For the first program in our second series of experimental cinema, we are showing works by (now local) film/video artist Jeanne Stern, who specializes in animation and puppetry in her films, and British artist Paul Tarrago, who also employs puppetry in his whimsical films.
Jeanne Stern’s selections
1. “Piano Mouths” (1 min, mini DV, 2003)
An ordinary piano becomes a puppet.
Touring with Heather Henson’s “Handmade Puppet Dreams”
2. "Sophie's Story " (2 min, mini DV, 2003)
A lonely boy turns on the faucet and a mermaid comes out...
Based on a story by Jeanne’s great-grandfather, about his mother. Uses paper puppetry and water.
3. "Spiral" (8 min, 16mm, 2004)
“Jeanne Stern Proves that time is relative and that time goes faster as we age. Her three characters merge into a single woman at different points in her life” - Dallas Video Festival
4. "Les Malaventures de Zut-Alors" (10 min, 35mm, 2006)
Uses mechanical puppetry to tell the story of Siamese brother and sister, Zut & Alors. Includes many bizarre wonders, including a parade of animals, pop-up gardens, and party blower puppetry. 
SXSW Selection. Touring with Heather Henson’s “Handmade Puppet Dreams”
5. "Bellwether" (3 min, S16mm, 2007)
Unfinished
A seamstress is visited in the night by a strange creature that is part human, part umbrella. This encounter sends her in search of the Umbrella World.
6. "Sprout" (5 min, S16mm, 2007)
A kitchen sink over-flows causing the room to flood. As the water rises, the room sprouts to life. Uses a form of clock-work puppetry.
SXSW Selection, Heather Henson’s “Handmade Puppet Dreams for Kids”
7. Clips from “The Isle of Cattywampus” (2 min, mini DV, 2008)
A stereoscopic journey to outerspace. This movie chronicles the journey of the one-eyed monoculans and their quest for omniscience. Co-created by Jeanne Stern & Erich Ragsdale.
8. Animation Tests for Ruth Fertig’s “Yizkor” (3 min, 2008)
“Yizkor” is a documentary being made by Ruth Fertig. The film will combine archival footage and animation to tell the story of her grandparents’ experience during the Holocaust. Jeanne is creating the animation; these are some tests.
About Jeanne Stern [from her website ]
“Jeanne Stern creates miniature microcosms with dioramas and film puppetry. Her puppet film "Les Malaventures de Zut-Alors," about Siamese brother and sister Zut and Alors, screened at SXSW and is currently touring with Heather Henson's Handmade Puppet Dreams Film Festival.
“Jeanne recently had an art show at the Opera House called "Twitter Box," of film, drawings and dioramas. Josh Rios of Fluent Collaborative wrote:
"Stern adapts her resources and abilities to the production style of early animation and children's shows. It is no surprise that [Les Malaventures de Zut-Alors] features both French protagonists and a knotty relationship situation that borders on Truffaut's Jules and Jim made for Sesame Street.
"There is a quirky problem-solving quality to the films that originates in the materials Stern chooses to construct her sets from; vintage books are transformed into kitchens, bears and umbrellas, mingled with crayon drawings and augmented teaching illustrations. Everything has a naive element that is reminiscent of an elementary school project tempered with the more adult concerns of movie production, an interplay of diverging media and collaboration."
“Jeanne received her BA from Connecticut College where she studied studio art and computer science. She recently completed her MFA in Film at UT, Austin. Jeanne currently resides in Austin, where you may find her playing accordion on her rolla-bolla with a bunch of gypsies.”
Paul Terrago selections (TBD)
“Paul Tarrago is an artist film + video maker, beavering away with moving 
images down in South London. His work? A mix of underground experimentation and metafiction, tugging at the leash of film language but with narrative often held close at hand.
This can be seen frequently on the international circuit, including recent screenings at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, European Media Art Festival, ArtSway Gallery and the New York Underground Film Festival.
“For the past 13 years he's also been an activist with the Exploding Cinema - a filmmaker run collective dedicated to open access screenings and originating alternative methods of exhibition.
“When not making work he spends his time and earns his living, teaching at University College for the Creative Arts.
See his website, We Make Our Own Television
