“Decasia was fashioned entirely out of snippets of severely distressed and heart-rendingly decomposed nitrate film stock: decades-old footage, taken from archives all around the country-and at the last possible moment. The images in the film are just the sort of thing you hear about all the time from crusading preservationists. Their desperate struggle to rescue our nation's rapidly self-immolating film heritage is a worthy goal, to be sure-but who knew the stuff was so beautiful? Who knew that decay itself-artfully marshaled, braided, scored and sustained-could provoke such transports of sublime reverie amid such pangs of wistful sorrow?” (Lawrence Weschler, New York Times Magazine). According to Morrison, “I was seeking out instances where the image was still putting up a struggle, fighting off the inexorability of its demise but not yet having succumbed.” Decasia was originally presented with a live orchestral work by Michael Gordon that now forms its score.

Presented in conjunction with the UC Berkeley course Avant-Garde Film, taught by Miryam Sas.