The Cinematic Formula: Hollis Frampton (Experimental Revival)

Doc Films (University of Chicago) — Monday, 7pm  
Watching any one of Hollis Frampton's structuralist masterpieces takes commitment and patience, but seeing six of them in a row? That's either going to lead to an inspired collective mental breakthrough or the first theater-wide brain-eye melt of the spring. Focusing on Frampton's output from the 1960's, the highlights of this program are ARTIFICIAL LIGHT (1966) and MANUAL OF ARMS (1969). Each film is silent and uses the hypnotic pattern of visual repetition and textural optic variation, a mode that would be perfected in the next decade. But if the creation of an internal cinematic language is the goal in some of his later work, then these two films celebrate the inclusiveness of the human gesture. In MANUAL, various performances for the camera by 14 "actors" walk the line between over-indulgence and rhythmic serendipity, always tripping towards joy eventually. Body movement from one edge of the frame to the other and an emphasis on the light/dark dichotomy of black-and-white film emphasize each beat, and the difference between the 14 sections is like the same note played on a different instrument. Sequential fades from one face to another create the content of ARTIFICIAL LIGHT, and 21 repetitions of the sequence make the form. After the first round (which is shown upside-down), a variety of interventions are performed: negative, hand-drawn clown makeup, still shots in sequence, a flicker of colors, and so on. At each variation, despite the film's formulaic premise, or perhaps because of it, an ascending tone is struck as faces emerge from the chaos, glances are exchanged, and the power of the close-up is realized. Also Screening: HETERODYNE (1967), PALINDROME (1969), STATES (1967), and SURFACE TENSION (1968). (1966-69, 98 min total, 16mm) JH - Cine-File.info

Critical Mass: The Legacy of Hollis Frampton

Film Studies Center (University of Chicago) – Saturday and Sunday, beginning 10am each day (9:30am Continental Breakfast)
The citywide, multi-venue celebration of Hollis Frampton wraps up this weekend with three days of inquiry and exploration. Legendary filmmaker and Frampton collaborator Michael Snow kicks it off Friday night with a sold-out reading of Frampton’s performative A LECTURE. There's still a slim chance you can get in if someone doesn't show up, and it's worth taking the risk. Often Frampton's films attempt to utilize the cinematic form to analyze its own psychosomatic processes, and while successful, they can be rather cloistered. By contrast, with A LECTURE he crafted a performance between narrator and projectionist that, although germane to an academic discussion of how one interacts with the silver screen, is more-so a tale of the people and tools that mesh and fight before we get to sit back and enjoy Bogie and Bacall. Self-consciously deconstructing the social act of going to the movies sounds boring, but Frampton's intelligence and humor make it fun. As the performance begins a voice asks: “Please turn out the lights. If we're going to talk about movies, we might as well do it in the dark.” It's interesting that he's says “we,” because for the next sixty minutes or so “we” will sit passively while “he” uses the essence of cinema to engulf us. We are one with the world on the screen. The voice emanating from the speakers of the auditorium was always intended to vary, and the choice of Snow for Friday should be an inspired one. On Saturday and Sunday all are welcome when some of the top scholars, historians, and makers of experimental cinema hold court (along with a healthy dose of upcoming ones) with a series of panels looking at Frampton's work and legacy. Participants include historian and author Scott MacDonald, filmmaker and preservationist Bill Brand, filmmaker and musician Tony Conrad, historian and author P. Adams Sitney, film and video maker Keith Sanborn, Canadian filmmaker and author Bruce Elder, SAIC’s Bruce Jenkins, and the U of C’s Tom Gunning, who organized the conference. JH - Cine-File.info

Hollis Frampton: Birth of Magellan (Experimental)

Chicago Filmmakers - Saturday, 8pm               
As the third installment of the ongoing retrospective series CRITICAL MASS: RE-VIEWING HOLLIS FRAMPTON, Chicago Filmmakers will be presenting fragments of the artists' fabled MAGELLAN CYCLE. Intended to consist of 1000 films totaling roughly 36 hours to be viewed over 369 days, it is "like a tour of the possible principles for forming an encyclopedia," according to Frampton. Seen outside of their original context and because of their frequent structural density, the individual pieces are sometimes challenging (though not always), and one can only imagine what the experience of seeing them as short shots of wisdom day after day after day would have been like. It is likely that the casual viewer will have difficulty parsing the subtleties of each piece, but that is only because it is easy to dig too deep to find meaning. But they can be appreciated on many different levels. The simplicity of the structure in CADENZAS I & XIV (1980, 11 min, 16mm) revolves around gentle juxtapositions of sound and image, and a building of meaning from one visual to the next. The trick here is that what looks like a bold sexual metaphor is really a joke about sexual metaphors in poetic filmmaking, complete with laugh track. In MINDFALL I & VII (1977-80, 36 min, 16mm) the visuals are more complex, with groups being repeated and played like alternating chord structures. As they build on one another, and refrains are recognized, the often superimposed and out-of-synch imagery vibrates like a plucked string. From my viewing notes: cactus, tropical plants, ping-pong, water, religious symbols, Geiger counter, three kings, Frampton's shadow, applause. Also screening: MATRIX (1977, 28 min, 16mm) JH - Cine-File.info