titled "The situationists and ne\ politics and art" appeared i iniste#ll (October 1967). Hebe, ve have stuck principally to subv^ m of forms, categories inherited f ; prini San Francisco Cinematheque entury that 1990 Program Notes nt the^ don by means which proceed wi It is not however a matter of i 'hich we have made battle on the passing of philosophy, the realize I of politics; it is a matter of takin, : of our journal, in areas where i le then outlines a new offensive a San Francisco Cinematheque 1990 Program Notes Editor: Kurt Easterwood Productimi and Layout: Laura Poitras Production Assistants: Mai-Lin Cheng Emily Cronbach Jennifer Durrani Written and Researctied by: Bruce Cooper Emily Cronbach Kurt Easterwood Susanne Fairfax Matt Fein Crosby McCIoy Eric S. Theise Don Walker material © Copyright 1991 by the San Francisco Cinematheque, a project of the Foundation for Art in Cinema. No may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. All individual essays © to the individual authors. San Francisco Cinematheque Foundation for Art in Cinema 480 Potrero Avenue San Francisco, CA 94110 (415)558-8129 San Francisco Cinematheque, 1990-91: Staff: Steve Anker, Artistic Director David Gerstein, Executive Director Laura Poitras. Program Coordinator Board of Directors: Eric S. Theise, President Sally Allen Lynn Kirby (through January 1991) Janis Crystal Lipzin (through May 1990) Lynne Sachs Scott Stark (through May 1991) Scott Taylor Susan Vigil Contents Introduction v 1990 Program Notes 1 Film and Video Maker Index 1 13 Title Index 117 Introduction The San Francisco Cinematheque provides program notes at our screenings as a regular feature of our exhibition activities. We prepare these notes in order to give a context for the films and videotapes that make up our schedule, and to provide an introduction to works that often are new and unfamiliar. All too frequently, there -- is scant information -- let alone critical writing available for these works, and the little that does exist is are not contained in hard-to-find or out-of-print journals, or in film distributors' catalogues that readily accessible to our viewers. Our program notes help to remedy this lack of information and offer our audience about to a chance to gain some background on the films and tapes that they're experience. The Program Note Booklet contains the collected program notes that accompanied the Cinematheque's film and video exhibitions during 1990. Of course, these notes didn't simply pop out of a hat but were the product of many hours of viewing and research by individual writers. Bruce Cooper, Emily Cronbach, Kurt Easterwood, Susanne Fairfax, Matt Fein, Thyrza Goodeve, Crosby McCloy, Eric S. Theise and Don Walker all volunteered for and to the their time for the project, and we heartily thank them the energy insight they brought enterprise. of our The number of program notes that included original essays increased dramatically during 1990, part to broaden continuing effort to advance the critical dialogue surrounding independent film and video. We hope our other such as artist that dialogue through this Program Note Booklet as well as publication activities, of video and related media art. monographs and Cinematograph , the Cinematheque's journal film, initiated in 1990. The first two The production of monographs by the Cinematheque is a new program that we the films of Warhol and monographs we produced were in conjunction with major retrospectives of Andy and The 1990 Yvonne Rainer. They featured original essays as well as detailed filmographies bibliographies. with extracts from the Program Note Booklet includes a listing of the films shown in each retrospective along well as Vol. 4 of essays and notes that the monographs contained. The monographs themselves, as are available the Cinematograph (the current issue) and previous years' Program Note Booklets, through Cinematheque's office. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the many individuals and organizations who helped to make the Cinematheque's 1990 season such a success: Dominic Angerame, Paul Baker, Gail Camhi, Portia Cobb, Bill Daniel, Jennifer Durrani, Phil Elie, Lissa Gibbs, Walter Hernandez, Charlotte Hill, Liz Keim, Thomas Chris Korschil, Rupert Jenkins, Albert Kilchesty, Adrienne Lanier Seward, Toney Merritt, Marina McDougall, Miller, Alan Mukamal, Michelle Sabol, Lynne Sachs, Kristin Sherman, Bruce Smithhammer, Greta Snider, Tfed and Valerie Soe, Konrad Steiner, Daria Stermac, Jerry Tartaglia, Laura Thielen, Michael \^^llin, White, Jeanie Weiffenbach; the Canadian Consulate-General, Canyon Cinema, The Exploratorium, Film Arts of Foundation, Film-Makers' Cooperative, Galeria de la Raza, Goethe-Institut San Francisco, Headlands Center for the Arts, New American Makers, New Langton Arts, Pacific Film Archive, Roxie Cinema, San Francisco Camerawork, San Francisco International Film Festival, and the Walter/McBean Gallery. We would also like to thank the San Francisco Art institute and the Eye Gallery, without whose support our exhibition programs would not have been possible. in a The production of the Cinematheque's Program Note Booklet was made possible part through grant as from the National provided by the John D. and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation as well support Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, San Francisco's Grants for the Arts Program, The San Francisco Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Fleishhacker Family Fund and the Friends of the Cinematheque. 