But first, a few notes from the IC film world.

1) That’s Rentertainment is having a “Grand Reopening” on May 8th. Check out their new home in the Hall Mall and support one of the few remaining rental shops in IC. One that’s locally owned and staffed by movie-lovers to boot.

2) Former LV arts editor Andy Brodie announced on Facebook that he’s receiving a grant from the Iowa Arts Council for his short film River Will Take You. Cool. He’s also still working on fundraising to shoot this summer.

Ok, back to the Bijou…

Fallen Angels, released in 1995, is overtly sensorial, visually-rich filmmaking. As one of Hong Kong’s “New Wave” cinema masters of the 80s and 90s, Wong weaves bold muusic, photography and editing decisions with on-screen action to capture the sensibilities of the post-MTV generation. It’s in-your-face cinema, but Wong somehow never loses the narrative, a tribute to his groundbreaking style.

Mother is Bong Joon-ho’s follow-up to his genre-blending monster-thriller The Host. His previous film was at-once pulse-pounding creature feature and family drama, sprinkled with a healthy dose of comedy and baked for 119 minutes. I haven’t seen Mother, but LV’s Scott Samuelson has and says he loves it. And Korea submitted it for the Academy Awards, so that’s worth something too.

We’ll have to dig a little deeper for some film picks starting next week with the Bijou taking a break. Got any suggestions? Email andrew(at)littlevillagemag.com. Otherwise, Summer blockbuster season begins this week with Iron Man 2, Robin Hood next week, followed by Shrek, MacGruber, Prince of Persia and who knows what else. Might be time for a trip to the megaplex.

I’ll always take a good documentary over a good drama.

Any good cinema is like a daydream, but to disappear into a dream that isn’t a dream? That’s a pleasure only found in a great doc–the beautiful offspring of cinema and journalism, with only the best genes of both parents passed on. (of course, there’s also the ugly younger sibling of the doc: reality tv, but lets not talk of that)

So why is this important today? Because you have two nights left to take advantage of Iowa City’s homegrown documentary festival, ICDOCS (check out the full fest website).

Festivals are unique, and as festivals go, ICDOCS is more so. It focuses mainly on short docs–there are three feature-length films, but the others all clock in at 30 minutes or less. Which is a wonderful thing. There aren’t many venues (even in the ever expanding cable universe) where you can watch (and discuss!) more than a half dozen films in two hours.

Better yet, the whole thing is free. How could you not?

Two short sessions remain tonight (4:30-6:30 and 7-9 at the Bijou) and one session tomorrow (3-5 at the Bijou) followed by a 7pm judges’ screening at the Adler Journalism Bldg of Mitch McCabes’s Youth Knows No Pain (see trailer below) a film about plastic surgery told from the point of view of a plastic surgeon’s daughter. Follow the crowd to Leaf Kitchen for some complimentary food and awarding of awards.

The full schedule of events can be found at the ICDOCS website.

For a bit more on why ICDOCS is an important part of our local cinema scene, I chatted with Carina Johnson, ICDOCS organizer.

LV: What is the mission of the ICDOCS fest?

CJ: The Iowa City International Documentary Festival (ICDOCS) is a non-profit, all volunteer-run festival that showcases independent, high-quality short nonfiction film and video from around the world over one weekend in April. ICDOCS was founded in 2002 with the mission of serving as a catalyst for positive change and fostering dialogue on a range of issues, both international and local.

LV: What do you hope the community will gain from attending the festival?

CJ: Our screenings expose viewers to films they don’t see on Netflix or in Multiplex theaters, and which can directly relate to events in our community. Since these films are documentaries, the experience they provide is one of education and enlightenment, as well as entertainment.

LV: Do you have any favorite films or recommended programs?

