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Musical Recordings from the Realm of the Dead

(digital, 2013, 5 min)
by Troy Morgan (in attendance)
Four separate individuals at the dawn of wireless technology become accidental collaborators in a musical composition that is pieced together through radio waves.This meditation on the creative process reflects on the outcome of our individual endeavors and suggests that it is impossible to be aware of what our work ultimately will become once it is released from our hands. Focusing on the sound design as the main character, this fictionalized journey through early radio explores the subtle changes that occur as a song travels from person to person through new technologies. The traveling sound moves through space, evolving, morphing, and letting go of its origin, in the same manner as a modern Internet meme, giving a brief insight into the unexpected uses and cultural manifestations that occur within modern telecommunications. -TM
World Premiere at the 52nd AAFF.

Grip

(digital, 2013, 6 min) by Daniel Brantley (in attendance) A video for "Grip" by Southern Californian musician Sun Araw.

Will o' the Wisp

(16mm, 2013, 24 min) by Andrew Kim (in attendance)

Will o' the Wisp or The Wandering Light Illuminating the Dark of Night, Taken Therefore for the Souls of the Departed. An examination whereunto is joined a discourse of the causes, continuance, and qualities of such phenomena in nature; occasioned as a matter in contest with the much terrified people who have deemed these lights to be manifestations of the paranormal. World Premiere at the 52nd AAFF, received the Tom Berman Most Promising Filmmaker Award.

With Pluses and Minuses

(16mm, 2013, 5 min)
by Mike Stoltz
"This morning the window blew its glass onto my face. Real morning with pluses and minuses (my symbols for truth)." A ground-less and boundless 16mm film in which a wall becomes a window to a swirling landscape. -MS

A Study in Natural Magic

(16mm, 2013, 3 min, silent)
by Charlotte Pryce (in attendance)
Witness an alchemist’s spell; the transmutation of light into substance; a glimpse of gold.-CP
Received the Stan Brakhage Film at Wits End Award.

Square Dance, Los Angeles County, California, 2013

(16mm, 2013, 9 min)
by Sílvia das Fadas (in attendance)
The people are what is not there yet, never in the right place, never ascribable to the place and time where anxieties and dreams await. -Jacques Rancière
World Premiere at the 52nd AAFF.

Olivia’s Place

(16mm, 1966/1974, 6 min)
by Thom Andersen (in attendance)
“On Sunday, January 16, 1966, we shot 200 ft. of 16mm Kodak Ektachrome MS film, type 7256, at OLIVIA’S PLACE, 2618 Main Street, Santa Monica, California. We shot with a static camera, mounted on a tripod, using only available light. A recording of THERE IS SOMETHING ON YOUR MIND by Big Jay McNeely and his band, with vocal by Little Sonny, was on the jukebox then. The Harlem Globetrotters and TOKYO JOE, starring Humphrey Bogart, were on TV that afternoon.” — Thom Andersen, John Moore.

This text appears as a title at the beginning of Olivia’s Place. In 1970 or 1971, Bill Norton filmed a scene for Cisco Pike there. Olivia’s Place was also the inspiration for the song “Soul Kitchen” by The Doors. It was demolished in 1972 or 1973 as part of a redevelopment project that turned Santa Monica’s Main Street into a boulevard of expensive shops and restaurants (including restaurants owned by Wolfgang Puck and Arnold Schwarzenegger).

Certain Things

(16mm, 2014, 4 min)
by Mark Toscano (in attendance)
Certain things you remember. These are two of them, remembered by my father, as we drove north on S. Las Vegas Blvd in November, 2011. - MT
World Premiere at the 52nd AAFF.

No Use Walkin’ When You Can Stroll

(35mm on digital, 1998, 11 min)
by Penelope Spheeris
One-time carny, bartender, and married ten times, Penelope Spheeris’s mother was an uncommon woman. In this sweet, funny, and moving video portrait, Spheeris gives us a vivid glimpse into the richness of her mother’s life and character.
Exhibition file courtesy of Penelope Spheeris and the Academy Film Archive.