Videos for Northampton - Valley Art Share

Wisconsin Bird Trip Shuffle - Abraham Skutter & Marc Israel music video!

2009-05-24T16:39:57.670Z

We've grabbed our instruments and cut a swath across the heartlands. Presently we are touring rural Georgia, towns like Bernadilla and Hokumm, looking for the ghost of Blind Willie McTell. Other influences are obvious - Hank Williams, The Red-bellied Woodpecker, George Michaels, Sonny Boy Williamson, french kissing, Memphis Jug Band, Barkley The Cat, Neil Cassady, Patti Smith, The Green Heron, Ukulele Ike, Noam Chomsky, and Beethoven. Please stop and say hello if you see us. We also do weddings/funerals

Railroads, Renovation, & Romance: Modern maiden meets mensa mystic sailor! short film!

2009-05-24T16:38:05.988Z

Phenomenal World Cinema presents this exciting true story chronicling an amorous young woman who once had a penpal in Haiti, a mystic sailor who lives in a dirt hole, a "living museum" in North Carolina stockpiled high with re-possessed bric-a-brac, a paranormal investigation conducted on seemingly innocent plastic babies, and the preparation of a delicious gourmet communal dinner!

This is a stand-alone featurette, a juicy behind-the-scenes romance that occurred while filming the HBO feature-length documentary "THERE'S EVERYWHERE ELSE, AND THEN THERE'S ELSEWHERE" about the Elsewhere Artist Collaborative and Living Museum (www.elsewhereelsewhere.org).

TROUBLE THE WATER! a nine minute epic sea odyssey w/ hobos, evil miscreants, and tragic beauties!

2009-04-18T18:49:17.606Z

Based loosely on a Joseph Conrad short story, come along with The Sportscaster as he sleuths his way through an apocalyptic world littered with hobos, conning paperboys, prostitutes, and medicated housewives. Who will remain aware and moral enough to solve the case of the missing ear??

Snock 'N Roll: Adventures With Michael Hurley (Complete Documentary Short)

2009-03-15T02:19:34.221Z

Phenomenal World Cinema presents you with a 25 minute documentary about legendary folksinger Michael Hurley, based on my chance encounters with him this past summer. Hurley's music has had a broad influence on other performers, including Lucinda Williams, Smog, Yo La Tengo, Violent Femmes, and singer Cat Power, who's recorded several of his songs for her albums.
Please enjoy!

For more information on Marc Israel's films, please visit: myspace.com/marcisraelfilms

You can also download the film by clicking down below at the bottom right of the screen. This will afford you much greater clarity of video.

"Whether weaving a yarn about a mysterious hog or comparing the human heart to a mechanic's toolbox, Mr. Hurley creates elaborate vistas in a musical version of outsider art"
- Ann Powers / New York Times

"Hurley is a national treasure"
- Scott Schinder / Time Out New York

"Hurley remains one of the elusive masters of American folk"
- Chris Morris / Billboard

"Undoubtedly one of this country's greatest folk singers, Hurley has little in common with the majority of today's folk performers. While they seem bent on demonstrating that all people are alike, such a suffocating presumption has no place in this man's work. Michael Hurley is nothing like his potential audience. What better reason to hear what he has to say?"
- Chuck Cuminale/ Colorblind James

"...I don't know what else to say about what he writes and sings, other than that it is gosh-darned great. What kind of music is it? Hell, what kind of weeds does God grow? Let's just shut up and listen and go to where Michael Hurley is. After all, we can always turn around and come back. He can't."
- Nick Tosches/ Author

ENCOUNTERS WITH SARAH: A short film about that crazy lil' thing called Love - for real!

2009-03-15T02:18:45.724Z

"Encounters With Sarah" - seven minute short film created for "Kick My Heart's Ass: Short Films About Love", at ApexArt Gallery. in NYC, curated by Davy Rothbart.. The film stars Miss Sarah Locke, and is full of romance, scenic Michigan sunsets, gun-toting youngsters, traffic accidents (an ongoing obsession of mine), and a man in a wheelchair who is on the move!

Features music by Battle-Axe Camera!

apexart's exhibitions and public programs are supported in part by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Edith C. Blum Foundation, Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, The Greenwich Collection Ltd., The William Talbott Hillman Foundation, and with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts.

A BALANCING ACT: Kombucha / Museum / Contest / Travel Documentary

2009-03-15T02:08:35.726Z

"Delightful & enormously entertaining...An amazing & meaningful gem!"- Davy Rothbart, This American Life

In the middle of a suicide mission, Marc Israel becomes intoxicated with a "rebirth of wonder" after imbibing copious amounts of mind-altering Kombucha tea. Thus begins an epic & often hilarious quest investigating a mysterious international motorbike balancing contest. Lean into the world, via Israel's roving camera, & rub intimate eyeballs with a medley of renegade personalities. Get to know Austin's Museum of Natural & Artificial Ephemerata and its eccentric curators, who spend all their time covering the museum in bottle caps & catfood tins. Venture to Iowa City, where the charismatic Optimist Club founder Skutter performs his one-man-show "A Piñata in My Heart" & lectures at the University on a balancing contest in Vietnam. Hop a freight train with Skutter to L.A. and discover a self-described "towel-face artist" who can make your bath towel resemble Whoopi Goldberg within minutes. Lastly, catch a plane to Thailand, hitchhike through Cambodia, finally arriving in Vietnam where a motley assortment of bikers get ready to balance boxes, refrigerators, & entire families on the back of their humble bicycles & mopeds! For more info go to www.myspace.com/marcisraelfilms

"A Balancing Act" - winner of BEST COMEDY DOCUMENTARY at Atlanta International Documentary Festival, Opening Night Film at Montezuma International Film Festival, Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival, and Atlanta Docufest.

Also an Official Selection at:
Film Pop Montreal, Rome International Film Festival, Jacksonville Film Festival, Thin Line Film Fest, ReelHeart International Film Festival, Slow Film Festival, Connecticut Film Festival, Utopia Film Festival, Sweet Onion Film Festival, Hells Half Mile Film & Music Festival, Montana Independent Film Festival, S.N.O.B. Film Festival, Northampton Independent Film Festival, Filmbiance, Mid-Valley Video Festival, Bare Bones International Independent Film Festival, Renderyard Film Festival, Over The Top Fest, Seattle True Independent Film Festival

"BARKLEY THE CAT" - Marc Israel Music Video!

2009-03-15T02:07:52.410Z

'm super happy to offer up for your viewing pleasure (or displeasure - ya can't please 'em all, folks!) my first ever music video, made in honor of the 2nd anniversary of my cat Barkley & I. Enjoy this bit o' free entertainment brought to you by the good folks at Phenomenal World Cinema, where "if something happens, it's worth filming" (take it up with our PR person if you don't like the motto).
For a better quality viewing experience of this video, go to: http://www.vimeo.com/1381222
Yours truly,
Marc
www.myspace.com/marcisraelfilms
www.myspace.com/marcisraelmusic