CJ: Films I’m really excited about include Introducing the Stumptown Shooters by Margaret Stratton, about a small town, amateur fireworks club and Aliki, a gorgeous film shot in Cypress which contemplates the death of a flamingo.  Also, first half of the screening at 4:30 on Friday the 16th is all 16mm prints (Settling In, What Else Would I Do, Lucy’s Terrace, and Self Portrait of Others) which is exciting. Also, our two judges will be presenting their films.

LV: Why else should the public be excited about this?

CJ: We also have quite a few of the filmmakers coming to town and there will be events after the screenings that are open to the public where they can meet and talk with the filmmakers and judges.

Cinema, community and free food. Even if I have to buy my own glass of wine, it sounds like a perfect evening.

“It’s a nice flexible space,” says co-curator Chris Reno. “But it doesn’t hide the fact that it’s a basement.”

Basements seldom do. And if you stopped at the top of the stairs leading down to the BS Gallery, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this basement was nothing special.

But, past the nondescript backdoor entrance, the kitchen and the rough wooden staircase is a surprisingly clean and well-lit art gallery.

While the BS Gallery still falls far short of a commercial space in the interior design realm, it makes up for it in mission.

Founded in the basement of their rented house (220 West Benton Street) in August of 2009 by UI M.F.A. students Caleb Engstrom, Josh Black and Reno, the gallery’s objective is to bring fresh art to Iowa City.

“We wanted to provide exposure for decent art,” explained Black. “To let people experience something they wouldn’t get in a commercial establishment.”

Certainly, the majority of the work displayed through the gallery’s first six shows would feel out of place at the established galleries downtown. From a video projection on a six-foot block of snow to a voodoo-inspired worship altar, the art is often high-concept and raw, a sharp contrast to the unobtrusive polish of mainstream commercial work. Black says that the absence of a commercial aspect is a blessing.

“There’s no pressure to sell,” he said. “It’s just a chance for artists to show and discuss their work with people who wouldn’t normally have a chance to see it.”

Part of the allure of the gallery is the curators’ commitment to bringing in artists from outside the region. The gallery has hosted artists from New York, Chicago, and, in April, northern California and Oregon. Showing national artist is a lofty goal for a gallery with no outside funding.

The day I dropped by the BS Gallery was the last day of Exoskeleton, an installation by Chicago-based artists Laura Collins and Natalie Smith.

“It was great to [to have] an opportunity to show in a different city,” said Smith. “They are really working hard to seek out interesting and diverse artists and went out of their way to make sure that I got what I wanted out of the space.”

“We’re trying to identify artists that we like, that are willing to pay their way to Iowa City and set up a show,” said Reno. “They’re usually living hand to mouth. So what can we do for them with no money? We take care of them, give them a place to show, a place to stay and throw a big party. It’s a lot of fun.”

The ‘big party’ is the gallery’s semi-regular monthly opening, always coinciding with the city’s long-established first Friday gallery walks. The BS Gallery schedules their get-together after the other galleries close, hoping to draw a crowd hungry for more art because as much as the gallery is about art, its also about the party–a chance to let loose and talk art with whomever shows up.

Art hits us in two ways: the visceral impact of a first glace and the slow burn that only comes from prolonged exposure. Too often, we judge art by its ability to please us immediately. So often, in fact, that the first words frequently uttered in any museum gallery are “I like this one” or “I don’t get it.”

But Exoskeleton was not created to please. At either end of the gallery hung Collins’ floor-to-ceiling black and white reprints of domestic dispute scenes from 1960s era movies, framed on the long side walls by Smith’s shades-of-gray drawings of empty spaces.

It was deliberately designed to match the BS’s bare environment. Collin’s subjects ached to get free from their cramped frames and, standing alone in the gallery, I felt their discomfort. But as the slow burn set in, the appreciation came with it. This is the art that makes us think, but it is not the art to hang on our dining room walls.

“I think spaces like the BS Gallery are an important part of creating a network among young artists and a place to challenge and experiment with ideas,” said Smith.

So why, in a town often lauded as “the Athens of the Midwest,” is the art shown at the BS Gallery such a rarity?

