Events

Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film

Art + Process

<em>“This is my mom and myself in 1966. What I say in the voice-over is true: the chemical alteration visible in the image was created by our dog who pissed on a box of home movies about ten years later.” - Chodorov</em>

When:
Friday, October 19, 2012, 7:00pm - 7:00pm
Description:

“The artists and poets of cinema since before WWI have always been free radicals, crazy about filmmaking and pushing the art form in radical new directions. Trapped in a no man’s land, excluded both from the art world and the film industry, they boldly created a grassroots network for making and showing their films in a spirit of friendship and solidarity. They also created a profound body of work that continues to influence our culture. I wanted to share with you some movies that I like, and the artists and free radicals that made ​​them.” Pip Chodorov

In this film essay, Chodorov examines the lives and work of such experimental luminaries as Hans Richter, Michael Snow, Peter Kubelka, Stan Brakhage and Jonas Mekas.  Named for Len Lye's landmark experimental film of dancing lines and marks scratched into the emulsion, Free Radicals gives an enthusiastic and accessible introduction to the world of avant-garde cinema.

Filmmaker and film activist Pip Chodorov studied film semiotics at the University of Paris and cognitive science at the University of Rochester, NY. In 1994, he founded the distribution company Re:Voir for the edition of historical and contemporary experimental films. In 2005, he founded The Film Gallery, the only gallery devoted exclusively to experimental film artists. He is a co-founder of L'Abominable, a cooperative do-it-yourself film lab in Paris, and moderator of the online experimental film forum, Frameworks. His own films range from animation to film diary.

(Pip Chodorov, 2010, France, digital, 82 min)

Art + Process
Celebrating the interdisciplinary nature of the new Logan Center for the Arts during its inaugural year, the Film Studies Center presents a series of films focusing on artists and the creative process, from the perspective of multiple disciplines.