Underwater Blues(1981)

Prelude 14(en)

Prelude 14 begins in deep brilliant red which darkens into deeper reds and lavender shapes, disrupted by a variety of colors settling into browns and grays and shapes most rock-like, all of which is then shot-thru with sufficient yellow to break up all hard-edge form and give a molten aspect to the mixtures of shapes.

Heavy-Light(en)

This is one of those abstract animated films in which colored, richly textured light moves in a black, three-dimensional space. The pictures and the electronic score are unified in a strict structure made of three main sections which progressively develop three subsections. This film may look like it was made using computers or video to the uninitiated, but only animation and much optical printing are to be seen herein. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with iotaCenter and National Film Preservation Foundation in 2007.

Tectonic Plate(fi)

In a bold and original approach to memory, this Lettrist-inspired film maps an anxiety-ridden plane journey from Tokyo to Helsinki without the aid of photographic images. A variety of interventions on the film strip are combined with an atmospheric sound design to create a subjective story of displacement and containment. In an age when experience is increasingly mediated through digital technologies, Taanila seeks out an alternative language in the sensuous surfaces of the celluloid material.

Walking Man(ja)

The experimental animated short is a collaborative work between Keiichi Tanaami and Nobuhiro Aihara.

Landscape(ja)

M Phase(xx)

Mars, 2035. The daily wearout overtires the space’s station crew. The anger of one of the members arises, there is no other choice but to conceal it, in order to preserve the apparently cohesiveness of the team.

White Tape(en)

White Tape explores the theme of boundaries: the frame, the space between brushstrokes and the implications of occupation.

Rhizome(fr)

From the infinitely small to the infinitely large, all things in the universe are tightly connected: they interact and restructure in a combination of movements and perpetual metamorphoses.

TENSAI BANPAKU(ja)

The mutating forms of Tensai Banpaku, or “Genius Expo” create a stunning abstract orchestra.

The Dante Quartet(en)

A visual representation, in four parts, of one man's internalization of "The Divine Comedy." Hell is a series of multicolored brush strokes against a white background; the speed of the changing images varies. "Hell Spit Flexion," or springing out of Hell, is on smaller film stock, taking the center of the frame. Montages of color move rapidly with a star and the edge of a lighted moon briefly visible. Purgation is back to full frame; blurs of color occasionally slow down then freeze. From time to time, an image, such as a window or a face, is distinguishable for a moment. In "existence is song," colors swirl then flash in and out of view. Behind the vivid colors are momentary glimpses of volcanic activity.

Light Work Mood Disorder(en)

Film artist Jennifer Reeves and musician Anthony Burr collaborated to make this live film and music performance, which mixes and subverts symbols of science, industry, medicine and madness. Up to 4 screens and 4 channels of multi-layered music immerse the audience in colorful rhythmic molecular forms, morphing frequencies and visual textures, which are broken down to the particle. Found images from the 20th century educational films are sewn together with melted down pharmaceuticals affixed directly to the film, and form a concentrated fusion with pulsating electronic sounds and an acoustic multi-tonal bass clarinet. Illustrations of brain dendrites, synapses, waveforms and assembly lines personify the movement of frequencies and light as they envelop the audience. As the performance ensues, the intensity builds to a point of irresistible danger and rupture.

You Take Care Now(en)

You Take Care Now, an early student film, is a perfect exemplar of Ann Marie Fleming's idiosyncratic vision and stands as one of her signature works. Made on 16mm, and incorporating found footage, original material, animation, and processed images (Vancouver's groundbreaking avant-garde cinema of the 1970s is a decided influence here), Fleming's film offers a visually dazzling, emotionally wrenching, oddly humorous account of two profound personal traumas.

Replika(pl)

Documentary recording of one day of children's play in the yard of a Warsaw housing estate.

Bob the Builder(en)

Roberto aka Bob, travels to the enchanting Island of Puerto Rico for a major construction job, takes on issues affecting the island and digs deeper into what it means to build. Bob’s journey will celebrate the vibrant and colorful textures of the Caribbean Latin nations and their people.

Plus Minus(fi)

A short avant-garde film from Finnish director Eino Ruutsalo.

Film Study(de)

Entertaining Dadaist experimental short, similar to Man Ray's work, full of shifting geometric shapes, stock footage of seagulls, flying eyeballs, and glaring floating heads.

The Bomb(en)

Filmmakers use archival footage and animation to explore the culture surrounding nuclear weapons, the fascination they inspire and the perverse appeal they still exert.

Chance Encounters With Oxygen(en)

A psychedelic, avant-garde collage film designed to accompany PRPL PPL's experimental album of the same name.

Atman(ja)

ĀTMAN is a visual tour-de-force based on the idea of the subject at the centre of the circle created by camera positions (480 such positions). Shooting frame-by-frame the filmmaker set up an increasingly rapid circular motion. ĀTMAN is an early Buddhist deity often connected with destruction; the Japanese aspect is stressed by the devil mask of Hangan, from the Noh, and by using both Noh music and the general principle of acceleration often associated with Noh drama.

Life Eternal(en)

This experimental animated short shows the life of a forest through storms, seasons, and a variety of art forms.