The Amaranth, Volume 1 and Anti-Arktikos at Eyedrum Feb. 16

Chattanooga, TN, January 24th, 2007 — Oak Street Films (www.oakstreetfilms.com) and Studio Arts (www.studioarts.cc) are pleased to announce the Atlanta premieres of The Amaranth, Vol. 1 and Anti-Arktikos at EYEDRUM (Suite 8, 290 MLK Jr. Drive SE, Atlanta, GA 30312) Friday, February 16 2007 at 8:00 PM. Admission for this event is $5. The filmmakers will be present to discuss the works and to respond to questions from the audience. DVD's of each film will be for sale.

The Amaranth, Volume 1 (2006, 92 min., color + B&W) is an open-ended--and possibly infinite--movie produced and presented in parts by Chattanooga filmmaker Jarrod Whaley. New, sequentially numbered parts appear from time to time on his Web site (at amaranth.oakstreetfilms.com), viewable either directly on the Web or via a video podcast. Largely unscripted and improvised, each part builds upon the direction taken in the last, so that the overarching story of this non-finite film seems to write itself in a very real way. The Amaranth, Volume 1--a 90-minute feature consisting of the first 20 parts--is, then, the first segment of a larger, longer work (of as-yet undetermined length), though to some extent it also stands alone, just as would be the case with the first feature-length installment of a traditional film trilogy, for example. Synopsis: When an ordinary man plants a seemingly ordinary seed in an ordinary terra cotta pot, he sees the world around him begin to change in startling--and often frightening--ways. The seed's germination begins to incite as well as mirror the changes taking place in the man's life, leading him on a metaphysical journey toward a more fruitful phase of existence.

• “His Introspective Trance” by Bill Colrus of the Chattanooga Pulse.

Anti-Arktikos (2006, 23 min., color) combines live action and stop motion animation, puppets and children. The film (www.anti-arktikos.com) follows the adventures of a young girl named "Momo" and her penguin friend "Pipi" in a land first identified by Greek geographers. Believing that a large continent existed at the "bottom" of the world, to balance the land that they knew about, early Greeks named this place "Anti-Arktikos". Constructed primarily of paper, Judith Mogul's puppets and sets are brought vividly to life by the cinematography of Jarrod Whaley and the soundscape created by musicians Dennis Palmer and Bob Stagner. Based on a dream by the artist herself, the film is set in a fantastical landscape of paper-sculpted glaciers--inhabited by demons, shamans, and a skeptical colony of penguins. Multiple layers of reality co-exist, as we travel from two- to three-dimensional animation and storytelling.

• “The Indie Memphis Film Festival: Best in Show?” by John Beifuss of the Memphis Commercial Appeal