In a crumbling 1920s Mexican hospital, patients with bizarre afflictions are in constant need of medical attention, but the miserable doctor in charge prefers to drink. However, an encounter with the Saint of Holes will rearrange the doctor's fate, sending him on a journey of altered perspective.
A nightmare of a woman depressed by the concrete world she lives in, and her journey from suicidal despair to personal renewal with the help of an unlikely spirit guide.
A woman's nightly domestic rituals—from putting her baby to bed to making love—unspool in a playful parade of surreal, straight-from-the-id images. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.
The film, Al Tudi Tuhak, is a creation story inspired by the art and mythology of the Northwest coast people. The story involves the creator, or "The Great Father" as he whittles the world into existence. Each of his wood shavings became fish, trees, birds,... even the sun and moon.
Celebrated for his minimal, monumental landscape studies, James Benning turns to the intimacy of the portrait in his latest film, TWENTY CIGARETTES. Referencing Warhol’s screen tests, 1930s Hollywood glamour, and the disappearing cigarette break, the film captures 20 of Benning’s friends...
In an outer-world night, creatures that live beneath human consciousness emerge and take hold of the narrator, dissecting his spirit and dismembering his thoughts. He beholds a mythical eternity filled with shadowy industrial scenes and monochrome textures—a heavenly hell of unending life and...
In a fantasy world, life-size cardboard animations interact with children clad in clown wigs, monkey masks, and princess costumes. Together, they host a carnival of surreal goings-on.
As George Antheil's avant-garde composition "Ballet Mecanique (1952 revision)" plays, a dizzying array of abstract paintings are captured in close-up, spun around, and rapidly edited together. Grotesque and frightening creatures start to emerge through the flickering shapes and patterns.
Films: - Asparagus (1979, 20 min, 35mm) - Joy Street (1995, 24 min, 35mm) - El Doctor (2006, 23 min, 35mm & video) - Visitation (2012, 12min, video) - Pinball (2013, 7min, video) Bonus: - Persistence of Vision, a film by Blue And Laura Kraning - 2006, 33min
An animated short consisting of 4 segments: bowl, garden, theatre, marble game. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Harvard Film Archive in 2015.
Commissioned by David Bienstock, creator of the New American Film Series at the Whitney Museum of Art to raise funds for the second season of the series. The film was projected at the end of each program and a box to receive donations was placed at the exit of the theater. Whitney Commercial ran...
In December 2013 I went to Cuba for 10 days to show my films at the Havana Film Festival. I did not intend to shoot a film about Cuba- but I fell in love with the people, music, and nature of this beautiful island. I turned my video camera on the subjects which passed in my view and then made this...