R.E.M.: Succumbs

Led by the success of the B-52's and R.E.M., Athens, Georgia was the most happening music scene in the country by the mid 80's. Following several different bands from different genres, this film paints Athens as a magical artistic environment where bands are not in competition, but co-exist in harmony and share the ideals of the land. Live performances of R.E.M.'s "Swan Swan H" and "Dream (All I Have To Do)" at the Lucy Cobb Institute chapel are included. Also featured are performances and interviews frm the B-52's, Pylon, B-B-Que Killers, Time Toy, Jim Herbert, Flat Duo Jets, Love Tractor, Kilkenny Cats, Squalls and more

A cyclical film, without sound, that goes from day to night and back again. First, from the porch glider, daytime movement is seen--children running and bicycles and cars going by. The nighttime scene is a long poetic and dream-like look at adolescent lovemaking.

Abandoned House is about a group of young people in Italy who exchange stories. The protagonist Maria listens to young men and women who report on sexual abuse and warped pleasure and she seems to feel the need to manipulate their vulnerability and rediscover her own lost love. Pictures of Tuscany and the sensual light within which the young naked figures in the film bathe serve to temper the darker aspects of the film with a tangible lyricism. In the end, the scars of abuse give way to the tenderness of the visual language itself.

A young man and woman trade stories about their scars - psychological, sexual and otherwise - in a variety of settings. Their relationship is at once immediate and immediately complicated by the depth of their revelations and their nakedness.

Director James Herbert and editor Mark Jordan -- both visual artists who work in other media -- crafted this non-narrative look at Carter and Andy, two American artists summering in an unnamed Tuscany city. The young men discuss art and each other as they explore the city and its women, while the camera explores Carter and Andy.

A boy, a girl, several horses, a mother, and a nursing baby provide the central focus for a study of movement.

Herbert's silent films are noted for their study of texture and motion and for his use of nude imagery. "Night Horses" is his longest and his most sensual film to date.

Apalachee is a beautifully impressionistic study of a couple interacting with the foliage of the forest and the water of the stream. They touch and embrace each other, "neither making love nor not making love."