Sat, 12/9 7:00pm

James Whitney

Lecture by William Moritz

USA 1941-82 (90 mins)

James Whitney (1921-81) began collaborating on abstract films with his older brother John (192?-95) in the early 40s. James became increasingly involved in contemplative, spiritual interests-Jungian psychology, alchemy, yoga, Tao, Krishnamurti and consciousness expansion-which became the subject matter of the films on which he labored for over 30 years. Directed by James Whitney: Variations on a Circle (USA, 1941-42, 9 mins, 16mm, color);

Yantra (USA, 1950-57, 8 mins, 16mm, color);

High Voltage (USA, 1957, 3 mins, 16mm, color);

Lapis (USA, 1963-66, 10 mins, 16mm, color);

Wu Ming (USA, 1977, 17 mins, 16mm, color, silent);

Kang Jing Xiang (USA, 1982, 13 mins, 16mm, color, silent)

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Featured speakers

Stan Brakhage, beginning his career in 1953, has made hundreds of films of varying lengths, styles and formats. In the past decade, Brakhage has shot less representational imagery, turning his explorations to the pure realm of hand-painted cinema. Brakhage has profoundly influenced generations of film - makers, critics and viewers. His ideas and artistic contributions have also touched a wide circle of poets, artists and musicians.

Cecile Starr has taught film at Columbia University and The New School in New York City, has lectured extensively in the U.S. and Europe, and has written several books (Discovering the Movies, Experimental Animation) and numerous articles. She is the founder/director of the Women's Independent Film Exchange.

William Moritz teaches in the film and video faculty at the California Institute of the Arts. The author of numerous articles on abstract film, Moritz is also a filmmaker himself, having made twenty-nine short films and videos.

Robert Haller is the Executive Director of Anthology Film Archives. He has edited two books of writings by Stan Brakhage and two books by Jim Davis. He is preparing books on Ed Emshwiller, Fritz Lang, Joseph Ruttenberg and Amy Greenfield.

12/7 8:30pm

Before Maya Deren

Restored Milestones

of American

Avant-Garde Cinema

Introduction by Vlada Petric

USA 1920-41 (132 mins)

"The American film avant-garde established itself in the 1920s and 1930s, contrary to the standard histories which date its beginning to 1943 with Maya Deren." (Jan-Christoph Horak) These films present a backdrop against which one can posit the origins of Abstract filmmaking in America.

Fri, 12/8 7:00pm

Mary Ellen Bute & Dwinell Grant

Lecture by Cecile Starr

USA 1934-53 (90 mins)

Mary Ellen Bute (1906-83) and Dwinell Grant (1912-91) worked simultaneously but separately in New York City during the early 1940s. Grant worked alone within the confines of the art scenes that surrounded Hilla Rebay and Peggy Guggenheim. Bute in partnership with Ted Nemeth produced 35mm "seeing sound" films visualizing popular music for presentation at Radio City Music Hall.

Directed by Mary Ellen Bute:

Rhythm in Light (USA, 1934, 5 mins, 16mm, bw);

Parabola (USA, 1937, 8.5 mins, 16mm, bw);

Escape (USA, 1937, 4 mins, 16mm, color); Mood Contrasts (USA, 1953, 6.5 mins, 16mm, color)

Directed by Dwinell Grant: Composition #1: Themis (USA, 1940, 4 mins, 16mm, color, silent);

Composition #2: Contrahemis (USA, 1941, 4.5 mins, 16mm, color, silent);

Color Sequence (USA, 1943, 3 mins, 16mm, color, silent);

Three Themes in Variation (USA, 1945, 5.5 mins, 16mm, color, silent)

Fri, 12/8 9:15pm

Oskar Fischinger

& the California School of Color Music

Lecture by William Moritz

USA/Germany 1934-76 (90 mins)

The presence of Oskar Fischinger (1900-67) in Hollywood (where he arrived from Germany as a refugee in February 1936) helped inspire a generation of California artists, especially through the Art in Cinema programs at the San Francisco Museum of Art 1946-49.

Composition in Blue

  • Directed by Oskar Fischinger (Germany, 1935, 4 mins, 35mm, color);

    Allegretto

  • Directed by Oskar Fischinger (USA, 1936/43, 3 mins, 35mm, color);

    Radio Dynamic

  • Directed by Oskar Fischinger (USA, 1941, 4 mins, 16mm, color, silent);

    Film No. 3

  • Directed by Harry Smith (USA, 1947-49, 3 mins, 16mm, color, silent);

    MobiColor Projections

  • Directed by Charles Dockum (USA, 1961, 5 mins, 16mm, color);

    Obmaru

  • Directed by Patrica Marx (USA, 1953, 4 mins, 16mm, color);

    Abstractions 2 & 4

  • Directed by Denver Sutton (USA, 1956, 3 mins, 16mm, color);

    Logos

  • Directed by Jane Conger (USA, 1957, 2 mins, 16mm)

    Sat, 12/9 10:00am

    Spirit Stream Storm

    35mm Prints of Hand-Crafted Artists' Films

    Introduced by Stan Brakhage

    USA/Georgia/Spain/France 1967-95 (100 mins)

    Besides a generous sampling of Brakhage's hand-painted gems, the program features short films by other contemporary masters that question the push-pull between abstract and representational imagery in film.

