffee. Film
Threat |
| Part diary, part travelogue, part mystery,
part filmmaker retrospective, Scenic Highway is a love letter
to the hometown of he who must surely be Baton Rouge's most
prodigal son. Evan Mather's homage to the capital of Louisiana
is a pastiche of styles and formats that rewrites the geography
of this landscape through a collection of video footage,
animated maps and diagrams, written testimonials and guided
tours. Bracketing some of the City's more salient (if bizarre)
history factoids within the context of the State and the
world at large, Mather manages to write himself right into
this urban text with excerpts of his earlier films shot in
the region and other Super8 and video snapshots of him and
his friends against the same backdrop. The results are hilarious,
deeply touching and often breathtakingly creepy. FIVE STARS! Liz
Dunnebacke, New Orleans
Video Access Center |
| Best Documentary Blue
Wire Film Festival | New
Orleans 5th Annual International Human Rights Film Festival | Alvar
Branch (New Orleans Public Library) | "The
Hand-Made Films of Evan Mather" Melbourne
Underground Film Festival 8 | 2007
Dallas Video Festival | SXSW
2007 | Best
Documentary Short MicroCineFest
2006 | Gold
Award 16th
Annual Louisiana Shorts Festival |
| Watch
QuickTime (Medium) | Watch
QuickTime (High) | Download
for iPod (ZIP) |
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| "My Big Fat Independent Movie" Title
Sequence |
| This two and-a-half minute opening
title sequence tells the story of one aspiring filmmaker
and his journey through the creative process of writing,
directing, and distributing a movie outside the Hollywood
studio system. |
| By: Evan
Mather | U.S.A. | 2004 | 2:30 | Color | Digital
Video | Music: Joe Kraemer |
| Directed by Philip Zlotorynski from a
script by Chris Gore and Adam Schwartz, "My Big Fat
Independent Movie" has a knowing, insider quality that
could generate a modest cult following. But the best reasons
to see it are Evan Mather's animated title sequence and a
dead-on Christopher Walken impersonation by Neil Hopkins. The
New York Times |
| "The Hand-Made
Films of Evan Mather" Melbourne
Underground Film Festival 8 | SXSW | Cinequest |
| Watch
QuickTime (Medium) | Watch
QuickTime (High) | Download
for iPod (ZIP) |
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| In the Works |
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| Telly is
an animated tale about a little girl, her father, her dead
mother, a patron saint, a tele-vision set – and her transformation. |
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| Tatterdemalion |
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| Analog Works |
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| The Baby Killers (1995) Digital re-edit of formative Super-8 works. |
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| Sightings: The Ganja Incident (1993/1995) A shoe, a field, a boring Sunday afternoon. |
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| Gorefest (1993/1995) Digital embellishment of chainsaw attack on fundamentalists narrated by Al Gore. |
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| Kerouac
Is Dead (1991) Abandoned Super-8 (sound)
sequence for planned longer short film. See Scenic
Highway. |
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| Pinecone (1991)
Super-8 film of man who finds talking pinecone in field. |
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| Sodapop
Scorsese (1991) A man drinks a sodapop
in the style of a Martin Scorsese film. |
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| Sodapop
Woody (1991) A man drinks a sodapop in
the style of a Woody Allen film. |
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| Full
Frontal Nudity (1989) European art film
shot on Super-8. |
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| Trouble
Man Jones (1988) Adventures of the original
trouble man. |
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| The
Boarding School Massacre (1987) Martial
arts attack on a girl's boarding school. |
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| Twin
Terror (1987) Mayhem ensues when two terrorists
move into the neighborhood. |
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| Tae-Wan
Chang (1985) Martial arts flick shot in
a nearby forest. |
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| The
Strange Movie (1981/1985) A collection
of Super-8 vignettes involving a car running over pedestrians,
a wine commercial, and a view from a bee. |
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