In only 23 years Teo Hernández, one of the central figures of Paris’s queer avant-garde film scene of the 1970s and ’80s, produced a monumental body of work that reveals how myth and zealous desire are inextricably knit to our everyday lives. Across more than 150 Super 8mm films, encompassing portraiture, urban landscapes, and diaristic cinema, he ceaselessly forged radical alternatives to linear time and perspectival vision, entrancing audiences with a visceral style that affects both body and spirit. Hernández conceived of the moving image as a pulsating expression of life itself.
Hernández used to say that two opposing bloodlines ran through his veins. Born in Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, in 1939, he left the country in 1965. After 10 years of extensive travels through Central and North America, Europe, Morocco and India, he settled permanently in Paris in 1975. His first feature films pioneered a staunchly local, Super 8mm avant-garde approach focused on the affectionate exploration of objects and queer bodies as a locus for transcendence. His sprawling œuvre, including thousands of written pages and photographs, was cut short by his death from AIDS-related complications in 1992.
This series, the first monographic presentation of Hernández’s work in the United States, comprises 19 films that trace some of the through-lines of his filmography—from early features inspired by folkloric or mythological iconographies, to the ecstatic variations on autobiography, portraiture, city rambling, and dance he made throughout the 1980s. The series includes the two films he made as part of MétroBarbèsRochechou Art, an informal collective he integrated with Gaël Badaud, Jakobois, and Michel Nedjar, along with a selection of films by Jakobois and Michel Nedjar. Taken together, these selections provide a glimpse into the creative community that accompanied Hernández until the end of his life.
The films of Teo Hernández are preserved by the film collection of the Musée national d’art moderne – Centre Pompidou.
Organized by Carlos Saldaña and Francisco Algarín Navarro, guest curators, and Francisco Valente, Curatorial Associate, Department of Film, MoMA. Special thanks to Philippe-Alain Michaud, Enrico Camporesi, Alexis Constantin, Jonathan Pouthier, Cécile Zoonens in the Film Collection Department of Musée national d'art moderne – Centre Pompidou; Michel Nedjar; Mauricio Hernández; Miguel Armas at Light Cone; and the Consulate General of Spain in New York.
Program:
Salomé. 1976–82. Directed by Teo Hernández
Vloof l’aigrette – Pain de singe. 1987. Directed by Teo Hernández
Thu, May 14, 7:00 p.m. with an introduction by Carlos Saldaña and Francisco Algarín Navarro
Sat, May 16, 4:00 p.m.
Cristo. 1977. Directed by Teo Hernández
Tables d’hiver. 1978–79. Directed by Teo Hernández
Fri, May 15, 4:30 p.m.
Sun, May 17, 1:30 p.m.
Cristaux. 1979. Directed by Teo Hernández
Fri, May 15, 7:00 p.m.
Mon, May 18, 4:00 p.m.
Lacrima Christi. 1978–79. Directed by Teo Hernández
Sat, May 16, 6:00 p.m. with an introduction by Carlos Saldaña and Francisco Algarín Navarro
Tue, May 19, 4:00 p.m.
Graal. 1980. Directed by Teo Hernández
Sun, May 17, 4:00 p.m.
Wed, May 20, 4:30 p.m.
Maya. 1978–79. Directed by Teo Hernández
Mon, May 18, 6:30 p.m.
Thu, May 21, 4:30 p.m.
Teo Hernández: Time’s Bend
Tue, May 19, 7:00 p.m. with an introduction by Carlos Saldaña and Francisco Algarín Navarro
Fri, May 22, 4:30 p.m.
Teo Hernández: The Jaguar Speaks the Language of Flowers
Wed, May 20, 7:00 p.m. with an introduction by Carlos Saldaña and Francisco Algarín Navarro
Sat, May 23, 4:00 p.m.
Teo Hernández: A Journal Is a Measure of Semen in a Die
Thu, May 21, 7:00 p.m. with an introduction by Carlos Saldaña and Francisco Algarín Navarro
Mon, May 25, 4:30 p.m.
Teo Hernández: Cluster of Eyes —
Michel Nedjar, Jakobois, and MétroBarbèsRochechou Art
Fri, May 22, 7:00 p.m. with an introduction by Carlos Saldaña and Francisco Algarín Navarro
Mon, May 25, 6:30 p.m.
Rumeurs Saint-Maur. 1986. Directed by Jakobois
4 à 4 MétroBarbèsRochechou Art. 1980–83. Directed by MétroBarbèsRochechou Art
Sat, May 23, 6:30 p.m.
Tue, May 26, 4:30 p.m.
Capitale-paysage. 1982-83. Directed by Michel Nedjar
Sun, May 24, 4:00 p.m.
Tue, May 26, 7:00 p.m.