Light Field in L.A., co-presented by Los Angeles Filmforum
Our first program devoted to experimental film is curated by the Bay Area collective for their inaugural L.A. event, screened entirely on 16mm prints.
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Oct 09, 2022, 7:30 PM
2220 Arts + Archives, 2220 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90057, USA
For our first program devoted to experimental film, we have invited the Light Field collective for their inaugural L.A. event, which will be screened entirely on 16mm prints. Founded in 2016, Light Field is an annual artist-run exhibition of recent and archival moving-image art on celluloid, traditionally held in the San Francisco Bay Area. The festival is collectively organized by a motley crew of practicing artists, poets and filmmakers: Samuel Breslin, Emily Chao, Zachary Epcar, Trisha Low, tooth, Syd Staiti, and Patricia Ledesma Villon.
The Bay Area has had a long and storied tradition of alternative moving-image exhibition, one that has been negatively impacted by recent developments including the closure of SFMOMA’s film program and the impending renovation of the historic Castro Theater. In spite of a global pandemic bringing further pressures to real estate and cost of living—not to mention the exhibition of artist’s cinema—the spirit of collective action and ambitious film curation have continued to find a home in Light Field. The group is unique in their desire to place both recent and archival experimental films into conversation with each other, and to always prioritize a multiplicity of aesthetic and curatorial viewpoints.
This program has been curated by the members of Light Field, and is dedicated to the memory of Amy Halpern.
Special thanks to Adam Hyman (Los Angeles Filmforum), Mark Toscano, Alex Gooter, Seth Mitter (Canyon Cinema), and Patricia Ledesma Villon (Light Field).
Los Angeles Filmforum is the longest-running organization in Southern California dedicated exclusively to the ongoing, non-commercial exhibition of independent, experimental, and progressive media art. For more information, visit their website at https://www.lafilmforum.org.
Total runtime: 62 minutes
Moon Streams
Mary Beth Reed
2000, 6m, U.S., 16mm, color, silent
Moon Streams represents a hand-painted abstraction of creation. The intensity of flowing water on the moon's surface builds as the shifting colors reveal the consequence of chaos in space.
Configurations
James Edmonds
2021, 8m, UK/Germany, 16mm, color/b&w, sound
L.A. premiere!
The little personal myths and structures we set up to aid the survival of the psyche in times of low harvest. Finding subtle points of reference in subject and camera movement, in the landscape, its details and the traditions of the season, I attempt to connect the outside with the embodied camera and the inward gesture of the brushmark.
Astor Place
Eve Heller
1997, 10 minutes, USA, 16mm, b&w, silent
Passersby at Astor Place in New York City speak silent volumes as they move by the mirrored surface of a diner window. I wanted to capture the unscripted choreography of the street, its dance of gazes and riddle of identities. This film is informed by the work of the Lumiere brothers, with an eye to permeating an authority of the static camera and establishing a question as to who is watching whom.
Standing Forward Full
Alee Peoples
2020, 6m, U.S., 16mm, color, sound
A helter skelter is an amusement ride with a spiral slide built around a tower. Like this film, an exorcism attempt of an unrequited desire, itʼs either moving too fast or at a complete standstill. Disorienting but exciting.
Letters
Dorothy Wiley
1972, 11m, U.S., 16mm, color, sound
Dorothy Wiley films four letters - a letter from her friend, a letter from worms, a letter from bugs, and a letter from her son. She and Bob and Diane Nelson whistle popular favorite classics for the soundtrack.
3-Minute Hells
Amy Halpern
2012, 14, U.S., 16mm, color, sound
with Arwa Ibrahim
1 - Detention
2 - Hollywood Hills
3 - Reptile
4 - Bestiary
5 - Abstract and Concrete
6 - Doorway Occupation
7 - Sideways
NE Corridor
Joshua Gen Solondz
2022, 7m, U.S., 16mm, color, sound
West Coast Premiere!
SLICED UP FRAGMENTS ZIPPING AND FRAMING AS THE PRINT STRUGGLES TO MAKE IT THROUGH THE FRAME A WOMAN STANDS AND TURNS, A SCULPTURE APPEARS, A LAWNMOWER MOWS, SHREDDING AND FALLING APART