    Impressions From the Upper Atmosphere

  • Directed by Jose Antonio Sistiaga (Spain, 1989, 7 mins, 35mm, color);

    Interpolations I-V

  • Directed by Stan Brakhage (USA, 1992,12 mins, 35mm, color, silent);

    Sappho and Jerry:Pts 1-3

  • Directed by Bruce Posner (USA, 1977-78, 6 mins, 35mm, color);

    Giraglia

  • Directed by Thierry Vincens (France, 1968, 5 mins, 35mm, color);

    Orgasamatic

  • Directed by Bruce Posner (USA, 1984-95, 4 mins, 35mm, color);

    Falter

  • Directed by Kurt Kren (Austria, 1990, 25 secs, 35mm, bw);

    Callot

  • Directed by Charles & Ray Eames (USA, 1974, 3 mins, 35mm, color);

    Confession

  • Directed by Sergei Paradjanov (Georgia, 1990, 8 mins, 35mm, color);

    The Dante Quartet

  • Directed by Stan Brakhage (USA, 1987, 6 mins, 35mm, color, silent);

    Garden of Earthly Delights

  • Directed by Stan Brakhage (USA, 1981, 1.5 mins, 35mm, color, silent);

    Hell Spit Flexion

  • Directed by Stan Brakhage (USA, 1983, 1 min, 35mm, color, silent);

    Eye Myth

  • Directed by Stan Brakhage (USA, 1967, 8 secs, 35mm, color, silent);

    Night Music

  • Directed by Stan Brakhage (USA, 1986, 25 secs, 35mm, color, silent);

    Rage Net

  • Directed by Stan Brakhage (USA, 1988, 25 secs, 35mm, color, silent);

    Tausendjahre kino

  • Directed by Kurt Kren (Austria, 1995, 3 mins, 35mm, color);

    The Analects

  • Directed by Bruce Posner & Amanda Katz (USA, 1987-95, 19 mins, 35mm, color, silent)

    Sat, 12/9 1:00pm

    Four Masters

    Grant, McLaren, Lee, Crockwell

    USA 1939-49 (60 mins)

    A brief but insightful overview of four pioneer abstract filmmakers who made films in America throughout the 40s and onward that expanded the language of creative filmmaking.

    Directed by Dwinell Grant:

    Abstract Experiments (USA, 1941-42, 8 mins, 16mm, color, silent);

    Composition #3:Spelean Dance (USA, 1942, 2 mins, 16mm, bw, silent);

    Composition #5: Fugue (USA, 1949, 8 mins, 16mm, color, silent);

    Directed by Norman McLaren:Loops (USA, 1939, 3 mins, 16mm, color);

    Pen Point Percussion

    National Film Board of Canada (Canada, 1949?, 6 mins, 16mm, bw)

    Directed by Francis Lee: Le Bijou (USA, 1943, 7 mins, 16mm, color);

    Idyll (USA, 1947, 9 mins, 16mm, color)

    Directed by Douglass Crockwell: Glens Falls Sequence (USA, 1946, 8 mins, 16mm, color, silent);

    The Long Bodies (USA, 1947, 4 mins, 16mm, color, silent)

    Sat, 12/9 2:00pm

    Can Language Describe Abstract Film?

    Panel Discussion with Films

    USA 1937-81 (60 mins)

    Optical Poem

  • Directed by OsKar Fischinger (USA, 1937, 6 mins, 35mm, color);

    Color Rhapsodie

  • Directed by Mary Ellen Bute (USA, 1948, 6 mins, 35mm, color);

    Garden of Earthly Delights

  • Directed by Stan Brakhage (USA, 1981, 1.5 mins, 35mm, color, silent)

    Sat, 12/9 3:00pm

    Mary Ellen Bute

    USA 1934-53 (60 mins)

    In the mid 1930s, Mary Ellen Bute was the first American to make abstract motion pictures, and in the early 1950s the first person in the world to use electronic imagery in a film. She studied with experimental music pioneers Joseph Schillinger and Leon Theremin. Bute's introduction to Ted Nemeth led to a partnership (and marriage in 1940) that produced 12 short musical abstract films.

