UNTITLED MENTAL EPISODE

Evolution of the Red Star

January 1973 •English

Music: Carl Stone. Colored pen-and-ink drawings, like topological maps of biomorphic objects, grow and evolve from the red star. Once the master image is formed, this continuously throbbing, pulsating sight is used to ring changes based on years of optical work. Music and picture work together to create a mood of ecstatic tranquility. The bright colors, beautiful music, surprise at the end, etc. make this a good film for young children. Awards: Sinking Creek Film & Video Festival, 1973; Washington National Student Film Festival, 1974; Brooklyn Independent Filmmakers Exposition, 1974; Vanguard Int'l Competition of Electronic Music for Film, 1974; Humboldt Film Festival, 1974. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with iotaCenter and National Film Preservation Foundation in 2007.

Shearing Animation

January 1961 •

An abstract animated film inspired by the work of jazz musician Chico Hamilton.

Drums West

December 1961 •English

This newly rediscovered short was created in Jim's home studio in Bethesda, MD around 1961. It is one of several experimental shorts inspired by the music of jazz great Chico Hamilton. At the end, in footage probably shot by Jerry Juhl, Jim demonstrates his working method.

It's Such a Beautiful Day

August 2012 •English

Bill struggles to put together his shattered psyche.

The Angel Descends

May 2024 •English

A romance scene, an opening theme, a high-speed train of perception. The tropes and aesthetic of anime are deconstructed and reexamined, the frames accelerated, and blasted into a different realm of the cinematic language.

By Winds and Tides

August 2022 •French

Exploring the conscious, the unconscious and the self, By Winds and Tides takes a deep experimental dive into the birth of an idea—how it takes shape, how it is released. An allegorical quest, the film combines images and words into a singular sigh.

Events Meant to Be Forgotten

June 2020 •Croatian

Filmed on 16mm film, this visual expression is rooted in its archival materials and backed up by the poem by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. It speaks of the forgotten people, their lives and their deeds. These two Archives have been found on the flea market in Zagreb. One is of a famous architect and the other one is of a famous composer. This film ponders on this occurrence, on the vanishing of and forgetfulness of humans.

Mothlight

December 1963 •English

Seemingly at random, the wings and other bits of moths and insects move rapidly across the screen. Most are brown or sepia; up close, we can see patterns within wings, similar to the veins in a leaf. Sometimes the images look like paper cutouts, like Matisse. Green objects occasionally appear. Most wings are translucent. The technique makes them appear to be stuck directly to the film.

Eye Myth

August 1967 •English

After the title, a white screen gives way to a series of frames suggestive of abstract art, usually with one or two colors dominating and rapid change in the images. Two figures emerge from this jungle of color: the first, a shirtless man, appears twice, coming into focus, then disappearing behind the bursts and patterns of color, then reappearing; the second figure appears later, in the right foreground. This figure suggests someone older, someone of substance. The myth? Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

Deter & Oro

May 2023 •Spanish

Monomania

August 2024 •Portuguese

An obsessive fan breaks into the dressing room of her idol Irene after a show, and has her worldview called into question after finding out the singer’s just a regular person.

Outside the Lines

September 2023 •Dutch

Three young queer people share their experiences on what it’s like to deviate from the straight cis-norm. Throughout the film, painful experiences make room for a more positive perspective, such as the overwhelming sense of connection with millions of other queer individuals worldwide or the freedom that arises as one can relinquish certain expectations. This so-called ‘queer-joy’ is being discovered, providing inspiring and moving insights.

Boogie-Doodle

January 1941 •English

An animation film, made without the use of a camera, in which "boogie" played by Albert Ammons and "doodle" drawn by Norman McLaren combine to make a rhythmic, brightly colored film experiment. The main title is in eight languages.

For the Love of Jazz

August 2024 •English

A grumpy man walks into a bar when he suddenly is enraptured by the jazz performer on stage.

Local Dive

January 2000 •English

A socially awkward girl uses the local swimming pool as a wormhole into fantasy. She dives underwater where she imagines herself as a marine creature, alternately graceful and predatory. (As described by Simon Sellars, 2008) Created as part of the SBS series "Swim Between the Flags" in 2002.

Fluids

January 1964 •English

16mm color work by Stan Vanderbeek that takes his work away from the cutups and the commentary and lands him in the psychedelic and abstract. Opticals, repetitions, camera moves and zooms are what make up the bulk of this exploration into fluids. The results bridge that realm between hangout art piece and intersteller stoner trip.

Alone with the Moon

January 2012 •English

Burr creates a slow, liminal illusion in black-and-white, switching perspectives and matrices and crescendo-ing in time with Christopher Doulgeris’ portentously pulsating soundtrack.

Stellar

December 1993 •English

This is a hand-painted film which has been photographically step-printed to achieve various effects of brief fades and fluidity-of-motion, and makes partial use of painted frames in repetition (for "close-up" of textures). The tone of the film is primarily dark blue, and the paint is composed (and rephotographed microscopically) to suggest galactic forms in a space of stars.

Desejo Expõe Suas Orbras (Desire's Exhibition)

September 2023 •Portuguese

With the aim of finding Desire, so-and-so performs a ritual to go down in the depths of himself.

Afterlife

January 1978 •French

This animated short film attempts to answer the eternal questions, What is dying? and How does it feel? Based on recent studies, case histories and some of the ancient myths, the afterlife state is portrayed as an awesome but methodical working-out of all the individual's past experiences. Film without words.