Fall 2014

Compiling a season of programs is never as straightforward as one would think. Indeed, we keep a running list of ideas to pursue and talk collectively about whether or not certain programs belong next to one another and even go so far as to argue that a particular artist or their work does or does not resonate with the temperatures, colors, and moods of the season. We seek out artist work, from the past and present, that will surprise us, move us, and maybe even make us a little uncomfortable. We have no checklist or rubric for telling us when we are “done” and this is perhaps the reason why we expectantly nudge and mould every little detail until everything feels “just right.” And what is the result of the whims that have propelled and guided us for this season? Dazzling new works and recently discovered gems from innovative artists from around the world: Belgian filmmaker Els Van Riel's Gradual Speed is a meditation on time filmed in black-and-white 16mm; Japanese telecine master and video artist Makino Takashi's suite of short videos and multi-media performance piece, Space Noise; and, the latest from US artist Ben Russell, who will bring us his sublime and captivating images from around the world. Bookending the fall season are some films from out of the archives that include French Letterist pieces from Guy Debord and Maurice Lemaître, a Maya Deren double feature (both in September), and a program of films from the 1970s and 1980s by artist and musician Mike Henderson, which have been guest-curated by archivist Mark Toscano. And yet, for all the ways in which each artist and program creates a world unto their own, there are threads that tie the whole thing together. From the visual immersiveness in the work of Makino Takashi and Ben Russell, to the ethnographic cinema that links Mr. Russell to Maya Deren, several themes make repeat appearances and interconnections. The shape drawn by the vertices that connect subject matter, formal approaches and visual cadences throughout the work of the artists showcased in this season result in an especially dynamic and unique mapping of experimental cinema. And so we offer you our effort to live up to the humbling accolades of our friend and once-visiting-artist, Saul Levine, who suggests that part of our ever evolving mission is to “[carry] on the tradition begun by Maya Deren of advocating for a cinema of poetry and vision outside of commerce. A truly free cinema.” We are excited to share this season with you and hope to see you at the cinema.

"So we are suspended in a null space, bringing with us a certain habit of affections. We have come to do work that we enjoy. We have come to watch this.”

(The projector is turned on.)

        —Hollis Frampton. Hunter College, New York. 1968. Lecture/Performance.

See you at the Cinema!
Heather Lane, Michael McManus, and Mia Ferm