    DIRECTED BY MARY ELLEN BUTE: Dada (Universal Clip) (USA, 1936, 3 mins, 16mm, bw);

    Tarantella (USA, 1940, 4 mins, 16mm, color);

    RCA: New Sensations in Sound (USA, 1959, 3 mins, 35mm, color);

    Synchromy No. 2 (USA, 1935, 5 mins, 16mm, bw);

    Spook Sport (USA, 1939, 8 mins, 35mm, color);

    Imagination (USA, 1958, 2 mins, 16mm, color);

    Pastoral (USA, 1950, 6 mins, 16mm, color);

    Polka Graph (USA, 1947, 4 mins, 35mm, color);

    Abstronic (USA, 1952, 5.5 mins, 35mm, color)

    Sat, 12/9 4:00pm

    Len Lye

    Great Britain/USA/New Zealand 1929-80 (90 mins)

    Len Lye (1901-80) produced "compositions of motion" during the 30s in Great Britain and later in America. He was a pioneer practitioner of "direct" film techniques whereby images are directly placed onto or scratched into celuloid without the aid of a camera.

    DIRECTED BY LEN LYE: Tusalava (Great Britain, 1929, 9 mins, 16mm, bw, silent);

    Kaleidoscope (Great Britain, 1935, 4 mins, 16mm, color);

    A Colour Box (Great Britain, 1935, 3 mins, 16mm, color);

    The Birth of the Robot (Great Britain, 1936, 7 mins, 16mm, color);

    Rainbow Dance (Great Britain, 1936, 5 mins, 16mm, color);

    Swinging the Lambeth Walk (Great Britain, 1939, 4 mins, 16mm, color);

    Musical Poster No. 1 (Great Britain, 1940, 3 mins, 16mm, color);

    Color Cry (USA, 1952, 3 mins, 16mm, color);

    Rhythm (USA, 1957, 1 min, 16mm, bw);

    Free Radicals (USA, 1979, 4 mins, 16mm, bw);

    Tal Farlow (New Zealand, 1980, 2 mins, 16mm, bw);

    Trade Tattoo (Great Britain, 1937, 6 mins, 16mm, color);

    Colour Flight (Great Britain, 1938, 4 mins, 16mm, color);

    Particles in Space (USA, 1979, 4 mins, 16mm, bw);

    Sat, 12/9 9:15pm

    James Davis & Hy Hirsh

    Lecture by Robert Haller

    USA 1949-66 (90 mins)

    James Davis (1901-74) and Hy Hirsh (1911-61) constructed kaleidoscopically beautiful films that had no parallels or precedents in the arts. Whether Hirsh was rapidly editing images made on an optical printer, or Davis descending into the planes of light created by his illuminated plastics, both men made films which existed outside of tradition, but anticipated films made decades later.

    Directed by Hy Hirsh: DEfense d'afficher (USA, 1958-59, 8 mins, 16mm, color);

    Scratch Pad (USA, 1959, 7 mins, 16mm, color);

    Chasse des Touches (USA, 1959, 4 mins, 16mm, color)

    Directed by James Davis: Impulses (Processes) (USA, 1959, 9 mins, 16mm, color);

    Jersey Falls (USA, 1949, 7 mins, 16mm, color);

    Death & Transfiguration (USA, 1961, 9.5 mins, 16mm, color)

    Sun, 12/10 10:00am

    Analytical Abstractions Beyond the Screen

    Introduced by Gerald O'Grady France, Germany, USA 1923-76 (90 mins)

    European influences on the American abstract film came from multiple sources. One such thread follows images that have been abstracted to the point of appearing to step off the screen.

    Ballet MEcanique

  • Directed by Ferdand L=8Eger, Dudley Murphy, Man Ray (France, 1924, 19 mins, 16mm, bw, with restored sound track);

    Return to Reason

  • Directed by Man Ray (France, 1923, 3 mins, 16mm, bw, silent);

    Recreation

  • Directed by Robert Breer (USA, 1957, 1.5 mins, 16mm, color);

    H2O

  • Directed by Ralph Steiner (USA, 1929, 11 mins, 16mm, bw, silent);

    Rhythm 21

  • Directed by Hans Richter (Germany, 1924, 5 mins, 16mm, bw, silent);

    Light-Play in Black, White, Gray

  • Directed by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (Germany, 1926, 6 mins, 16mm, bw, silent);

    Dream Displacement

  • Directed by Paul Sharits (USA, 1976, 25 mins, 16mm, color)

    Sun, 12/10 1:00pm

    Hy Hirsh

    USA 1952-61 (60 mins)

    Hirsh's films developed a masterful mix of sound and image via oscillascope electronics and optical printing synchronized to his home-made recordings of jazz and Afro-Caribbean music. He was an influential figure of the West Coast film scene and manifested himself in front of, and behind, the camera for films by Sidney Peterson, Harry Smith, Jordan Belson and others.

