Chromatic Cinema Series

Experience the magic of color on the big screen! This series of programs includes hand-tinted archival films, contemporary offerings by local artists, and films created by artists drawing and painting on the film surface itself. Featuring animated, documentary, and homemade works by Oskar Fischinger, Norman McLaren, Nina Paley, Stephanie Maxwell, Hy Hirsch, D. A. Pennebaker, Jim Granato, and more. Free with museum admission.

• A Colorful World
  Looping daily in the Mind Cinema (near the back of the museum)
  10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

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  • Color + Modulation (2006, 60 min., TRT) by Rob Tyler is a collection of eight 16mm films that have been painstakingly hand-painted frame by frame and digitally manipulated. The result is an abstract canvas of smooth curves and undulating pigments.

    Robo-Rainbow (2010, 3 min.) by Adam Nilsson documents street artist Akay with one of his "complicated technical solutions to aid in simple acts of vandalism." With a few tools and a rainbow of spray paints, any wall can be brightened up with color.

    In Kaleidoscope Jazz Chair (1960, 6 min.) Charles and Ray Eames show off the many shades of their ubiquitous plastic chair. Through a combination of stop-motion animation and a kaleidoscopic lens, the colors, patterns, and textures in their office come to life while the chairs seem to dance along with the soundtrack.

A Collision of Color!
Saturdays at noon, 2:30 p.m. & 4:00 p.m. in the McBean Theater
July 9–August 13, 2011

• July 9 : Reinventing the Color Wheel
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  • Saturday, July 9: Reinventing the Color Wheel
    
    In Kaleidoscope Jazz Chair (1960, 6 min.) Charles and Ray Eames show off the many shades of their ubiquitous plastic chair. Through a combination of stop-motion animation and a kaleidoscopic lens, the colors, patterns, and textures in their office come to life while the chairs seem to dance along with the soundtrack.

    Chromatastic (2010, 4 min.) by Kerry Laitala is the latest experiment in her study of light, motion, and the light-bending depth of Chromadepth vision. Laitala paints the screen with abstract color schemes and arouses the senses with a vibrant interplay of sound and light.

    Fetch (2001, 4 min.) is an early film by animation artist Nina Paley. This cartoon depicts a man playing fetch with his dog in a world chock full of optical illusions. Original music composed and performed by Nik Phelps and the Sprocket Ensemble.

    A Joy (2005, 3 min.) by Jodie Mack is a mesmerizing example of direct animation. Working only with celuloid, acetate, contact paper, and ink, and overlaying colors and textures, Mack creates vibrant abstract animation. With music by Four Tet.

• July 16: All and Nothing: Color in Black & White
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  • Saturday, July 16: All and Nothing: Color in Black & White
    
    Energie! (2007, 5 min.) by Thorsten Fleisch, is a stunning video made from photographic paper exposed to an uncontrolled high voltage discharge, then arranged in a sequence and projected as a short film.

    M.T.X.S. (1990, 3 min.,16mm) by Rock Ross isa dynamic black-and-white animated film that explodes with color when viewed though diffraction-grating glasses.  

    Lake Orion (2001, 5 min., 16mm) by Michael Walsh, captures memories of summer swimming and picnicking in striking black and white photography.

    Light Is Calling by Bill Morrison (2003, 8 min.) Recomposed from a 1926 film. The nitrate print has decomposed in such a way that any recognizable figures are all but lost behind hypnotic swirls of the broken-down emulsion.

• July 23: Traversing the Palette
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  • Saturday, July 23 : Traversing the Palette
    
    Colour Separation ( 1974, 3 min., 16mm) by Chris Welsby. This film is based on the color separation process. When projected, the film resembles a moving impressionist painting in which time is seen to participate in the construction of the color image.

    Please Don't Stop (1988, 7 min., 16mm), by Stephanie Maxwell (SFAI), is a cameraless animated film, painted directly onto 35mm film stock reduced to 16mm. This colorful and energetic film brings painterly movement to the screen, traversing through both representational and abstract landscapes.

    Daybreak Express (1958, 5 min., 16mm), by D. A. Pennebaker, plays with tempo and reflection on a New York elevated train. Set to "Daybreak Express" by Duke Ellington.

    N-Judah 5:30 (2004, 6 min., 16mm) by Sam Green captures the melancholy commute of an SF streetcar ride, filling the screen with small, rich moments.

• July 30: Real and Imagined Worlds
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  • Saturday, July 30 : Real and Imagined Worlds
    
    Magnetic Movie (2007, 5 min.), by Semiconductor (artists Ruth Jarmon and Joe Gerhardt), animates the secret lives of invisible magnetic fields, which are revealed as chaotic, ever-changing geometries. Filmed around NASA's Space Sciences Laboratories at UC Berkeley, Magnetic Movie features recordings of space scientists describing their discoveries and colorful animations choreographed to actual VLF recordings of magnetic field data.

    Autumn Spectrum (1957, 8 min., 16mm), by Hy Hirsh, uses jazz and superimpositions to paint a picture of Amsterdam through its reflection on the many canals. A visually lush and rhythmic ode, the architecture of the city floats across the screen.

    Pollenating (2007, 4 min.) by David Montgomery focuses on the lushly textured animation of ephemeral landscapes by using plant life and other common objects. Complex rhythms settle out of the sets of leaves or blossoms that he collects, creating undulating artifacts that are both visceral and surreal.

    Robo-Rainbow (2010, 3 min) by Adam Nilsson documents street artist Akay with one of his "complicated technical solutions to aid in simple acts of vandalism." With a few tools and a rainbow of spray paints, any wall can be brightened with color.
    

• August 6: Animated across the Spectrum
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  • Saturday, August 6 : Animated across the Spectrum
    

    Papermation (2007, 1 min.) by Jen Stark is a stop-motion piece of mysterious organic structures created from intricate paper cutouts. Sound composed by Eddie Alonso.

    Fiddle-Dee-Dee (1947, 5 min., 16mm) by animation pioneer Norman McLaren, is a lively animated tumble of colors and forms. In brilliant colors, Fiddle-dee-dee reflects the gaiety of an old time fiddle, played by a Gatineau Valley fiddler.

    Radio Dynamics (1943, 4 min., 16mm), by Oskar Fischinger, is a vivid visual composition of form and color. Fischinger was a pioneer in the field of animation, known for creating rhythmical fields of color.

    Impasse (1978, 10 min., 16mm) by Frank and Caroline Mouris is an eye-popping animation made entirely out of Avery brand stickers. A simple narrative of a little red arrow emerges as we see it try to escape the pushy dots and rectangles.  

• August 13: Kodachrome Vibrations! ( 2:00 p.m. only, with guest curator Jim Granato and live musical accompaniment by GHIANT )
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  • Saturday, August 13: Kodachrome Vibrations! : ( 2:00 p.m. only, with guest curator Jim Granato and live musical accompaniment by GHIANT )
    

    Join us for an afternoon of Exquisite Corpse captured in Super 8 Kodachrome. These films were made by the San Francisco Exquisite Corpse group (SF X-
    Corpse), a rotating group of artists from a variety of arts backgrounds, in many cases with limited film experience. The films are experiments in a visual narrative and provide alternative ideas about the subject, while capturing a moment in San Francisco and the lives of those participating in the films.

    The impetus for the Exquisite Corpse Films follows from the original surrealist construct presented by Andre Breton in 1920. Each film was created using a 3-minute cartridge of Kodachrome super 8 film and was assigned a topic chosen by the group, with six 30-second opportunities to describe the subject. The filmmakers edited their contributions "in camera" and the films are presented as they were shot. Live music features GHIANT with Don Black and Eric McCann.