The One Minute Film Festival took place annually in a barn outside of a small town in upstate New York, on the first Saturday after the 4th of July, from 2003-2012. On that day, artists, writers, film- and video-makers, and their friends and families would arrive in the afternoon with food and drink and a one-minute movie. After sunset, everyone took their seats and the movies began, usually lasting two or three hours, and afterwards people danced. Many people camped out, others made the late night drive home, and more would stay in nearby inns or at friends in the Narrowsburg, NY, area, in western Sullivan County, near the Pennsylvania border. The festival was organized and hosted by artists Jason Simon and Moyra Davey.
The festival samples a decade through the participation of hundreds of makers: ten years spanning the extremes of George Bush and Barack Obama, of You Tube and the near ubiquity of video within cultural institutions. Using the festival as a backdrop for reflections on moving image art practices, the book takes the festival’s eponymous time signature, in combination with its production of the social (more festive than festival), as a critical frame for contributors. The exhibition will celebrate the 10 years of the festival, including a special exquisite corpse film for year 10. This hour-long film was created by artists each receiving the last second of a previous film and building a new minute based on that glimpse.