Alternative Visions

9/7/11 to 10/26/11

Our annual avant-garde showcase Alternative Visions, presented in conjunction with the UC Berkeley course Avant-Garde Film, features the edgy collage animations of Martha Colburn, classic films by the great Ukrainian director Alexander Dovzhenko and Russian director Dziga Vertov, and the work of experimental filmmakers Jordan Belson and Chick Strand.

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  • © Jordan Belson, courtesy Center for Visual Music|

  • Upcoming
    Films
  • Upcoming
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  • Selected
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  • Past
    Films
  • Past
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Past Films

  • Martha Colburn's Collage Animation

    Wednesday, September 7 7:30pm
    Martha Colburn (U.S., 1995–2011). Martha Colburn in person. An evening of the frantic animated cut-outs and low-tech collages of Martha Colburn, part punk-rock pleasure, part politicized edge. “Bordering on the outrageous, (with) crackling frame energy, Martha Colburn films are naked testimonials of our times, and of her generation” (Jonas Mekas). (75 mins)
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  • Ice

    Wednesday, September 14 7:30pm
    Robert Kramer (U.S., 1970). Legendary radical filmmaker Kramer turns to sci-fi thriller in this combination of political documentary, Orwellian dystopia, and radical-left guerrilla theory, all set in a locked-down, at-war America. “The most original and significant American narrative film of the late sixties/early seventies” (Jonas Mekas). (135 mins)
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  • A Sixth Part of the World

    Wednesday, September 21 7:30 pm
    Dziga Vertov (U.S.S.R., 1926). Judith Rosenberg on piano. Vertov turned a commissioned film into “the next stage of cinema,” a Walt Whitmanesque ode to the vastness and diversity of the Soviet Union. With short Kino-Pravda No. 19. “If I had to choose the ten best documentaries of all time I'd call it preposterous but if there's ONE to choose: A Sixth of the World” (Chris Marker). (92 mins)
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  • Zvenigora

    Wednesday, September 28 7:30 pm
    Alexander Dovzhenko (U.S.S.R, 1928). Judith Rosenberg on piano. The great Ukrainian director Dovzhenko's anthology of Ukrainian folk myths showcases his free-flowing, impressionist imagery. (73 mins)
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  • Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane

    Wednesday, October 19 7:30 pm
    Jordan Belson (U.S., 1959–2005). Introduced by guest curator Cindy Keefer. An evening of the vibrant “cosmic cinema” of filmmaker Jordan Belson, “one of the greatest artists of visual music…(He) creates lush vibrant experiences of exquisite color and dynamic abstract phenomena evoking sacred celestial experiences” (William Moritz). (70 mins)
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  • Films of Chick Strand

    Wednesday, October 26 7:30 pm
    Chick Strand (U.S., 1964–1986) New Preservation Prints! One of the founders of the seminal Canyon Cinema screenings, Chick Strand brought an intimate, sensuous sensibility to her lyrical portraits of people and places. Includes Fever Dream, Artificial Paradise, and Strand's last completed film. (70 mins)
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