1990 Program Notes 1990 Program Notes THE FILMS OFANDY WARHOL: A SEVEN-WEEK INTRODUCTION January 28 - March 11, 1990 'Jf's, invented. show "It's the movies that have really been running things in America ever since they were They you it to to feel about to look how feel about it. When what to do, how to do , when do it, how it, and how you they show you how to kiss like James Dean or look like Jane Fonda or win like Rocky, that's great." —Andy Warhol, America, 1985 Warhol. Drop the name and release the flood of Pop images: myriad silk screened canvasses of Campbell's soup cans and Coca-Cola bottles, Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, auto collisions and electric chairs. Warhol the By applying the mechanical and repetitive process of silk screening to the canvas, outraged brushstroke-heavey Abstract Expressionists and sent fine art thudding back to the concrete and, as a consequence, back to the public interest. More so than his contemporaries — Jim Dine, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Marisol, Claes — art in the 1960s was a Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Tom Wesselman Warhol's were Duchampian celebration of the art in every thing and artist in every one. His subjects blatantly anti-Art, wire or portraying bland consumer icons or "found" photographs: publicity stills, UPI photos, glossy magazine the of his to but spreads. According to the prevailing legend, Warhol left not only production paintings others, the artistic decision making. His assistants, friends, and strangers often chose subject, colors, size, and composition, with the only directive being to make it look nice. his 1960s Liz. Andy. By the end ofhis life, VV^rhol's fame had eclipsed that of the subjectsof portraits. Marilyn. Marlon. Jackie. Elvis. Names as much a part of the American Pop vernacular that, except for the occasional Troy, with last names were superfluous. Warhol's own public persona was stoked by his incessant socializing glamorous trendsetters and by his droll witticisms, the best of which are as much cultural artifacts as his soup cans or silver death in the now auction pillows. America's fascination with Warhol peaked after his 1987, legendary Sotheby's of a million dollars were taking in over 25 million dollars from the sale of his personal effects. Over a quarter spent to acquire N^^rhol's kitschy collection of cookie jars alone. the Warhol earned a Despite his more-than-fair share of the public eye, few people recall that, in mid-60s, Andy his methods to the film medium. Some significant reputation as an avant-garde filmmaker by adapting working film historians have gone so far as to liken Warhol's development to the history of cinema itself. From his initial Warhol remained a silent period, through his experiments with sound, drama, color, and expanded cinema, prolific filmmaker for five years, churning out hundreds of reels of film. It was some measure of his films' impact that Warhol received the Film Culture Sixth Independent Film Award in 1964 tor Sleep, Haircut, Eat, Kiss, and Empire. These films, silent, in black and white, combined long gazes from a fixed-camera position with exaggeratedly slow action. Warhol filmed these works at the usual 24 frames that be at 16 This transforms the two-minute, 45 seconds or recorded per second, but insisted they projected f.p.s. time into four-minutes. 10 seconds of screen time, prolonging the already minimal movement. Jonas Mekas, director of the New York Film-Makers' Co-operative, became an active proselytizer of Warhol's films, providing the key to viewing these works: and crack In "The film starts rolling, the audience sits quietly, for a minute or two. The catcalls remarks begin. the forth or fifth minute, however, they begin to realize that 1 have no intention of stopping the film, and the reports San Francisco Cinematheque from the back lines reach the front lines, that the reel is big.... After ten minutes or so the impatient ones leave or give up, others resign, and the rest of the show proceeds quietly. Later, from the discussions, it becomes clear that there is always... a period oi jumping the reality gap... of adjusting to the aesthetic weightlessness, to the there on rich. are a different gravitational pull... from everything becomes very You watching now from new angle, every detail reveals a new meaning, the proportions and perspectives change..