In celebration of the San Francisco Art Institute's 110th Anniversary, we are pleased to present a program of recent films by graduates of the Art Institute's renowned film department. In the course of its history the Art Institute has trained many artists who have distinguished themselves locally, nationally and internationally, but it has also trained other excellent artists, many of whom have not had the exposure and recognition they deserve. A series of exhibitions this month throughout the Bay Area has been designed to bring together, for the first time, a collection of work representing that of lesser known as well as more established alumni. What has always distinguished the film department of the Art Institute has been its encouragement of explorative, personal and innovational approaches to filmmaking contrary to many film schools which are very much industry oriented, training their students to work within established formulas of commercial television and feature film production.
The selection of films on tonight's program is only a small representation of the recent creative work of Art Institute film alumni; we have selected films which have not previously been shown at the Archive, and in some cases filmmakers for whom this is their first PFA exhibition. These films range from surrealist visions to highly formalized abstractions, from impressionistic representations of landscape and cityscape to primarily studies of light and color, and the very texture of material reality.
In the order of their screening:
Fog (1978, 7 mins, color) by Mark and Jacquelyn McGowan
North Beach (1978, 15 mins, color, silent) by Henry Hills
Cetology (1977, 11 mins) by Jacalyn L. White
Closer Outside (1979, 9-1/4 mins, color, silent) by Vincent Grenier
Soma (1978, 17 mins, color, silent) by Sandra Davis
In Transit Part One (1980, 6 mins, color, silent) by Forrest Bell
Sorted Details (1979, 12 mins, color) by Charles Wright
Florence (1976, 7 mins, silent) by Peter Hutton
Eternal Flame (1979, 5 mins, color, silent) by Toney Merritt