Towards the Light: An Evening with Daïchi Saïto

“Compared to most rapidly edited collages of film and video over the past twenty years, Saïto’s films seem shockingly fresh, closer to how a poet crafts each line or a composer shapes a musical phrase. This is not surprising, since Saïto—in his short prose work “Moving the Sleeping Images of Things Towards the Light”—admits he is less a cinephile than a lover of literature and poetry. Nevertheless, his feeling for celluloid suffuses every frame, and his composition, cutting, and rhythm bear the distinct imprint of a filmmaker.” — Tony Pipolo, Artforum

The Film Studies Center has recently commissioned new prints of Daïchi Saïto’s 35mm works earthearthearth (2021), Engram of Returning (2015) and Trees of Syntax, Leaves of Axis (2009) for our collection. With Saïto’s first visit to Chicago in over 20 years, we will screen these new prints as well as other selections from his body of work, including his first film, Chiasmus (2003). (Canada, approx 70 minutes, 35mm & 16mm)

Daïchi Saïto studied literature and philosophy in the USA and Hindi and Sanskrit in India, releasing his first book “Moving the Sleeping Images of Things Towards the Light” with Les éditions Le Laps (2013). Saïto is based in both Ithaca, NY and in Montréal, QC where he is a co-founder of Double Negative, an artist’s collective dedicated to the exhibition and production of experimental film. His work explores the relation between the corporeal phenomena of vision and the material nature of the medium, fusing a formal investigation of frame and juxtaposition with sensual and poetic expressions. Saïto’s films have been exhibited at festivals, museums, galleries and cinematheques worldwide, including The New York Film Festival; International Film Festival Rotterdam; Toronto International Film Festival; Hong Kong International Film Festival, among others. His film Trees of Syntax, Leaves of Axis won the Jury Grand Prize at Media City Film Festival in 2010.

Doors open thirty minutes prior to the screening. This event is free and open to the public.