Wednesday, August 13 at 8:30 PM — Constellation — 3111 N Western Ave
Tickets: $15 at the door or purchase in advance
Music of the Spheres: Films by Jordan Belson
Across dozens of films made from the late 1940s until 2005, Jordan Belson crafted a hyperspecific language of cinematic exploration, one connected to spirituality, proto-psychedelia, and sometimes literal space travel — one as personal as dreams yet universal as the cosmos itself, and designed to be experienced only as cinematic events under controlled circumstances. Revered by notable peers like Stan Brakhage and Harry Smith, Belson (who’d trained as a painter) spent his life developing unique, experimental optical techniques distinct from traditional animation to illustrate his searching ideas; like a good magician, he declined to discuss his methods, often destroying the evidence of their creation once his synaesthetic visions were realized. Even in death (he left this world in 2011 at age 85), his works are carefully stewarded as immersive experiences, best seen on 16mm in a totally darkened room. These films do not “exist” except in the moment of their projection, when sound, image, time, and the eager minds of viewers all combine to create something unknowable. (GW)
In this program we present the following works in 16mm prints:
Phenomena (1965, 6 min)
Momentum (1968, 6 min)
Meditation (1971, 8 min)
Chakra (1972, 8 min)
Music of the Spheres (1977, 10 min)
Infinity (1979, 8 min)
Total program runtime approximately 1 hr.
NEXT UP: TECHNICOLOR WEEKEND August 22 – 24 at the Film Center