A program of intensely visual, silent films, rich in texture, pattern and composition. Creation by Stan Brakhage (1979, 17 mins, Silent, Color): “...almost like the Earth itself--the green ice covered rocks, the slicing feeling, the compressive feeling of the glaciers...and Jane looking...the ice, the water, the moss, the golden light. A visual symphony...” (Hollis Melton). Mirage by Ernie Gehr (1981, 9-1/4 mins, Silent, Color): “...surely the most disorienting negation of Renaissance perspective afforded by any films since History.... Colors ebb and flow, the bands of light change their ratio or intensity, and--most peculiarly--appear to slide in front of, or behind, each other....much of the film's beauty derives from the knowledge that its patterns are logical, determined by the physical properties of Gehr's substitute lens (a semicircular piece of plastic found in a Canal Street junk bin)” (J. Hoberman). Boston Fire by Peter Hutton (1979, 8 mins, Silent) “finds grandeur in smoke rising eloquently from a city blaze. Billowing puffs of darkness blend with fountains of water streaming in from off screen to orchestrate a play of primal elements.... The camera, lost in the immense dark clouds, produces images for meditation removed from the causes or consequences of the scene....” (Millennium Film Journal). Three films by Jim Jennings:
Shades (1983, 8 mins, Silent): “Unfolding buildings drawn across the screen in spectrums of grey reflecting buildings in their surfaces cutting the sky into triangles” (J.J.); Color Blind (1983, 8 mins, Silent, Color): “Framing out recognition to liberate color and form from the subject so that they become the subject” (J.J.); and A Fairy Tale (1983, 8 mins, Silent): “In collaboration with Chris Piazza” (J.J.); “The physical effect of Jennings' use of spatial and rhythmic tension coupled with visual surprises serves to uncover the unsuspected profundity of small things” (S.F. Cinematheque)