• Interlude

  • Canticles

  • Lamentations

  • Temple Sleep

Temple Sleep: Four Films

BAMPFA Collection

  • In Person

Proof of Vaccination Required

Ticket holders are required to provide proof of vaccination—to the maximum extent for which they are eligible—for entry into the Barbro Osher Theater.

In Greek theories of medicine it was taught that illness came from a dreamlike absorption, a state of imbalance. The sanctuary of Epidaurus was created in order to let citizens realign themselves and awaken to the full energy of the present. Long periods of relaxation and sleep, called “temple sleep,” were followed by theater pieces, chanting, and poetry. So art has had a long history of being used as a healthy model. What is it about the nature of film that can produce health or ill health? It is film’s ability to mirror and realign our metabolism.

— Nathaniel Dorsky, Devotional Cinema

The following descriptions were written by the filmmaker.

Films in this Screening

Canticles

Nathaniel Dorsky, United States, 2019

A strange autumnal in an empty world, a film of late autumn and ghostly presences.

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • 16mm
  • Silent
  • 15 mins
  • 18fps
source
  • BAMPFA

Lamentations

Nathaniel Dorsky, United States, 2020

A cinematic tumble through diverse dreamscapes in a manmade world.

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • 16mm
  • Silent
  • 14 mins
  • 18fps
source
  • BAMPFA

Temple Sleep

Nathaniel Dorsky, United States, 2020

Photographed and edited during the initial virus lockdown. The fly casting pools in Golden Gate Park became a mind healing place for me, a calming space of sacredness, tempered by the fear of the on-coming unknown. A place of feminine power.

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • 16mm
  • Silent
  • 18 mins
  • 18fps
source
  • BAMPFA

Interlude

Nathaniel Dorsky, United States, 2019

A brief lost moment lies between.

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • 16mm
  • Silent
  • 11 mins
  • 18fps
source
  • BAMPFA