Perpetual Motion is the most comprehensive convergence of international performance cinema practitioners ever seen in the Bay Area. Presented over seven evenings September 16–December 7, 2016, with all artists performing in person, this series is curated by San Francisco Cinematheque and will be presented at Gray Area’s historic Grand Theater, located in San Francisco’s Mission District.

Featured artists include the return of legendary experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs (NYC), rising Montréal duo Le Révélateur (video artist Sabrina Ratté & musician Roger Tellier-Craig, of Fly Pan AM and formerly Godspeed You! Black Emperor) and in a rare North American appearance, the spectacular Trinchera Ensamble film-performance collective from Mexico City.

Close-Up and OtherFilm present a series of films by experimental filmmakers Makino Takashi and Rei Hayama. The films of Takashi and Hayama, two founding members of the Tokyo film collective [+], are hallucinatory distortions evoking chaos and patterns, nature and organic forms, filtered through an undulating macro and micro impasto view. Takashi’s performative films use points of threshold to push the viewer into beautifully overwhelming transcendent states – where visual and sonic noise engulf senses and imagination. Hayama’s films make gentle use of available resources – soil and insects become her abstract muses, and hand cranked celluloid film processed in coffee are subtle throw backs to harmonious ways of being.  

Great triple-bill featuring compelling and immersive approaches to film projection from Japanese artist Makino Takashi and Unconscious Archives' Sally Golding – both solo and in a special duo collaboration also featuring Spatial – and solo percussion from American composer Nick Hennies, who'll be performing pieces by Peter Ablinger, John Cage and his own work.