Heavy Visuals ‘69 – Electronic Cinema and Experimental Film

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Northwest Film Forum
8:00 PM

All films from 1969 / 16mm (original format) / 71 min.

A selection of landmarks in avant film from 1969, featuring classic short works by many of the year’s greatest pioneering artists. Featuring classic “analog” films and examples of the birth of digital cinema, with early video art and even some of the first digital computer animation ever made.

Visit the companion site — with streaming video and more info about the artists and films.

Download the program notes (PDF, 180 kb)

Invocation of My Demon Brother
Kenneth Anger, with synthesizer soundtrack by Mick Jagger
His last film for 21 years.

Our Lady of the Sphere
Larry Jordan
Surreal cut-out animation by a master.  (Canceled due to distribution issues.)

Moon 1969
Scott Bartlett
Mesmerizing video/film art

Le Labyrinthe
Piotr Kamler, with electronic score by Bernard Parmegiani
Created for Pierre Schaeffer’s ORTF in Paris.
Also shown:  Délicieuse Catastrophe (1970, 13 min.) by Kamler and sound artist Robert Cohen-Solal (as replacement for Our Lady of the Sphere).

Binary Bit Patterns
Michael Whitney
Pioneering digital computer animation

Beatles Electronique
Electronic Moon no. 2
Jud Yalkut and Nam June Paik
Visionary video art translated to film

Hermann Nitsch: An Introduction to the O.M. Theatre
Stephen Gebhardt
A documentary about the ground-breaking and controversial Aktionist performance artist and composer, with live footage of a performance event in Cincinnati, OH.