From: Patrick Friel (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Feb 24 2008 - 14:10:53 PST
Hi Everyone - especially those in/near Chicago,
I hope you can make this screening. These are NEW prints that I'm told look
fantastic.
Best,
Patrick Friel
WLC
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WHITE LIGHT CINEMA
A NEW ALTERNATIVE FILM SCREENING SERIES
ANNOUNCES ITS SECOND PROGRAM
STAN BRAKHAGE: THE TEXT OF LIGHT
SUNDAY, MARCH 2, 2008
Following the sold-out success of its first program, WHITE LIGHT CINEMA is
pleased to present a second program of little seen films by the great Stan
Brakhage - this time featuring two of his best-known masterpieces: The Text
of Light and The Riddle of Lumen.
These two films exemplify Brakhage's deep interest in understanding the
qualities of light, the primary focus of all his work. Intensely beautiful
and subtle, both of these films stunningly demonstrate that cinema is indeed
the art of light.
Showing in recently struck prints (The Text of Light is a brand new print)
these works are profound examples of the cinematic art and reminders of why
Brakhage is one of the great artists of the twentieth century.
PROGRAM DETAILS:
White Light Cinema Presents
Stan Brakhage: The Text of Light
The Text of Light (1974, 71 minutes)
One of Brakhage's handful of feature-length films, The Text of Light is
comprised entirely of refracted light shining through a glass ashtray,
surrounded by a variety of crystal objects. The method was stumbled upon
accidentally while Brakhage was working on a portrait film of a businessman
friend and Brakhage spent an entire Summer in the man's office working on
the film. An "abstract" film that transforms its simple technique into
something transcendent.
"All that is is light." - Dun Scotus Erigena
"To see a world in a grain of sand." - William Blake
"These the primary impulses while working on this film. It is dedicated to
Jim Davis who showed me the "first spark" of refracted film light."
(Brakhage)
Preceded by:
The Riddle of Lumen (1972, 17 minutes)
"The classic riddle was meant to be heard of course. Its answers are
contained in its questions; and on the smallest piece of itself this
possibility depends upon SOUND - "utterly," like they say ... the pun is
pivot. Therefore, my RIDDLE OF LUMEN depends upon qualities of LIGHT. All
films do, of course. But with THE RIDDLE OF LUMEN the "hero" of the film is
light itself. It is the film I'd long wanted to make - inspired by the sense
and specific formal possibility of the classical English Language riddle ...
only one appropriate to film and, thus, as distinct from language as I could
make it." (Brakhage)
Total running time: 88 minutes. Both films 16mm, silent.
WHITE LIGHT CINEMA is a new, alternative film screening series designed to
complement the programming of other local film venues and organizations by
presenting, alone and in collaboration, rare, obscure, overlooked, and
resolutely non-commercial films and videos that have either not been
screened in Chicago or have not shown in years.
While focusing heavily on great works by avant-garde film masters, the
series aims to include both retrospective and contemporary films and videos
that range across a wide spectrum of alternative cinema. White Light Cinema
will present works demonstrating significant aesthetic merit, originality of
vision, radical and commanding investigations of form, and challenging
provocations to mainstream film and media conventions.
This program screens Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 7:00 pm at the LaSalle Bank
Cinema (4901 W. Irving Park Rd.).
Admission: $7.00-10.00 sliding scale.
Website: www.whitelightcinema.com
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.