The Los Angeles Independent Film Oasis (sometimes called Oasis Cinema) was founded in 1976 by a group of artists consisting primarily of filmmakers. The early key organizers included Beverly O’Neill, Pat O’Neill, Roberta Friedman, Grahame Weinbren, David Wilson, Diana Wilson, Morgan Fisher, Susan Rosenfeld, and Amy Halpern, as well as Dennis Phillips, Tom Leeser, Lyn Gerry, Chris Regan, Paul Arthur, David James, David Lebrun, Sandra Matthews, William Moritz, Magdalena Rangel, Tim Shepard, and Arlene Zeichner. (Apologies if I’ve missed anybody or incorrectly included a name here, as definitive information on the composition of the group is surprisingly somewhat elusive.)
Run collectively, the group filed for nonprofit status on 4/29/77, a little over a year after its screenings began.
According to Grahame Weinbren, the name of the group came from Amy Halpern, who said (according to Weinbren), “let’s call ourselves Oasis, we’ll be the film oasis in this desert, in this film desert. And if we can find a space, we’ll have a screening.”
Screenings were held primarily at a few different venues – The Haymarket (later Pangloss[?]), LAICA, and Founder’s Hall at USC, as well as LAICA’s downtown gallery on Traction Avenue.
The initial venue, The Haymarket, was a radical coffeehouse and socialist bookstore and, according to Oasis co-founder David Wilson, “a venerable, political house on MacArthur Park. It was a great space, and they had a meeting hall, so we rented their space, and they were happy to have us because they were weird people, we were weird people.” (David Wilson oral history with Los Angeles Filmforum, 1/30/2010). It was located at at 715 S. Park View St. near MacArthur Park.
LAICA (Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art) existed between roughly 1974 and 1987, and hosted Oasis screenings in its space at 2020 S. Robertson Blvd.
Founder’s Hall – now called Taper Hall – is located at 3501 Trousdale Parkway (formerly University Avenue) at the University of Southern California.
Below is a tentative list of the programming activities of Oasis during its 1976-1981 run. I was able to compile this info with thanks to the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, where Amy Halpern’s collection of Oasis ephemera resides. Additional info, corrections, and context will be provided by various of the Oasis members.
This page is very much in progress and will continue to be updated.
3/7/76
The Haymarket
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania by Jonas Mekas
5/16/76
8pm, The Haymarket
The Los Angeles Premier of Recent Films by Chick Strand
$2
1/23/77
8pm, Pangloss, 715 S Parkview
Nightcleaners (Part I) by the Berwick Street Film Collective of London
$2
2/13/77
8pm, USC Founders Hall
New Films by Los Angeles Filmmakers
Two Stars (Lisze Bechtold), Odessa Steps (Tim Shepard), After Ten Minutes Lines (Roberta Friedman), Bertha’s Children (Roberta Friedman & Grahame Weinbren), Tanka (David Lebrun), Shapes & Gestures (Jules Engel), Presence of Mind (David Wilson), Picture Without Sound (Susan Rosenfeld), Sidewinder’s Delta (Pat O’Neill)
$2
STILL FORMATTING THE DATA —– MORE COMING SOON!!
LIGHTSTRUCK 