Canyon Cinema 50

September 13–November 29, 2017

A tribute to Canyon’s fifty-year history of providing access to artist-made films and expanding the idea of what cinema can be.

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Big Sur: The Ladies
Acts & Intermissions
Fake Fruit Factory
Premonition
Abaton

Upcoming
Films
Upcoming
Events
Selected
Objects
Past
Films
Past
Events

Past Films

The Early Years
Wednesday, September 13 7 PM
Lawrence Jordan in Person
This program highlights works by artists involved in Canyon’s early years in the 1960s, including films by Bruce Baillie, Anne Severson, Lenny Lipton, and Gunvor Nelson as well as several classics (and two premieres) by Lawrence Jordan.
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Portraits and Protests
Wednesday, September 27 7 PM
Abigail Child in Person
Abigail Child presents her most recent film, a dazzling collage portrait of Emma Goldman, preceded by works made by Canyon members George Kuchar, Mike Henderson, and Henry Hills between 1970 and 1981.
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Romance and Rage
Wednesday, October 11 7 PM
Introduction by Jeffrey Skoller; Lynn Marie Kirby and Sandra Davis in Person
UC Berkeley professor and Canyon filmmaker Jeffrey Skoller spotlights women filmmakers Stephanie Beroes, Lynn Marie Kirby, Sandra Davis, Chick Strand, and Cauleen Smith in a program of films dating from 1978 to 1992.
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Coding and Decoding
Wednesday, November 1 7 PM
Introduction by David Sherman; Dominic Angerame and Greta Snider in Person
Canyon employee and Total Mobile Home founder David Sherman presents a program that explores place and time through artists’ observations and others’ documentation, including works by Dominic Angerame, Greta Snider, Michael Wallin, and Sherman, from 1988 to 2002.
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Silence and Sanctuaries
Wednesday, November 29 7 PM
Nathaniel Dorsky in Person
“For decades Nathaniel Dorsky has been making works of rare and sometimes startling beauty” (New York Times). He presents his latest, Abaton and Elohim, along with two hand-painted films by Stan Brakhage.
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Canyon Cinema 50

September 13–November 29, 2017

We are delighted to present five programs tracing Canyon Cinema’s fifty-year history of providing access to artist-made films. By the mid-1960s, local filmmakers found themselves part of a new sensation—counterculture cinema. However, when the time they spent sending their films all over the country began eroding their ability to make new work, they developed a radical solution—an alternative distribution organization, run by and open to artists, with “a policy of non-policy.” Founded in 1966, Canyon Cinema was incorporated the following year. Since then, this local treasure has continued to distribute independent work—expanding notions of what cinema can be, one film at a time.

We’ve invited artists who were involved in Canyon Cinema in varied ways over the last five decades to introduce the...

We’ve invited artists who were involved in Canyon Cinema in varied ways over the last five decades to introduce the programs, each loosely grouped around a decade, with some recent films sprinkled in. Lawrence Jordan, one of the founders, just added his most recent film to Canyon’s collection; Abigail Child helped edit Canyon Cinemanews and was on the staff in the late 1970s; Jeffrey Skoller began distributing his films through Canyon in 1983 and has served on the board from 1992 to 1994 and again since 2015; David Sherman was administrative director at Canyon from 1989 to 2001; Nathaniel Dorsky is currently on the advisory board, served on the board from 2001 to 2012, and continues to make 16mm films, which are distributed through Canyon.

Kathy Geritz, Film Curator

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These events are presented in conjunction with Canyon Cinema 50, a yearlong celebration of Canyon Cinema’s fifty years as one of the world’s preeminent distributors of artist-made film and media. Canyon Cinema 50 has been generously supported by the George Lucas Family Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Owsley Brown III Foundation, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, and The Fleishhacker Foundation. Special thanks to Antonella Bonfanti, Max Goldberg, Seth Mitter, Steve Seid, and Jeffrey Skoller for their guidance and assistance; Scott MacDonald’s Canyon Cinema: The Life and Times of an Independent Film Distributor was an excellent resource.

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Canyon Cinema 50

Canyon Cinema 50

September 13–November 29, 2017

Past Films

The Early Years

Portraits and Protests

Romance and Rage

Coding and Decoding

Silence and Sanctuaries