Avant Cinema Returns with A Dazzling Trio

Raval has racked up quite a list of honorable back pats as well, most recently as the Director of Photography for the Sundance 2008 Grand Jury Prize Winning documentary Trouble The Water. He was named one of Filmmaker Magazines "25 New Faces in Independent Film 2006" following his work as d.p. on a string of hit films, including Room, Gretchen and Dirt, audience and critical darlings all. We don't have time to mention the long list of accolades he has garnered for screenwriting, directing and various other super cool skills, but we can tell you that the four films he has chosen for tonight all involve the shifting and shuffling of animated patterns. Get ready to be mesmerized.

Reed began composing electronic sounds using analog synthesizers in the late 70s, branching out into sound installations, film soundtracks and other art forms along the way. After getting a special nod from Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore (Thurston fricken Moore!) in 1996, Reed released his first official album and began to work with other recording artists and like minded souls on projects of widely varying scope and purpose. Reed will be spotlighting his most recent score for the film Capitalism: Child Labor, a film which was conceptualized and realized by independent cinema heavyweight Ken Jacobs, with whom Reed has been collaborating since 2004. The film recently won the Grand Prize at the Curtas Villa do Conde Film Festival in Portugal. Portugal, people!

Let us take this moment to again remind you how amazingly awesome the AFS is, and how incredibly inexpensive it is to join. If you haven't attended an AFS event, then make tonight's installment of the Avant Cinema Series your first, and while you're at it, sign up for a membership and start going to billions of films and film related events for peanuts on the dollar.