Nothing But a Dream: Experimental Shorts

Description

In the impossible spaces and eerie places of these nine experimental films, thousands of birds fill the sky and then disappear, a parrot barks, people and animals are doubled and transformed. Color leaps from the frame—the glow of an ancient forest, the spectacle of fireworks, the dazzling play of abstraction. Is it nothing but a dream?

Presented in association with the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and co-sponsored by San Francisco Cinematheque. Curated by Kathy Geritz and Vanessa O’Neill. Film notes adapted from the artists’ descriptions.

layover
A portrait of Vaux’s swifts, beautiful birds that layover in Portland, on their migration to South America.
(Vanessa Renwick, US, 2014, 6 min)

Night Noon
Eroded rock formations collapsing into the ocean are the unlikely habitat for a shadowy encounter.
(Shambhavi Kaul, Mexico/US, 2014, 12 min)

Panchrome I, II, III
The boundaries between painting and cinema are explored in this new series of time-based pixel paintings.
(T. Marie, US, 2014, 14 min)

Under the Heat Lamp an Opening
An expanded view of the lunch crowd at an open-air restaurant.
(Zachary Epcar, US/Spain, 2014, 10 min)
This is a Cinema by the Bay film.

Binocular Menagerie
Different species of animals—on one side the original image and on the other, a kaleidoscopic version.
(Leslie Thornton, US, 2014, 3 min)

The Hummingbird Wars
A theatrical fiction, collapsing time and place through collage.
(Janie Geiser, US, 2014, 11 min)

Old Growth
Amid a primeval rain forest lurks an elusive luminous force.
(Ryan Marino, US, 2014, 9 min)

Color Neutral
A color explosion sparkles, bubbles and fractures in this hand-crafted 16mm film.
(Jennifer Reeves, US, 2014, 3 min)

Blue Loop, July
Chicago’s summertime blazes, unanchored. Skywriting out of time.
(Mike Gibisser, US, 2014, 6 min)