The best of DIGit 2005 are…

NARROWSBURG, NY — The culmination of DIGit Exposition 2005, a 10-day event showcasing movies and media art from around the world, will be a three-part program at the Tusten Theatre featuring the Rose Planetarium’s Carter Emmart and screenings of the competition’s best film submissions (listed below). Included in this finale, which will begin at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 30, is a 2005 Academy Award winner from Canada along with world-class work created by local artists.

The Best of DIGit 2005

Receiving top honors this year is “Resisting Paradise,” an 80-minute visual masterpiece by Barbara Hammer, who poses the question, “How can art persist during a time of war?” The movie uses the personal letters of French painters (Henri Matisse and others) who left Paris seeking safety and clarity of light in a small Mediterranean city and who continued to paint during the Nazi occupation and French resistance movement.

The judges awarded Best Documentary to Chris Landreth’s 2005 Academy Award winner “Ryan.” This fully rendered 15-minute animated short is both a study of the life of Canadian Oscar-winning animator Ryan Larkin and a self-portrait by Landreth about his personal world of “psychological realism.” It was an official submission to the 2005 DIGit event by the National Film Board of Canada.

Best Narrative was awarded to Michael Berry’s “The Day of the Grackle,” a laugh-out-loud battle royale in which a man’s world is invaded by a ferocious bird, thrusting him into an escalating, action-filled afternoon that totally transforms his life.

Best Animation was awarded to Natella Kataev’s “The Little Pilgrim,” a poetic story of growth, passage and discovery in which a young girl reflects on her journey from her home in the forest to the big city as she makes peace with childhood’s end. The animation combines 3D, traditional and computer graphics to create a magical landscape with a haunting audio track.

Best Experimental Work was awarded to Upper Delaware Valley resident Armand Agresti for his project, “Years.” This technical and creative wonder is a visual diary of 60 years of home movies edited down to six hours and then copied at 3,000 frames per second and condensed to 11 minutes. The resulting experience flows across the viewer in a surreal explosion of image and color.

DIGit, presented by the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, will take place in Narrowsburg from April 22 through May 1. Movies and media art from around the world will be shown continuously on kiosks and large screen video installations in the Delaware Arts Center. DIGit is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts and was conceived to encourage creative and technical excellence and experimentation by individual artists, collaborators and small-size production firms working with digital tools.

For more information call 845/252-7576 or visit www.ArtsAllianceSite.org for a complete listing of events.