Mark Toscano

Why are we still able, today, to view images that were captured over 125 years ago? As we enter the digital age, audiovisual heritage seems to be a sure and obvious fact. However, much of cinema and our filmed history has been lost forever. Archivists, technicians and filmmakers from different parts of the world explain what audiovisual preservation is and why it is necessary. The documentary is a tribute to all these professionals and their important work.

After discovering a set of cryptic microcassettes in her new home, Cas is drawn into a meditative mystery of environmental sound and experimental music.

A potentially valuable lesson in history and authenticity is sabotaged by poor supplementary materials. (Mark Toscano)

Mark Toscano, 2014

A rite of passage, an emptying out of things, and a process of emotional alchemy.

“A film about control. A refinement of energy for purposes of conserving resources, materials, impetus, potential, so they might all be narrowly channeled toward an unquestioned goal of maximum profit with minimum waste. Capitalism, in this example, as a process of understanding how to make use of someone as efficiently as possible to get the most out of them that is desired. Instructions for keeping people on task.” –Mark Toscano

An experiment in re-ordering one kind of information turned into something having to do with the power the material has over the maker once I tried to get another kind of information to conform to that same order. A set of transparent corrections forced the movie to behave, but the reckless spontaneity of the footage and the acceptance of my failure laid bare nevertheless make obvious the foolishness of the endeavor to begin with. A home movie of my cousin’s wedding. (Mark Toscano)

Sometimes you just don’t know what to say about something you’ve made, whether it’s a painting, a movie, a sandwich, or a mistake. (Mark Toscano)

An experiment in bringing together two field observations of two completely different activities from two disparate times and places. I joined these twin moments (one captured, one found) as a way of trying to understand what the experience of the one would do to the experiencing of the other in the linear time of a darkened film theater. (Mark Toscano)

Truth as held to be self-evident, however inconsequential or ludicrously subjective. Truth as not a matter of opinion. A meaningless game of arbitrary pronouncements that hopes to suggest other contexts in which similar games are far more insidious, while still giving viewers a good time. Ultimately though, a film that is probably too delightful to be anything but cute.

This film came out of nowhere, and very early in its brief making became, for me, a crystallization of all the confusion and amazement I feel about the creative process. Poof, it’s there (and poof, it’s gone). (Mark Toscano)

Not a critique of consumer desire and the forces that fuel it, which are comically horrific and beyond depressing. Just a dumb joke for the subconscious mind. (That’s showbiz!) (Mark Toscano)

It may be that exhibitionistic displays of emotion are purely for the benefit of the demonstrator, in an act of self-indulgent catharsis, but that doesn’t mean they can’t communicate some of that weird emotion to an unrelated party. (Mark Toscano)

When feelings are reduced to keywords, it’s a lot easier to find just the right soundtrack. And when an emotional response can be so readily activated via musical triggers, it’s a lot easier to make a moving film.

A deceptively (?) stupid commentary on the disposability of information in this, the dawning of a bold new era of thinly spread knowledge and vastly dispersed and diluted communication that becomes increasingly abstract, superficial, and disengaged with every passing day that we continue to allow things like mobile billboard trucks to exist. (Mark Toscano)

Certain things you remember. These are two of them, remembered by my father, as we drove north on S. Las Vegas Blvd in November, 2011. (Mark Toscano)

Brine is sodium chloride (NaCl) dissolved in water. If you perform electrolysis on brine you will get three substances: chlorine, hydrogen and sodium hydroxide. The electrolysis process is useful and common in the world of industry. For example, it aids in the manufacture of products as diverse as pesticides, soaps, fuels, and even margarine. This is one of the dullest educational films I have ever seen. A small attempt has been made to release its latent energy. (Mark Toscano)