experimental cinema & avant-garde (shorts) - 80's

An enthusiastic grandfather sits with children in a Parisian park talking about pigeons. First. their physical appearance - eye, wings and tail, and color - and their varieties. Then, he encourages the children to imitate their walk. He points out courtship and mating rituals, then provides an illustrated discussion of how they eat. This section is punctuated by a flock of pigeons fighting over a small, hard ball each wants to eat; the narrator's describes it as if it were a soccer match. He concludes with a discussion of pigeons taking off, landing, and flying; he uses slow motion and stop-time photography to show his audience.

An experimental short film of flashing images made by Stan Brakhage.

Dante's Divine Comedy depicted as thousands of abstract paintings by Stan Brakhage himself.

A static shot of the sky with moving clouds is subdivided into regular geometrical regions, which are then individually and rhythmically manipulated.

An anthology of Harry Smith's films 1-5, 7, and 10, unfortunately without the divisions clearly marked.

Engram is a three-part piece involving visuals such as photos inside of photos, movies inside of movies, photos inside of movies, and so on.

An experimental film that attempts to create through the 'breathing' of visuals and music, the rhythm of Ki, the Japanese ideogram that symbolises the energy permeating the whole universe.

In Shift, Matsumoto utilizes early digital video effects to transform architectural structures into cascading geometric waves and impossibly bubbling surfaces.

Pictures from a Buddhist temple cut up and manipulated.

Part AC/DC, part Jacques Derrida. An experimental film made as a response to the critical theory aspects of the filmmakers degree and academic film criticism.

A kinetic spazz-out of scratch animation, hand-painted frames, and B-roll textual madness, this was filmed in Hawaii and features the music of NYC's Honeymoon Killers.

A group of mountain climbers has been specially selected to carry out a secret military mission. The fate of humanity depends upon their success. The rules of the mission require the death of each participant once his or her task is accomplished.

The irrationality of the human psyche, sadomasochism and suicide are leitmotifs of this film. Documentary footage of marching pioneers, airplanes and pilots provided an unexpected counterpoint to the main action of the film. The combination of documentary footage, poetic narration and the stark asceticism of northern nature enhance the atmosphere of The Suicidal waders and give the self-destructive heroes a heroic and noble image.

The last moments of a creature made out of fruits and vegetables.

Svankmajer's music video for Hugh Cornwell's "Another Kind of Love."

Three surreal depictions of failures of communication that occur on all levels of human society.