Filmmaker Martha Colburn orchestrates a night of multiple film projections, single-channel video, and handmade magic lantern effects with live accompaniment by an eclectic assortment of musical collaborators, including the post-classical pianist Thollem McDonas, drummer Ryan Sawyer (Lone Wolf, Stars Like Fleas, 88 Boadrum), experimental beat-boxer Lumberob, and the improvisational punk band Tsigoti. Also screening are two new films by Colburn: Join the Freedom Force (2009) and One & One is Life (2009).

Martha Colburn is a self-taught filmmaker with a stuttering, kaleidoscopic visual style that combines paper cutout puppets, vivid stop-action painting, iconographic mash-ups, and a wicked sense of humor. She has completed over forty films since 1994. Based in Baltimore, Maryland in the ’90s, she self-released six records and toured American and European cinemas and music venues with her work. Since 2000, she has worked in Holland and New York and creates installations, live performances, and stop-action animation. She has made films for System of a Down singer Serj Tankian, Jad Fair of Half Japanese, contributed animation to the documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnson, and VJs for the band Deerhoof. She has performed with live projections and bands at The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2009), The Rotterdam Film Festival (2010), and will be performing later this summer at the SITE Santa Fe Biennial.

Thollem McDonas is a recipient of the 2010 US Artists International Award as the founder and Artistic Director of Estamos Ensemble. He was commissioned by The Limon Dance Company for a large-scale piece in commemoration of their fiftieth anniversary. Last September he was invited to perform the late works of Claude Debussy on the piano on which they were written, as well as his own “comprovisations” with Stefano Scodanibbio. This will be the first album (OnDebussy'sPianoAnd…) ever recorded on Debussy’s piano.

Ryan Sawyer performs solo as Lone Wolf. He has played drums for Eye Contact, Tall Firs, Stars Like Fleas, At the Drive-In, The Fiery Furnaces, Big Numbers, Galaxian, the Mekons, TV on the Radio, and Massive Attack. He recorded with Scarlett Johansson for her debut Tom Waits covers record and recently led the New York chapter of the 88 Boadrum concert, which he co-wrote with Gang Gang Dance, utilizing eighty-eight drummers arranged in a spiral formation.

Lumberob wrote and performed his first long-format solo piece Off the Hozzle in residency at Dixon Place in 2008. He is currently working on a new piece under commission by Soho Rep. He made music for Nature Theater of Oklahoma’s Obie Award-winning production of No Dice.

Dedicated to expressing their opposition of war, authoritarian regimes, and violent religious extremes, Tsigoti perform songs from their upcoming release on ESP records.