Page 12 Daily Nebraskan Thursday, April 29, 1982 Arts & Entertainment Artists travel far, deep, into visual adventures of film By David Thompson "Any way you look at it, this is the way it is," says a camera in one of James Broughton's films. In reply to that, the sky answers, "Everything is a little bit different." Broughton believes the sky, not the camera, and this weekend he will be at the Sheldon Film Theater, along with fellow filmmaker Joel Singer, to describe just how different that view can be. Their visit accompanies a retrospective of their films to be shown at Sheldon, the final filmvideo showcase pre sentation at the theater. Broughton and Singer do not make conventional, 90-minute, storytelling films. Instead, L- - Movie Review they make short creative exercises, 27 of which will be shown in the retrospective. Stopping by Sheldon you can obtain a schedule of the films, a map of Broughton and Singer's kaleidoscopic world. A step into this world yields a variety of forms. The world is wide because Broughton has been around for a while. He was a member of the Art in Cinema group at the San Francisco Museum in the late '40s, and he made his first film, Mother's Day, in 1948. The retrospective will include films Broughton has made throughout his career as well as Singer's solo efforts and films the two have collaborated on. It is interesting to note the differences in the styles of the two filmmakers and to observe the results of a com bination of those styles. Broughton's films are often whimsical examinations of people while Singer's arc cinematic experiments. In Broughton's 1968 film The Bed, for example, the character in the title role wanders down a hillside, coming UNL Orchestra, Chorus to give concert Sunday The University Orchestra of the UNL School of Music, directed by Robert Emile,and the UNL Ora torio Chorus, directed by Ed Bruner, will present Haydn's "The Creation" and other works during a free 3 pjn. concert Sunday in Kimball Recital Hall. Performing with the University Orchestra and Oratorio Chorus will be soloists Lila Olson, soprano; Scott Miller, tenor, and Charles Austin, bass, all graduate music students. "The Creation," which will be sung in English, tells the traditional story of the creation found in Genesis. Haydn considered the music one of his finest works and its first performance was one of the most successful concerts in the history of Vi enna. In addition, the University Orchestra will per form Telemann's "Concerto in D for Trumpet, Strings and Continuo," with senior Tim Andersen as trumpet soloist. Also on the program will be Poulenc's "Concerto in G Minor for Organ, Strings and Timpani," with graduate music student Pat Murphy as organ soloist. The Nebraska Choral Arts Society will present a concert of choral music by Johannes Brahms, Randall Thompson, and Tom Johnson, Saturday at 8 p jti. at UNO Performing Arts Center, and Sunday at 8 pjn. at Plymouth Congregational Church, 20th and D streets, Lincoln. This is the last concert of the 1981-82 season and will include "Peaceable Kingdom" by Randall Thompson and "Fest und Gedenkspruche" by Johannes Brahms. The final work, "The Four-Note Opera" by Tom Johnson, is a comic look at opera and opera singers. Soloists for the "Four-Note Opera" are Mary Gundlach, so prano; Dianne Jones, alto; Rick Miser, tenor, and Chris Bradt, bass. Tickets are available through Brandeis ticket outlets and the Nebraska Choral Arts Society, 5312 Underwood Avenue. Omaha, or hv callina 402-558-2330. In Lincoln tickets are akn avaihhlp throueh Dietze Music. Dirt Cheat) Records and Hospe Music stores. Special rates are available for groups of 10 or more. Nebraska Choral Arts bociety is directed by Tho mas A. Brantigan. Photo courtesy of Sheldon Film Theater James Broughton and Joel Singer will discuss their films after they are shown tonight through Sunday at the Sheldon Film Theater. to rest in a wooded area. Then Broughton proceeds to show us just how big a role beds play in our lives. We sleep in them, we have sex in them, we are conceived in them, we play in them, we pray in them, just to name a few of the amusing things that go on in this forested four-poster. Singer's films are strikingly different. He focuses not on the action going on in front of the camera, but on the action of the camera itself. While Broughton usually narrates his films with his poetry, Singer's films are silent aesthetic examinations. In Glyphs and Fractive Clusters, for example, images of nature are caught in Singer's eye. He shifts focus, exposure and the position of the camera, presenting images in rapid succession. Fish in pools, the shadows of clouds