    Directed by Hy Hirsh: Gyromorphosis (USA, 1957, 7 mins, 16mm, color);

    Come Closer (USA, 1952, 7 mins, 16mm, color);

    D=8Efense d'afficher (USA, 1958-59, 8 mins, 16mm, color);

    Scratch Pad (USA, 1959, 7 mins, 16mm, color);

    Autumn Spectrum (USA, 1957, 7 mins, 16mm, color);

    Chasse des Touches (USA, 1959, 4 mins, 16mm, color);

    La Couleur de la forme (USA, 1961, 7 mins, 16mm, color);

    Eneri (USA, 1953, 7 mins, 16mm, color)

    Sun, 12/10 2:00pm

    Hilla Rebay & the Guggenheim Nexus

    Panel Discussion with Films USA 1937-51 (60 mins)

    An American March

  • Directed by Oskar Fischinger (USA, 1941, 3 mins, 35mm, color);

    Stars and Stripes

  • Directed by Norman McLaren (USA, 1943, 4 mins, 16mm, color);

    Film No. 7

  • Directed by Harry Smith (USA, 1951, 7 mins, 16mm, color, silent);

    Sun, 12/10 3:00pm

    James & John Whitney's Early Works

    USA 1939-52 (60 mins)

    Their series of FILM EXERCISES, produced between 1943-44, are visually based on modernist composition theory with varied permutation of forms. The eerie glow of these forms is paralleled by a pioneer music sound score composed using an elaborate pendulum device they invented to write out sounds directly onto the film's soundtrack.

    24 Variations on a Theme

  • Directed by James & John Whitney (USA, 1939-40, 5 mins, 8mm on video, color, silent);

    3 Untitled Films

  • Directed by James & John Whitney (USA, 1940-42, 15 mins, 8mm on video, color, silent);

    Film Exercise No. 1

  • Directed by John Whitney (USA, 1943, 5 mins, 16mm, color);

    Film Exercises No. 2 & 3

  • Directed by James Whitney (USA, 1943-44, 3 mins, 16mm, color);

    Film Exercises No. 4

  • Directed by James Whitney (USA, 1944, 8 mins, 16mm, color);

    Film Exercises No. 5

  • Directed by John Whitney (USA, 1944, 5 mins, 16mm, color);

    Hot House

  • Directed by John Whitney (USA, 1949, 3 mins, 16mm, color);

    Mozart Rondo

  • Directed by John Whitney (USA, 1949, 3 mins, 16mm, color);

    Celery Stalks at Midnight

  • Directed by John Whitney (USA, 1952, 3 mins, 16mm, color)

    Sun, 12/10 4:00pm

    James Davis

    USA 1948-64 (90 mins)

    Davis started making films in 1946 and continued until his death (completing 113 films) to photograph his curved plastic sculpture, mobile-like structures that would hang in space, rotate and reflect/refract light into shifting pools and points of color. Abstract and mysterious to many spectators, these waves and streams of light were for Davis images of "the causative force of nature."

    Directed by James Davis: Light Reflections (USA, 1948, 14 mins, 16mm, color);

    The Sea (USA, 1950, 8.5 mins, 16mm, color);

    Analogies #1 (USA, 1953, 9.5 mins, 16mm, color);

    Taliesin-West (USA, 1950, 9.5 mins, 16mm, color);

    Evolution (USA, 1955, 8 mins, 16mm, color);

    Taliesin-East (USA, 1950, 9.5 mins, 16mm, color);

    Energies (USA, 1957, 9.5 mins, 16mm, color);

    Like a Breeze (USA, 1954, 8.5 mins, 16mm, color);

    Fathomless (USA, 1964, 11 mins, 16mm, color)

    Sun, 12/10 7:00pm

    James Sibley Watson, Jr. & Melville Webber

    Lecture by Robert Haller USA 1928-30 (90 mins)

    Watson (1894-1982) and Webber (1895-1947) worked from literary sources-Poe, the Bible-but so transmuted them that their films THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER and LOT IN SODOM stand as extraordinary visual cinema. In USHER letters and words rise up out of the dark-forming messages we can not hear but can see and grasp far more vividly. In Lot in Sodom the world is seen through prismatic curtains of light and darkness, curtains over the windows of dreams and imagination, if not the soul.

    Directed by James Sibley Watson, Jr. & Melville Webber: Fall of the House of Usher (USA, 1928, 15 mins, 16mm, bw);

    Lot in Sodom (USA, 1930, 30 mins, 35mm, bw)

    Sun, 12/10 9:15pm

    Hands On Filmmaking

    Lecture by Stan Brakhage Germany/USA 1921-79 (90 mins)

    Stan Brakhage will address the hand-made aspect of filmmaking by focusing on films and filmmakers who greatly influence his current working process - namely the frame-by-frame construction of images along the film strip.

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