Screenings of avant-garde and independent film at PFA on
Tuesdays, January 20, 27, and February 10, 17, 24

Programs of experimental and avant-garde cinema at Pacific Film Archive include a tribute to artist and filmmaker Joseph Cornell on the occasion of 100th anniversary of his birth, a new film by Yvonne Rainer, and group shows of works by celebrated filmmakers and by filmmakers having their works screened at PFA for the first time. Screenings will be held at the PFA Theater, located at 2575 Bancroft Way near Bowditch Street, on the southern edge of the UC Berkeley campus. General admission is $8.

We celebrate the centenary of artist Joseph Cornell with a screening of his "goofy newsreels" and lovely later films made in collaboration with Larry Jordan and Rudy Burkhardt.

Yvonne Rainer's newest film, After Many a Summer Dies the Swan: Hybrid explores fin de siècle Vienna, and combines elements from that cultural milieu with a dance based on an Aldous Huxley novel about Hollywood decadence. The film asserts the liveliness of the avant-garde impulse (in the words of playwright/director Richard Foreman) to "resist the present." It screens with Lee Anne Schmitt's Awake and Sing, based on early writings of Clifford Odets.

Group shows celebrate the theme of "Serendipity," presenting works by well-known filmmakers such as Stan Brakhage, Abigail Child, and Phil Solomon, as well as films by Liliana Porter, Michele Smith, and Pearce Williams: artists making their PFA debut.

The program notes for the screenings follow; for more information on these programs or about ticket purchase, please phone PFA at (510) 642-1412.