sliding over hills, the movement of water and the light that plays upon it. All are woven into a montage of shifting forms. A meeting of the styles yields interesting results, as in their 1977 film Windowmobile. The film was made in the mobile home where Broughton and Singer live. They filmed it by placing the camera in various positions in front of windows, arbitrarily filming bits and pieces of life that went on outside as well as reflections of life on the inside. Perhaps the most beautiful of all of Broughton and Singer's excursions into the realm of sight are their ex plorations of the human body. In films such as Erogeny and Song of the Godbody, the shape of the human form is shown in shifting crescents and the texture of the body is traced. Prairies of skin and forests of hair are traversed. To the words of Broughton's poetry the camera moves over the shapes that are us. "We are hemispheres ebbing and flowing, we are continents meeting, discover my oases, explore me," he says. While these explorations may not excite the viewer who expects traditional films, for those who look they yield visual adventures. Mr. Wizard supports civil rights law TOMMY: Say, Mr. Wizard! MR. WIZARD: Hi, Tommy. TOMMY: Last week I got so wound up in your ex ample of what happens when you use statistics alone to determine family relationships, that I forgot to ask you how you do solve the issue of legislating rights for homo sexuals. Now, I understand what you're saying about statistics but how do you figure it out? Hunh? Hunh? How do ya? Hunh, Mr. Wizard!? MR. WIZARD: Gosh you jump around a lot for such a hot day! Can't you learn to ask a question and keep Chuck Jagoda both feet on the ground at the same time? Humph! I'll answer your question but you have to phrase it. Exactly what question do you want me to answer? TOMMY: What kinds of laws should we have about homosexuals? Are you in favor of the amendment to promote civil rights for homosexuals? MR. WIZARD: There are two ways you can look at this. First of all, you can try to use the law to eliminate homosexuality. On the other hand you can try to use the law to guarantee rights for homosexuals. The first approach is hopeless. TOMMY: Why do you say that? If you outlaw certain people or certain behavior won't that eliminate it? MR. WIZARD: No way. You can't legislate away peo ple with one type of affections any more than you can legislate away those affections. TOMMY: But down through the ages there have been laws against people's vices. MR. WIZARD: About other people's vices. The laws liave always been passed by one group of people against the behaviors of another group - which the first group considers vices. And those laws have always been dis obeyed. Changing human nature through the law isn't very efficient. And then if you try to enforce the laws against non-traditional sex and gambling and the like - that be comes a colossal waste of time and money. Not to mention the disregard of the civil rights of homosexuals and others as well. TOMMY: Wait a minute. How did the civil rights of others get mixed up in this? MR. WIZARD: Well, on the specific level, how do you think the police enforce such laws? They use wire taps, informants, bugging and spying techniques. Let's face it, they're investigating people's most private behavior. To do that they have to be sneaky and they're going to end up spying on at least some people who are not homosexual. TOMMY: And where does the waste come in? MR. WIZARD: Well, that kind of investigative work requires a tremendous amount of time and money. And it just doesn't accomplish anything. There have been practic ing homosexuals back as far as the Old Testament and the ancient Greeks. People like Hitler have even tried to eliminate them in extermination camps and that didn't work. You think some laws are going to do it? Not only that, the laws not only don't eliminate it, they drive it underground and cause more of the frustration that leads to violence and criminal behavior. If homosexuals do commit a larger share of violent crimes it's probably be cause of all the frustration they feel in a world where they feel they have no rights. 3 TOMMY: So I guess you're in favor of the amend ment? In order to guarantee the civil rights of homosex- MR. WIZARD: And of all the rest of us. Tommy we bTo rR Tll makC SUre ?Veryone has as rnuch of the BUI of Rights as everyone else. If one group can deny the nghts of another group it's not much more trSe to deny the rights of other groups and other groups ; unS your own group has its rights denied. V P tJ 1M,Y: Even, the Ti&ts of Naz and people who are trying to deny rights to homosexuals? tSSB8sues