Reno, co-curator of the BS Gallery with Black since Engstrom left for New York City, acknowledges that creating a lasting presence would be a major challenge.

“It would take a unique individual to make this work in Iowa City. And deep pockets,” Reno said. “We’re leaking money left and right. As a pure business endeavor, it’s a failure. But as a social experiment, it’s a success.”

The BS hasn’t been alone in their attempts to bring art to the people. But results have been a mixed bag of late.

Arts Iowa City recently closed its Underground Gallery off the ped mall. While the group will be opening a new space this summer, it won’t feature the same kind of experimental work.

“The Underground Gallery featured edgier art,” said Arts Iowa City secretary Linnell Phillips. “With the new space we’re hoping to go a little more mainstream…more upscale and sophisticated.”

Certainly, a gallery must cater to its patrons, and Arts Iowa City’s future direction should come as no surprise given the more traditional leanings of its members.

The BS Gallery, and other non-commercial galleries like Public Space One, serve as covered wagons headed into that unknown artistic frontier. Funding, community engagement and the desire of their volunteers are all obstacles they’ll have to overcome along the way to long-term viability. But like any good trailblazers, their primary goal is to keep moving forward.

“We’ll keep the gallery open through our lease in August 2011,” said Black of the BS Gallery’s future. “Hopefully, somebody will keep it going after that.”

Just as the BS picked up where a gallery called Frontier Lodging left off, Reno is confident that even if the BS Gallery becomes just another basement another gallery will rise in its place.

“It’s always been under the radar,” he said. “But people who are connected will always find out.”

Wake up. Make coffee. Out the door by 7:45. Work. Eat lunch. Chat with a co-worker. More work. Traffic. Home. Pet the dog. Dinner. Bed. Reset.

So often, one day is like the rest. We often forget to open our eyes to the world we pass through. Thankfully, there is a global army of cameraphiles intent on bringing the world to us.

Yet, if you want to see their work, you’ll have to look beyond the local megaplex. These films live in the arthouse theaters, the impromptu screening rooms and free range of the internet.

In April, for the seventh consecutive year, the Iowa City Documentary Film Festival (ICDOCS) brings two dozen short films to our fair city for a three-day celebration of non-commercial film-making.

“Documentary means a lot of different things, depending on who you ask,” explained festival organizer Alex Petsel. “The work that is screened varies greatly.”

“I often think of a quotation by Jean Marie Straub that all films are documentaries,” Filmmaker David Kelley (Flotsam Jetsam) said. “If you look at fiction and documentary films… sharing the same photographic medium, then they are both realistic and in a discourse with realism.”

In fact, some filmmakers see documentary as a dirty word, since audiences traditionally identify the term with the staid and somber educational films of their youth.

“When asked what I do, I often find myself saying ‘I make documentary films’ — and in an instant throwing in ‘not for television,” explains Minou Norouzi (All Shades of Grey).

ICDOCS’ loose definition of documentary gives the event a fine art feel, weaving experimental film, motion photography and traditional short stories into a unified experience. If Hollywood has a set formula, these films do all they can to ignore it.

Most of the filmmakers exhibiting their work will never see a royalty check, or even recoup the cost of making their film. In fact, they pay just to be a part of festivals like this. So why do they do it?

“The artists want to gain exposure for their work, for their cause or simply be a part of an international festival,” Petsel said.

“The work usually has its own story to tell, and I feel I am usually just a conduit for that story to be told,” said Annmarie Lanesey (Sittin’ on a Million) of her dedication to the craft.

Her film straddles the traditional lines of documentary to tell the story of an early 1900’s small-town madame. It blends a journalistic pursuit of an urban legend with performance art re-enactments. It’s the sort of creative storytelling that most of us rarely encounter on our digital cable package.

