Last night was our second Lightstruck screening, and we had a great time. Zena and I were talking afterwards about how Zorns Lemma really feels like a work by someone who was making a defiant statement of, “dammit, film can SAY something, and it can be something supremely important!” at a time when, despite the decades of experimental and artist-made film history that preceded it, film was still not taken seriously in the same way that other art forms were. Frampton’s generation actively engaged in a sort of redefinition and repositioning of film as a serious medium for erudite thought, criticism, experimentation, analysis, poetry, and personal expression in a way that lands very differently now, partly because despite its ongoing marginalization, there’s a lot of acceptance of the medium that we taken for granted. Part of why work from the 1960s and 1970s still resonates so meaningfully for people now is that it really was an era in which artists worked vehemently to assert an exciting new approach to the commitment to and appreciation of independent film which took itself seriously in a radical and urgent way, and which sought to define its own language and context.
Even twenty years later in 1990, when Su Friedrich made Sink or Swim, there was a much more established idiom of what a personal experimental film could be, how the medium could be used, how adventurously one could communicate through it, not to mention an engaged community and even organizational infrastructure in existence to support it in a way that was really different in 1970. It had coalesced into a certain recognizable culture, I think. Sink or Swim is a major work which still exudes so much intelligence and emotional power, and its ambition and innovation (to its credit) can be found more on its own terms and in its own established language and form, whereas Zorns Lemma feels like some kind of ambitious and grand dramatic statement of intent and purpose for film as a thoughtful and meaningful art form in general, outside of itself. I felt very aware of that last night! And I was really happy with the fruitful and empathetic way the films seemed to communicate with each other, making for a rich and thought-provoking show for us. Thanks to everyone who came! Our goal with this series is in part to put on screenings that create some fun and exciting dialogue afterwards, and we hope that’s the case for those of you who come.
In other news, I slowed down a little recently on adding some artist filmographies, partly because the Fall semester has started, so we’ve gotten busier, but also because one of the artists whose filmography I was organizing – Al Jarnow – is a tough one to wrangle all the data for! He made about 10-15 specifically personal independent films, but over a hundred works for Children’s Television Workshop, which I don’t think I’ll remotely be able to fully document. But I’m giving it a partial shot, anyway. More to come! -Mark
LIGHTSTRUCK 