Amy Halpern Movies

Gesturing hands emerge from the darkness, readying us for the cinematic experience.

In three parts: Statice/frameline; Drops; The Cannonball Section. Unpopulated (except for the cheap ending on the Cannonball Section). (Previously shown as SLOW FLUSH.) –A. C. H.

Presents the physically necessary film “leaders”; at the front and back end of movies as aesthetic in themselves. (Amy Halpern)

with Yogi John Franzoni

By Halves uses appropriated footage from rejected 35mm prints that were cut in half and readjusted to be used as spacers for 16mm to sync sound tracks on film, and not meant to be projected.

with Arwa Ibrahim 1 - Detention 2 - Hollywood Hills 3 - Reptile 4 - Bestiary 5 - Abstract and Concrete 6 - Doorway Occupation 7 - Sideways

A bewitching, mysterious work of enveloping beauty, the film’s ominous title and a dedication to Anne Frank deeply inform our reading of its haunting subtext. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in partnership with the National Film Preservation Foundation, in 2009.

A woman from Nigeria seeks work in the United States while her daughter struggles with premonitions and homesickness.

1981, 16mm, b&w, silent, 2 mins. Shots of Halpern cutting her fingernails, biting them, and dunking them in water.

Reveals the history of camerawomen around the world, celebrating not only the survival of pioneer women in a male-dominated field, but a new generation of camerawomen's visions.

An opera in the public domain. A film about duration. “I tremble for my country when I think that god is just.” (Thomas Jefferson)

With Nancy Halpern and Yves Marton. "Sitting home smoking cigarettes during the occupation. Very nasty and sophomoric. And beautiful." — A.H.

Illusions of surface, abstract to pictorial. Initially the grain of the film emulsion, complete with scratches, variations in framing – the meat of film – are the most apparent elements of all. The object shown is revealed to be a bowl of canned peaches. But even with identification, the visual...

A film by Amy Halpern