Much of the thanks for this new generation of video artists is owed to the advent of the digital camera. But this blessing can also be a curse, as the most well-known digital videos are YouTube sing-alongs, not the thoughtfully constructed work of dedicated artists.

Good thing, then, that festivals like ICDOCS persevere, to expose us to the unusual ideas and extraordinary stories that dwell in the seldom visited corners of our world.

If nothing else, it gives us something to talk about over lunch.

Miya was the lucky one. The odds had turned against her in an instant but reversed course just as quickly again.

Your faith tells you which of the above statements you believe, but the facts tell you this: Miya Rodolfo-Sioson was the lone survivor of the 1991 University of Iowa shootings. She was a temporary secretary—the victim of a dispute that didn’t involve her. By fate, by grace, or by luck she had a second life to live. She used it proudly.

Daniel Julien met Miya in that second life, lived mostly in Berkeley, California, where she’d moved to escape Iowa’s cold winters and the weight of the Gang Lu shootings. The woman Julien met there, paralyzed from the neck down since that awful November day, intrigued him for more than just the events that had defined her life.

“I didn’t know what to expect of a quadrapalegic doing demanding work,” Julien said of the woman he had hired to work at his student exchange program. “But she turned out to be capable of many things which able-bodied people are not.”

He decided to make a movie about her. Julien’s film, Miya of the Quiet Strength, shows April 12th at the Pappajohn Business Building on the UI Campus as part of a week commemorating her life. Other events include a photo exhibit, luncheon and outreach events, all of which are listed on the film’s website www.miyafilm.com.

Miya had been an activist as a young adult, before she was shot. But after landing in California, she became an advocate for the rights of the disabled. She spoke at community meetings on the issues important to her peers. She was appointed to the Berkeley Commission on Disability in 1998, where she served for eight years — two of them as chairperson.

“Everyone told her she was an inspiration,” said Julien. “She didn’t like that word. She called it the ‘i-word.’ But it’s hard to avoid it when you talk about her story.”

It was years after they first met when Julien heard from a mutual friend the truth of what Miya called her “accident.”

“To me this event is like ancient history,” Miya told San Francisco’s KGO-TV in 2008, “There’s so much that’s happened since then.”

Not all of it was good. Shortly after Julien learned of the shooting, Miya told him she had cancer. That’s when he told her he wanted to make a film about her story. She accepted, even though she’d turned down offers from professional crews before.

For 13 months, Julien documented Miya’s activism in the Bay Area, sifted through the media archives of the incident and interviewed her friends and family. He dove into the issues that affected her life like disability rights, gun control and health insurance.

In March of 2008, he returned to Iowa City to learn more.

“I discovered so many things about her that she had never talked about,” Julien said. “Our culture is so much about bragging about things we’ve done… or didn’t do. She was the opposite of that.”

In Iowa City, Miya had organized student activists against the U. S. involvement in El Salvador, was interested in women’s rights and, when her rehab was complete, she had returned to finish her degree on the same campus that had been the scene of so much heartache.

When he was wrapping up the film, Julien got a call from Miya. She wanted to do one more interview. She wanted to talk about dying.

“It was difficult to shoot. She was very private, but had opened up during the filming,” Julian recalled.

The film was finished in November 2008. Julien held a special screening for Miya, her family and friends in the hospital where she was being treated for stage four breast cancer. Days later, Miya passed away.

In a message on the film’s website, her former Iowa City roommate, a woman named Suzanne, laments: “I have always felt that if I had been the victim, I probably would have drowned in bitterness and regret at what I had lost. But Miya refused to fall into that pit. She just got on with the job of living. I still find it hard to comprehend how, after overcoming such obstacles, she should have to endure [cancer, too].”

The fates. God. Chance. Whatever it was that dealt Miya Rodolfo-Sioson a cruel hand didn’t account for her resilient spirit. Quiet Strength documents a life lived beautifully under such trying circumstances.

“Miya never realized the impact she had on other people,” recalled Julien. “She underplayed the things she had done even though she had done a lot more than most of us.”

