Alternative Visions

9/3/14 to 11/19/14

Our annual fall series featuring avant-garde cinema includes guest presentations by filmmakers Mary Helena Clark, Laura Heit, Jerome Hiler, Adele Horne, Linda Scobie, Karly Stark, and Pawel Wojtasik. We also offer a centennial tribute to local luminary James Broughton and Craig Baldwin helps us celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Artists' Television Access. Plus wo programs explore expanded projections, films with two images side by side or superimposed.

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  • Upcoming
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  • Past
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  • Past
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Past Films

  • Dials, Frames, and Screens: Recent Experimental Cinema

    • Wednesday, November 19 7pm

    (US, 2011–14). Mary Helena Clark, Linda Scobie, Karly Stark in person. Learn how to project 16mm film, see what film frames end up on Craig Baldwin's cutting room floor, and more in tonight's program of recent experimental films. Includes work by Vincent Grenier, Andrew Lampert, Tomonari Nishikawa, Adele Horne, and local artists Linda Scobie, Karly Stark, and Mary Helena Clark. (75 mins)

  • The Films of Pawel Wojtasik

    • Wednesday, November 12 7pm

    Pawel Wojtasik (US, 2008–14). Pawel Wojtasik in person. Polish artist Pawel Wojtasik's beautiful and disconcerting films include depictions of an autopsy, a recycling plant, a woman's body, and workers in Varanasi, India, all in sensual detail. (75 mins)

  • Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America

    • Wednesday, November 5 7pm

    Craig Baldwin (US, 1991). Craig Baldwin in person. “This masterpiece is at once a sci-fi cheapster, a skewed history of US intervention in Latin America, a satire of conspiratorial thinking, and an essential piece of current Americana” (Village Voice). With Bruce Conner's A Movie (1958). (60 mins)

  • Projection Instructions: Short Films

    • Wednesday, October 29 7:00 PM

    (US, 1964–91). Our second program devoted to “expanded cinema” includes selection of rarely screened double projection films, as well some experimental approaches to single projection. Films by Storm De Hirsch, Morgan Fisher, Takahiko Iimura, Ken Jacobs, Paul Sharits, and Bud Wirtschafter. (65 mins)

  • Films of Jerome Hiler

    • Wednesday, October 22 7:00 PM

    Jerome Hiler (US, 2012). Jerome Hiler in person. Two beautiful pieces by the San Francisco filmmaker: In the Stone House, which records and recollects a period of life of four years in rural New Jersey, and New Shores, which affords glimpses of life led over three decades in San Francisco. (70 mins)

  • Now and Then: Bay Area Student Film Festival 2014

    • Wednesday, October 8 7:00 PM

    Student filmmakers in person. Introduced by student curators. Witness the future of cinema-today-in this year‘s student film festival, which brings together exciting new works from colleges throughout the Bay Area. Includes films from SFSU, SFAI, UC Berkeley, Stanford University, CCA, and UC Santa Cruz. (70 mins)

  • Projection Instructions: Outer and Inner Space & Christmas on Earth

    • Wednesday, October 1 7:00 PM

    Andy Warhol (US, 1965), Barbara Rubin (US, 1963). The first of two special programs exploring “expanded cinema.” Warhol combines experimental technology and multiscreen structure with traditional portrait sitting in Outer and Inner Space, while Rubin's hypnotic side-by-side projection Christmas on Earth depicts sexual tableaux vivants. (62 mins)

  • Films of James Broughton

    • Wednesday, September 17 7:00 PM

    James Broughton (US, 1948–81). Introduced by Janis Crystal Lipzin. Tonight's program begins with a self-portrait of Broughton and features work from throughout his long, joy-filled career. Films include Mother's Day (“one of the great films in film history” (Peter Kubelka)), Together, This Is It, The Bed, and The Gardener of Eden. (65 mins)

  • Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton

    • Wednesday, September 10 7:00 PM

    Stephen Silha, Eric Slade, Dawn Logsdon (US, 2013). Dawn Logsdon in person. Introduced by Antonella Bonfanti. This loving and vibrant portrait of James Broughton (1913–1999), the legendary Bay Area poet, filmmaker, and teacher, intermixes archival footage and interviews with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, George Kuchar, and more. (83 mins)

  • Animation: Laura Heit

    • Wednesday, September 3 7:00 PM

    Laura Heit (US, 1997–2011). Laura Heit in person. Plus special performance and book signing. Heit's ingenious, do-it-yourself approach to animation takes a variety of forms and formats, including puppets, hand drawing, and computer animation. She will perform one of her Matchbook Shows featuring a miniature cabaret, and discuss her recent book, Animation Sketchbooks. (70 mins)