PFA Preservation Prints!

This afternoon's program focuses on films that depict artists from the Semina circle, beginning with Wallace Berman's densely layered Aleph. George Herms creates an assemblage in Marilynne Mason's Lightwork One: Mother Station, and Jay DeFeo moves her monumental painting The Rose in Bruce Conner's The White Rose. Cameron is featured in Curtis Harrington's moody The Wormwood Star, and Jess appears in Stan Brakhage's In Between. Michael McClure wanders San Francisco in Lawrence Jordan's beautiful Visions of a City; other films by Jordan depict Jess's collages and Herms's drawings. North Beach, Dion Vigné's vital depiction of the Beat neighborhood, was recently preserved by PFA, as were his experiments with stroboscopic images. Edward Silverstone Taylor's little-known abstract films, made with his own Lucitron, an optical projector he developed that allowed him to create varied colors and patterns, will also be presented in new PFA preservation prints.

Aleph (Wallace Berman, 1956-66, 8 mins, Silent, From Anthology Film Archives). Visions of a City (Lawrence Jordan, 1957-78, 8 mins, Sepia, From Canyon Cinema). North Beach (Dion Vigné, 1958, 5 mins (short version), B&W, PFA Collection, permission Loreon Vigné, with thanks to David Sherman). Lucitron series (Edward Silverstone Taylor, 1958, 12 mins, PFA Collection). The Wormwood Star (Curtis Harrington, 1956, 10 mins, Color, From Academy Film Archive). In Between (Stan Brakhage, 1955, 10 mins, From Canyon Cinema). The 40 and 1 Nights (or Jess' Didactic Nickelodeon) (Lawrence Jordan, 1961, 6 mins, From Canyon Cinema). Lightwork One: Mother Station (Marilynne Mason, 1972, 10 mins, B&W, From the artist, with thanks to Christopher Wagstaff). Jewel Face (Lawrence Jordan, 1964, 6 mins, From Canyon Cinema). The White Rose (Bruce Conner, 1967, 7 mins, B&W, PFA Collection). Stroboscopic Images (Dion Vigné, 1964, 6 mins, PFA Collection).