“[…] Each film charts the possibility of a pre-cinema experience, one that might have evolved had not narrative and commerce been cinema’s prevailing motivational forces.” — SS

Filmmaker Scott Stark will show a selection of his Super-8mm and Regular 8mm films from the 1980s, screened here as newly-scanned high resolution digital versions that offer scale and detail not always seen in the celluloid originals. These early small-gauge works are experiments in the magical capabilities of the 8mm film camera, and are comprised of images and sounds derived from the commonplace: garish elements surgically extracted from the patina of popular culture. Sometimes shot in public spaces with a wry element of performance, the artifice of the films’ constructions is laid bare, the camera being a participant as much as an observer, making each film a record of its own process of production.

This program of works from San Francisco experimental-film distributor Canyon Cinema, one of DIM’s favourite partners, is curated by David Dinnell, visiting faculty at CalArts and former program director at the Ann Arbor Film Festival.