Films and Videos

The films and videos listed below are predominantly the creation of Paolo Davanzo. As filmmaking is a collaborative process, there are many others who contributed their time, energy, and resources to create these works. These people are acknowledged in the credits of each film.

 

Special Announcement: We will be releasing a DVD of Paolo Davanzo's films and videos in the Winter of 2008. Please check back for details.

 

Pick a year: 2008   2007  2006  2005  2004  2003  Earlier

 

 

2008

 

Silver and Water USA

16mm, work-in-progress

This experimental documentary explores the issues of water rights, land usage, and sustainability. This is a project of the Metabolic Studio.

Watch Excerpt. (370KB: Requires Quicktime 7)

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2007

 

Two old women sitting in the Ukraine on a bench

Ukrainian Tour

Super 8, 3 minutes

Paolo Davanzo and Lisa Marr travelled around the Ukraine performing music and showing films. This is a snapshop of their tour.

 

South Central Trees

16 mm, work-in-progress

This project highlights the saving of 100+ trees from the defunct South Central Los Angeles Farm. This documentary tries to honor the families who built their lives around the land. This is a project of the Metabolic Studio.

 

Farm Lab

16 mm, super 8 & video, work-in-progress

Farmlab is a transitional project between Not A Cornfield and the emerging Studio for Social Sculpture. It is a multi-disciplinary investigation of land use issues. This is a project of the Metabolic Studio.

 

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2006

 

Not a Cornfield

Super 8 & video, 100 minutes

The Not A Cornfield project transforms an industrial site into a cornfield for one agricultural cycle. The project serves as a metaphor for reflection and action.

Watch Excerpt (649KB: Requires Quicktime 7)

When You're Five

Super 8, 4 minutes

A claymation film made for a surrogate nephew in Vancouver Canada.

Watch Excerpt (1.25MB: Requires Quicktime 7)

Viva

35mm, 120 minutes

A suburban housewife in 1972 finds herself in the middle of the Sexual Revolution. In this tribute to vintage sexploitation films, Paolo Davanzo plays a lecherous hippie.

 

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2005

 

Important

16mm, 4 minutes

Grover Records of Stockholm, Sweden, commissioned this video. Lisa Marr and Paolo cover a Jonathan Richmond song.

Watch Video (4.64 MB: Requires Quicktime 7)

 

View from Jack Lynch's Window

Video, 2 minutes

In 2005 Paolo was an Artist-in-Residence in Cork, Ireland. For three weeks he set up a camera on his windowsill to film the changing Irish skyline.

Watch Video (3.24MB: Requires Quicktime 7)

Water Water

Video, 1 minute

Living in Ireland for 3 weeks in 2005, Paolo discovered that water was a constant force in his time there.

Watch Video (1.91MB: Requires Quicktime 7)

May the FOURce be with You

Video, 4 minutes

Every year, Paolo Davanzo and Lisa Marr make a film for her nephew, Max. This is the film when Max turned four and had nothing but Star Wars and robots on the brain.

 

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2004

 

Film Clip of 100 Minutes From Around the World

100 Minutes Around the World

Super 8 & video, 60 minutes

On April 3, 2004, one hundred filmmakers from around the world shot films for one minute. This is Paolo's contribution.

 

GW

Super 8 & video, 8 minutes

Inspired by the Republican Presidential Convention of 2004, this film examines the inconsistencies with our “Shock n’ Awe” Administration.

 

The Picnic

16 mm, 7 minutes

While teaching at a local college, Paolo asked his students to make a film about picnicking in the park.

 

Angelina

PXL 2000, 3 minutes

After being in a vicious car accident where his car was totaled, Paolo made a film to remember her honor.

 

Three is the Magic Number

Video, 4 minutes

Stealing the music from the classic School House Rock song, this film celebrates Max's third birthday. No Animals were harmed in the creation of this work.

 

Sunset

Super 8, 7 minutes

On a cloudy fall afternoon, Paolo tied a Super 8 camera to the handlebars of his bicycle and rode 23 miles down Sunset Blvd to watch the Sunset.

Watch Video (8.93MB: Requires Quicktime 7)

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2003

 

La Perdida

Super 8, 6 minutes

"La Perdida" is a Spanish term meaning "The Lost." This film is a home movie of a 2-week journey deep into the heart of Mexico.

Watch Video (6.92MB: Requires Quicktime 7)

Film Clip from The Beards Live

The Beards Live

Video, 9 minutes

Paolo Davanzo sat in on a sound check for the infamous Beards. His 15 minutes of fame?

 

film clip from coyote lake

Coyote Lake Wind Race

Video, 12 minutes

Childhood friends Alec Miller, Paolo Davanzo, and Peter Miller built a windcar that traversed a dry lakebed in Joshua Tree, California.

 

Monday Morning Echo Park

Super 8, 5 minutes

The Lisa Marr Experiment released a new album and asked local filmmakers to make films for each song. Here is Paolo's ode to Echo Park.

Watch Video (7.13MB: Requires Quicktime 7)

still frame of film Polyester Road Diaries

Polyester Road Diaries

Video, 25 minutes

In 2003, Paolo Davanzo set out to the heartland of California with two Japanese students and a young prophet who looked remarkably like Jesus.

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Earlier

 

Picinin

Super 8 & 16 mm, 5 minutes, 2001

"Picinin" means "childhood" in Venetian dialect. When Paolo lived in Venice for 3 months as an adult, he tried to see the world as his father, a Venetian, saw it 30 years earlier.

 

Troppo Bella

16mm, 4 minutes, 1999

Too Beautiful as the name implies. A short that captures the physical and ephemeral beauty of our world.

Watch Video (3.33MB: Requires Quicktime 7)

The Super 8 Chronicles

Super 8, 30 minutes, 1998

From the moment Paolo bought an old Super 8 Camera from his neighbors yard, he has been making home movies. Here are a few images.

 

Castelli in Aria

16mm, 6 minutes, 1998

This film celebrates the life and times of Paolo's parents who left this world far too quickly. The image is of Paolo and his father skindiving in Yugoslavia.

Watch Video (7.16MB: Requires Quicktime 7)

Passive Anarchy

Super 8 & 16 mm, 8 minutes, 1997

Paolo was in China for the 1995 UN Conference on Women and tried to capture a society at odds with itself.

Watch Video (11.45MB: Requires Quicktime 7)

Death of the Father

16mm, 12 minutes, 1997

Adapted from a Charles Bukowski short story, this film was shot and edited in Humboldt County using an entirely volunteer cast and crew.

 

Pirates and Corsairs

16mm, 5 minutes, 1996

A tribute to Freemasonry in the California Redwoods.

 

Still frame of the film Sunny Day Afternoon

Sunny Day Afternoon

16mm, 4 minutes, 1996

On a sunny day in paradise, a group of friends took two boats, some bottles of wine and a 16mm camera on an adventure down the Klamath River.

Watch Excerpt (481KB: Requires Quicktime 7)

Tipo

16 mm, 5 minutes, 1994

This is the first 16mm film Paolo shot in 1989. It is a collage of California cults and freaks.

 

First Church

Super 8, 3 minutes, 1993

The first Super 8 film that Paolo made challenges the role of religion in contemporary America.

 

My Fear of Water

Super 8 & video, 7 minutes, 1992

One of Paolo's first videos, this piece incorporates old family home movies to help reconstruct memories of Paolo's childhood and his fear of water.

 

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