In 2025, Refle-x-périmental continues to pay tribute to the work of experimental film cooperatives that emerged from the 1960s onwards, embracing independence, rebellion, and the (re)invention of both avant-garde cinema and thought. After celebrating the co-ops founded in New York, Hamburg, and Amsterdam, as well as the 50th anniversary of the Paris Films Coop, the winter season will open with a focus on the West Coast of the United States. The program includes a screening dedicated to the Canyon Cinema Co-Op in February and a special showcase highlighting the Los Angeles Independent Films Oasis cooperative in March.
In 1967, the Canyon Cinema Co-Op was officially founded in San Francisco, California, bringing to life a new wave of experimental filmmakers, described by founder Bruce Baillie as “a federation of willing devotees of the magic lantern muse”. Created as a distribution cooperative for films made by its members, Canyon Cinema Co-Op grew out of Canyon Cinema, a "floating cinematheque" run since 1961 by an informal group of local artists, including Bruce Baillie, Chick Strand and Ernest Callenbach, the editor of Film Quarterly. These filmmakers and other members of the Bay Area's independent art and counter-culture scene have also signed a series of iconic films. From the poetic, contemplative portraits of Bruce Baillie, Chick Strand and James Broughton, to the funny, corrosive recycling and détournement of images by Robert Nelson, Bruce Conner or Gunvor Nelson and Dorothy Wiley, to the whimsical animations of Lawrence Jordan, this program offers a brief glimpse of the free, daring spirit of the Canyon Cinema Co-Op in its early years.
Thanks to: Canyon Cinema, Filmform.
Screening:
Anselmo
Chick Strand, 1967, 16mm, color/b&w, sound, 4’
Mr. Hayashi
Bruce Baillie, 1961, 16mm (digital), b&w, sound, 3’
Nuptiae
James Broughton, 1969, 16mm (digital), color, sound, 14’
Duo Concertantes
Lawrence Jordan, 1964, 16mm (digital), b&w, sound, 8’
Oh Dem Watermelons
Robert Nelson, 1965, 16mm (digital), color, sound, 11’
Breakaway
Bruce Conner, 1966, 16mm (digital), b&w, sound, 5’
Schmeerguntz
Gunvor Nelson & Dorothy Wiley, 1966, 16mm (digital), b&w, sound, 15
My name is Oona
Gunvor Nelson, 1969, 16mm (digital), b&w, sound, 10’
