Here’s where I’ll post any screenings coming up that Zena and/or I are programming!
>>>(Click pictures for links to info/tickets!)<<<
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Sunday, May 24, 2026 @ 12:00pm
2220 Arts + Archives, Los Angeles
**note atypical start time!**
Ulrike Ottinger’s TAIGA: A Journey to Northern Mongolia
This screening begins at 12pm noon and will conclude at approximately 10pm, with two breaks.
“Taiga is an experience that causes us to think about why we live as we do, what it is to be human, and what is important in life.” (Roger Ebert)
Lightstruck is extremely excited to present a truly epic cinematic experience, as we screen Ulrike Ottinger’s nearly 8.5-hour, immersive documentary Taiga (1992) in a special all-day screening.
Known for her meticulously crafted experimental narrative films infusing political radicalism with a rich, surrealist opulence, German artist Ulrike Ottinger has also produced a singular body of memorable nonfiction work, though perhaps none so monumental – and mesmerizingly beautiful – as Taiga.
During an extended period spent in Northern Mongolia through multiple seasons, Ottinger approached ethnography in a radically different way, rejecting authoritative narrativizing or presumptuous didacticism. The extended length of the film reflects Ottinger’s larger impulse and approach in this project: to spend time – unadulterated, attentive time – with the Northern Mongolians she had befriended, and to enable their own distinctive approach to time and space in everyday life dictate the scale and pace of the film.
Over ten parts and 38 chapters, we see a seance, two weddings, preparation of foods, wrestling contests, music performances, storytelling sessions, and countless other events large and small, yet all equally defining the overall year-to-year and day-to-day experiences of nomadic life in the Darkhad Valley of Northern Mongolia. The film succeeds so brilliantly in part because of the unapologetically and earnestly fascinated gaze with which Ottinger documents what she sees, and the clear love for and engagement with people that the filmmaking reflects.
“I tried to explain my wish, which was to record a way of life that no longer exists in the place where I’ve come from, in order to show the document to the people back home, who are very interested in the nomadic ways. At first this puzzled them, but then they thought, Yes, indeed, we too would be interested to know how your people live…” (Ulrike Ottinger)
Screening:
Taiga: A Journey to Northern Mongolia (1991/92)
by Ulrike Ottinger
501 minutes, English subtitles
Digital restoration courtesy of Arsenal with thanks to Carsten Zimmer, Reinhild Feldhaus, and especially Ulrike Ottinger.
Program by Zena Grey and Mark Toscano. Notes by Mark Toscano.
Snacks, coffee and tea will be provided, as well as some dinner at the evening break, for a suggested donation.
Schedule:
12:00pm: Part 1 (Chapters 1-13) (2:57)
(ends ca.3:00-3:15)
(approximately 20 minute intermission)
3:30pm: Part 2 (Chapters 14-26) (2:52)
(ends ca.6:30-6:45)
(approximately 45-60 minute intermission)
7:30pm: Part 3 (Chapters 27-38) (2:32)
(ends ca.10:00-10:15pm)
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Wednesday, June 3, 2026 @ 8:00pm
2220 Arts + Archives, Los Angeles
A 16mm Experimental Film Restoration Celebration
For this program, Lightstruck is thrilled to present an eclectic assortment of 16mm experimental short films restored by the Academy Film Archive, featuring work by John Smith, Suzan Pitt, Robert Nelson, Chick Strand, James Otis, Janie Geiser, Julie Murray, Phil Solomon, Barbara Hammer, Chris Langdon, Mike Henderson, Gus Van Sant, Mike Jittlov, Thom Andersen, and Fred Worden. Mark Toscano (one half of Lightstruck) has had an intimate connection to the films selected in this program, having worked at the Academy Film Archive for more than 20 years developing and overseeing their experimental film collections. As the other half of Lightstruck (Zena Grey), I have also gained a close relationship and devotion to this incredibly diverse and vast collection of films.
The work of a film archive is complex and multifaceted, but one of the key purposes it embodies is to make its collections accessible, to ensure that films don’t merely sit untouched on vault shelves but also have the periodic capacity to be activated in cinema spaces for assembled audiences. Dipping into the 600+ films Mark has had the honor and pleasure of working on during his time at the Academy thus far, this program seeks to assemble some of our very favorite films from among so many special ones, representing a wide range of work spanning 1967 to 2004, all by artists who are dearly meaningful to Mark and me.
So this program is a celebration of sorts, focusing on a wide array of American experimental filmmaking, all screening in 16mm preservation prints, with one stray British film to kick things off: John Smith’s The Girl Chewing Gum, celebrating its 50th birthday this year. And as it’s a celebration, stick around after the show for some cake!
Films picked by Mark Toscano. Notes by Zena Grey. All films courtesy of the artists and all prints courtesy of and thanks to the Academy Film Archive, which is also where Mark was able to have the opportunity to restore them, with particular gratitude to Joe Lindner and Mike Pogorzelski for their support over so many years. Big additional thanks to all the collaborators from multiple film and sound labs, including Colorlab, Fotokem, Triage, Cinema Lab, Audio Mechanics, DJ Audio, Endpoint Audio, and SD Sound.
The Girl Chewing Gum (1976) by John Smith, 12m
Whitney Commercial (1973) by Suzan Pitt, 3m
Penny Bright & Jimmy Witherspoon (1967) by Robert Nelson, 3m
Waterfall (1968) by Chick Strand, 3m
Gridrose (1981) by James Otis, 2m
The Secret Story (1996) by Janie Geiser, 9m
Orchard (2004) by Julie Murray, 8m
“Yes, I Said Yes, I Will, Yes.” (1999) by Phil Solomon, 3m
See What You Hear What You See (1983) by Barbara Hammer, 3m
Picasso (1973) by Chris Langdon, 3m
The Shape of Things (1981) By Mike Henderson, 8m
Junior (1988) by Gus Van Sant, 3m
Animato (1977) by Mike Jittlov, 3m
─── ────── (1967) by Thom Andersen & Malcolm Brodwick, 12m
Throbs (1972) by Fred Worden, 7m
total = 82m
LIGHTSTRUCK 