PRESS RELEASE: The DocYard co-presents A SPELL TO WARD OFF THE DARKNESS

, , , , , , , ,
TONIGHT, March 23-Tuesday, March 25, 2014 at various locations 
Films and Performances by Ben Rivers, Ben Russell 
and Robert A.A. Lowe (Lichens) 
Co-presented with the Harvard Film Archive,  

Balagan Film Series, and Non-event!  
Four of Boston’s finest cultural organizations (The DocYard, Balagan Films, Harvard Film Archive, Non-Event) come together for a unique partnership to bring to Boston’s spaces the innovative audiovisual works of filmmakers Ben Rivers and Ben Russell and composer/artist Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (Lichens). The point of connection among the three artists is the highly anticipated feature film A Spell to Ward off the Darkness (2013), directed by Rivers and Russell and featuring Lowe as leading actor and composer.
 
 TONIGHT, March 23 at 7PM at the Harvard Film Archive
A SPELL TO WARD OFF THE DARKNESS 
Directed by Ben Rivers and Ben Russell

98 min, France/Germany/Estonia,  2013

  

 

Event | Website | Trailer | RSVP and invite friends! 

Season passes accepted!

A SPELL follows an unnamed character through three seemingly disparate moments in his life. With little explanation, we join him in the midst of a 15-person collective on a small Estonian island; in isolation in the majestic wilderness of Northern Finland; and during a concert as the singer and guitarist of a black metal band in Norway.

Marked by loneliness, ecstatic beauty and an optimism of the darkest sort, A SPELL is a radical proposition for the existence of utopia in the present.

Starring artist/musician Robert A.A. Lowe (best known for his intense live performances under the name LICHENS) in the lead role, A SPELL lies somewhere between fiction and non-fiction – it is at once a document of experience and an experience itself, an inquiry into transcendence that sees the cinema as a site for transformation.

Filmmakers Ben Rivers and Ben Russell will attend in person for Q&A.

TOMORROW, Monday, March 24 at 7PM at the Brattle Theatre

Short Films by Ben Russell and Ben Rivers

Event | Tickets | RSVP and invite friends!
Season passes accepted!

See a selection of short films from Ben Rivers and Ben Russell, the two friends, artists, and makers of A SPELL TO WARD OFF THE DARKNESS. Having been exhibited all over the world, their short films have been described as primal, otherworldly, ethnographic, and utopian.

Filmmakers Ben Rivers and Ben Russell will attend in person for Q&A

moderated by Erin Trahan, film journalist and editor of The Independent.  

As is DocYard tradition, the discussion will continue at a nearby bar.

Tuesday, March 25 at 9PM at Middlesex Lounge 

Robert A.A. Lowe (Lichens) and Ben Russell 

 

Season passes not accepted

Hot on the heels of their collaboration on A Spell to Ward off the Darkness,  Lowe and Russell will join forces once more to present an evening of improvised vocalizations and musical compositions accompanied by live-manipulated 16mm film projections.

Ben Russell and Robert A.A. Lowe in person! 

The DocYard is a program of the LEF Foundation. Other series sponsors include the Camden International Film Festival, Irving House at Harvard, Rule Boston Camera, Cambridge Arts Council/Massachusetts Cultural Council,  Modulus Studios, MassArt Continuing Education and the Open Documentary Lab at MIT.