June 2000 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Oskar Fischinger (1900-1967), one of the most prolific and influential artists of the avant-garde film movement and a quintessential figure of the twentieth century. Though buffeted by war, inflation, depression, emigration, another war, and McCarthyism, he managed to create some fifty stunning films and a thousand abstract oil paintings that vividly celebrate an ideal spiritual essence.In the 1920s Fischinger experimented with multiple projection "light shows" and invented machinery that allowed him to film sections of material like CAT scans. He supported himself with special effects for films (including Fritz Lang's Woman in the Moon) and commercials (the first "walking cigarette" parade) while continuing to make exquisite shorts that were a fascinating synthesis of music, painting, and choreography. Perfecting the GasparColor process allowed him to make brilliant films like Circles and Composition in Blue, while the fifteen black-and-white Studies became international hits and inspired his contemporaries including Norman McLaren and Len Lye to pursue abstract musical animation.Fleeing the Nazis, Fischinger came to America in 1936, but he experienced difficulties with his work at Paramount (Allegretto), MGM (Optical Poem, on which the young John Cage was assistant), and Disney (the Bach episode of Fantasia). Orson Welles let him make a film (Radio Dynamics) at his studio, and a Guggenheim Foundation grant allowed him to film the masterful Motion Painting, which documented each brushstroke during the creation of one of his oil paintings.The Film Archive of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has restored many of Fischinger's films from the 35mm nitrate originals, recompositing the three-color separations to produce the dazzling images that Fischinger originally planned.-William MoritzThe continuing work to restore and preserve the film works of Oskar Fischinger has been generously supported by the Film Foundation and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Special thanks to The Fischinger Archive, John Canemaker, Larry Cuba, and William Moritz. A special Fischinger Centennial program booklet will be available at the screenings. Saturday September 23, 2000