Forgive the viewers, Miya, if you’re called an inspiration.

Sound too good to be true? Well, guess what, it surely is. Clicking through to the site will lead you to an offer for a stimulus grant writing packet, which promises instant governement riches in a matter of days.

I received this fabuluos offer this morning when I logged into my gMail account. Here’s the tacky part. You’d think this would be a spam email that snuck through gMail’s tightly controlled defenses. Not so. Google itself was serving up the spam as an ad inside my inbox. And Google isn’t the only one. It seems Facebook has the ads plastered all over too.

Both Facebook and Google have a team of ad approval monkeys whose job it is to sniff out mailcious ads, false promotions and downright illegal stuff. So why are these ads getting through? Especially at Google, whose motto is “don’t be evil?”

Seems the hard economy is taking casualties on all sides. (Dear Google, are “Jeff’s” Adwords checks clearing?) Don’t let yourslef fall victim. $2.29 may seem like a reasonable wager for the slim chance that the grant packet is real, but remember, you have to give them your personal information too, which, as the economy gets weaker, is fast becoming your most valuable asset.

John Thain, the former Merrill Lynch & Co. chief executive officer ousted yesterday, spent $1.2 million redecorating his downtown Manhattan office last year as the company was firing employees, a person familiar with the project said.

Friday, January 23

The Thinkin’ Lincoln exhibit is gone from the ICPL, but you can still honor the former president and go see live theatre. Friday there are not one, but two local shows opening up.

Guys On Ice | Riverside Theatre, Iowa City | 7:30pm | $12-26

Wisconsin’s most famous musical comedy returns to Iowa City. The “Ice Fishing Musical” has broad Fargo-like appeal, but will be instantly recognizable to the significant number of Badger or Gopher transplant here in the Hawkeye City. Snowmobile suited friends talk Packers and broken hearts in an ice shack in Wisconsin.

Prisoner of Zenda | Rage Theatrics, Space/Place Theatre, Iowa City | 8pm | $10

Prisoner of Zenda has something to do with troubles in the moarchy of Ruritania. But what Zenda is really about is swashbuckling. Rage Theatrics was founded to as an outlet for the art of stage combat and Prisoner of Zenda is a vehicle for swordfighting. Though, it must have enough plot to entertain, as its also been adapted for film for the likes of Douglas Fairbanks Jr and Peter Sellers. For more, read Iowa Theatre Blog’s Q&A with the performers.

Saturday, January 24

Yacht Club 6th Anniversary Jam | Yacht Club, Iowa City | 4pm-close | $6

The Yacht Club celebrates turning six in style. The big bash starts early and includes the official opening of the new upstairs bar, unveiling an expanded BBQ menu and six bands (Dead Larry, David Zollo, Mooseknuckle, 5 in a Hand, The Bottom’s Heavy, Johnny On Point and Backdrop). It’s the Yacht Club ing (more) of what it does best.

Timecrimes | Bijou Theater, IMU, Iowa City | 5 & 9:30pm | $5

The Bijou is back, breathing life into the exceptionally depressing Iowa City cinema scene. (The megaplex currently has one showing of Doubt and one showing of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Both Oscar nominees. There are three showings of Hotel for Dogs. Nuff said.) But I digress. Time travel is a favorite narrative device, which usually leads to much temporal-traipsing excitement and mind-maddening plot twists. This Spanish language chrono-thriller follows Hector as he crosses paths with himself…and another himself after discovering a time-travel deivce near his new home. Trailer below, though the movie is not nearly as hokey as the tease.

Sunday, January 25

Coralville Winterfest | Iowa River Landing, Coralville | 1-4pm | Free

There’s a lot to love about winter, but sometimes we need a friendly reminder of what those things are…so thanks, Coralville. IN no particular order, here’s what you’ll find at Winterfest: wassail tasting, ski lessons, bird watching, candy making, sleigh rides, snowshoeing, roasted chestmuts, ice sculpting, live music, and well, a lot more. And what’s better than fun? Free fun.

