• Allures. Courtesy Center for Visual Music

  • Bop Scotch. Courtesy Center for Visual Music

  • Chakra. Courtesy Center for Visual Music

  • Mandala. Courtesy Center for Visual Music



Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane



Presented in association with the Center for Visual Music

  • Introduction
    Cindy Keefer

    Cindy Keefer is curator and archivist at the Center for Visual Music

  • In Person
    Stephen Beck

Get an advance look at the Hippie Modernism exhibition following the screening at the Public Preview!

Jordan Belson made abstract films richly woven with cosmological imagery exploring consciousness, transcendence, and the nature of light itself. Often called “cosmic cinema,” his films unfold imagery of skies, galaxies, suns, stars, auroras. Belson began as a painter and received his BA from UC Berkeley in 1946. Inspired by the work screened at the Art in Cinema series in San Francisco (1946–54), he began making films, developing a distinctive visual vocabulary relating inner and outer space. His work as visual director of the Vortex Concerts (1957–59) at Morrison Planetarium was a primary influence on the Bay Area light shows of the 1960s.—Cindy Keefer

Many of the films in this program were preserved by the Center for Visual Music with support from the National Film Preservation Foundation; unless otherwise noted, films are courtesy of the Center for Visual Music, Los Angeles. Newly restored 16mm film print of Cycles made by and genrously loaned by Stephen Beck.

Films in this Screening

Bop Scotch

Jordan Belson, United States, 1952

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • Digital
  • 3 mins
Additional Info
  • BAMPFA preservation print, preservation funded by National Film Preservation Foundation

Mandala

Jordan Belson, United States, 1953

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • 16mm
  • 3 mins

Séance

Jordan Belson, United States, 1959

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • 16mm
  • 4 mins

Vortex V presentation reel

Jordan Belson, United States, 1959

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 16mm
  • 5 mins

Allures

Jordan Belson, United States, 1961

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • 16mm
  • 8 mins

LSD

Jordan Belson, United States, 1962

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • 16mm
  • 4 mins

Samadhi

Jordan Belson, United States, 1967

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • Digital
  • 5 mins

Momentum

Jordan Belson, United States, 1968

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • 16mm
  • 6 mins

Chakra

Jordan Belson, United States, 1972

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • 16mm
  • 6 mins

Cycles

Jordan Belson, Stephen Beck, United States, 1974

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • 16mm
  • 10 mins
source
  • Stephen Beck

Music of the Spheres

Jordan Belson, United States, 1977

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • 16mm
  • 11 mins