Naomi Uman Presents Selections from Ukrainian Time Machine,  February 28th, Hallwalls hosted a visit by former HARP (Hallwalls Artists-in-Residence Project) experimental documentary film artist, Naomi Uman, who is visiting the United States from the Ukraine. After her 2005 Hallwalls residency, Uman (who for years has divided her time between California and Mexico City) decided to make the reverse journey that her great-grandparents took in 1906, moving to Ukraine to ', ' experience life as an immigrant might. She knew no one, and did not speak the language, but soon found herself immersed in the culture--the rhythms of labor and leisure--living outside the town of her ancestors. For her presentation at Hallwalls, Ms. Uman presented three bilingual 16mm films produced in Ukraine that are part of a larger series of films, THE UKRAINIAN TIME MACHINE, which combine... personal, experimental and non-fiction approaches to capturing life in the small village where people live as they would 100 years ago. Ms. Uman\'s award winning films are a delight to the senses, and present worlds filled with texture and the lyricism of poetic documentary. This screening was a rare opportunity to see her work and to engage with the artist in person.
The screening tooke place in the Hallwalls Cinematheque, located in the basement of Babeville - the former church located at the corner of Tupper and Delaware Ave in downtown Buffalo.

Kalendar (11 minutes, color, silent, sixteen millimeter film, 2008)
This ten minute, silent, color film which depicts the meaning of the months of the year in the Ukrainian language. Each month is presented and followed with a title card which gives the name of the month in Ukrainian Cyrillic, the meaning of that name in italics and the name of the month in English. This film speaks to the concept of language acquisition as you are presented the word for the month, but you are not given a transliteration. If you are unable to read the letters, you can not know how the word will sound. This film, in its silence, represents the door that can be opened when a language is learned, but that remains closed until that time.

Unnamed Film (55 minutes, color, 16 millimeter film, 2008)
This project is the result of the filmmaker\'s attempt to investigate issues of immigration by becoming an immigrant herself. Naomi Uman returned to the land her great grandparents left in 1906. She moved to Ukraine, without speaking the language or knowing anyone. She moved near the city of Uman, to a small rural village where people live as they did 100 years ago.

On This Day (5 minutes, color, sound, 16 millimeter film, 2008)
This film tells the true story of one day in the life of the filmmaker, presenting quick and joyful sketches of a wedding.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
A former private chef to Gloria Vanderbilt, Malcolm Forbes, and Calvin Klein, Uman long ago traded in her egg-beater and oven mitts for a 16mm bolex. A visual artist, she works in a variety of media and formats. Her work addresses themes of work, geography, immigration, language and love. Her award-winning films have screened widely at major international festivals as well as The Guggenheim Museum, The Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Museo de Art Moderno in Mexico City. Milking & Scratching: Handmade Films by Naomi Uman, a collection of five early works, was released on DVD in 2006 by Peripheral Produce. She has worked in the United States, Mexico and is now living in Ukraine where, accompanied by her small dog, continues making films, planting vegetables and flowers and making paintings of animals. She continues to make films with her little Chihuahua, Tattoo, on her lap.