It’s January, so it’s time to make some resolutions. Here goes:

1) More weekenders. That’s right, we’re coming back after a short hiatus. And we’re starting this weekend, see below.
2) Exercise. Our fab intern Kelly Ostrem is heading up the Little Village Live Healthy exercise squad. Eat right, get movin’ and earn points. Wanna get in shape? Email her at kelly.ostrem@littlevillagemag.com. First activity? Pond Hockey at 10am, Saturday at City Park (again, see below).
3) More exciting web activities. We signed up for a Twitter account today. We’ve got our Flickr account up and running. It’s time to use them. Stay tuned in 2009.

Without further ado, some further to-do’s…

Friday, January 16

Dance and Shadow Puppetry | Arts Iowa City, 103 E. College St. | 8:30-10pm, Jan 16, 17, 22, 23, 24 | Free

Live dance, here in Iowa City, for free. How can you go wrong? It’s one of the small pleasures of a university town to have talented artists that would otherwise never be in a city of less than 500,000. Take advantage. Make Your Cake and Lie in It is a new show from local choreographer Eleanor Goudie-Averill of the Stone Depot Dance Lab, which will be exhibit along with work from UI MFA Painting candidate Nicole Donnelly. Other dance performances will be featured each night.

Saturday, January 17

Pond Hockey | City Park, Iowa City | 10:00am | Free

In our first official/unofficial promotion as part of Live Healthy Iowa, I’m heading down to City Park for a little pick-up hockey. Bring your skates and a stick. All skill levels welcome. Can’t make it that day? Email me at andrew@littlevillagemag.com and I’ll keep you posted on future pick-up.

Emma Goldman Choice Dinner | IMU 2nd Floor Ballroom | 6-9pm | $60 ($50 in advance)

Emma Goldman’s annual fundraising event is always a well-attended gathering of pro-choice folk. This year’s presenter is Jael Silliman an international women’s health activist. The price includes dinner and program.

Mannix | The Yacht Club, Iowa City | 7pm | $5

Check out local favs Mannix, Petit Mal, Lipstick Homecide, Happy Chromosomes and Victorian Halls at the Yackt Club this weekend. Mannix has been busy lately, and got a little ink in Little Village back in Novvember. Five bands for five bucks, and you can check out the upstairs.

Catfish Keith | The Mill, Iowa City | 8pm | $10

Local bluesman made good returns on tour to the Mill “for a night of foot-stomping, string-twanging original blues and roots music on his fleet of National steel and acoustic guitars.” If there’s one thing that could help me get through this bitter cold, it’s some nice twangin’.

But, I’ve been surprised. The City Park pond is a great place for skating (when its been groomed), and even more surprisingly, winter in Iowa City is a great time for birdwatching (something I never thought I’d find enjoyable).

The cardinals and blue jays find their home in my backyard, but the big treat is the aerie of bald eagles that feed on the Iowa River when the water start to freeze. This week I’ve counted over a dozen eagles perched in the branches overlooking Crandic park on Rocky Shore Dr. The frozen streams in much of Iowa limit the eagles’ fishing territory in the winter, but there’s no ice at the spillway near the Iowa River Power restaurant and around the bend towards City Park.

These beautiful white crested birds sit high in the trees at the bend in the Iowa River, watching the water below for the signs that a meal is close to the surface. It isn’t more than a few minutes before one of these, uh…eagle-eyed predators spots a fish loitering too close to the air and takes off in pursuit.

It’s a National Geographic special playing out where the NatGeo cameras rarely go: the middle of Iowa. Just another of the pleasant surprises that the Iowa City area has for those who go looking. And look you should. Spotting one bald eagle can be a thrill for many, but a dozen eagles within 100 yards? That’s an experience that shouldn’t be missed.