Coinciding with the turn of the century, Jonas Mekas, already in the twilight of his life, undertook an emotional review of his personal world that Xcèntric now recovers on the occasion of the centenary of his birth. From the audiovisual diary in which all his work is set, in As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty the Lithuanian filmmaker captures 30 years of his life in the form of flashes of existence, moments of the beauty of everyday life.
On their website, the filmmaking duo of Anja Dornieden and Juan David González Monroy – who work together under the moniker OJOBOCA – describe themselves as practitioners of ‘Orrorism’. Their description of a “simulated method of inner and outer transformation” can only go so far in conveying the irresistible effect of their wry and often confoundingly labyrinthine creations.
Joyce Wieland (1931–1998) became a pioneer of Canadian experimental film by creating a body of work that perfectly expressed her unconventional and radically personal approach as an artist. When she started off as a painter in the 1950s, she earned her living at an advertising and commercial film studio in Toronto where she became familiar with the medium as would later be mirrored in her own films: like her long-time husband Michael Snow, she studied cinematic perception by focusing on objects from a familiar and inanimate world.
Dates:
Thursday, November 17, 2022 (All day) to Wednesday, November 23, 2022 (All day)
Hannes Schüpbach (*1965) is a Swiss artist whose cinematic oeuvre is deeply rooted in the essence of the medium of film. His soundless works on analogue 16 mm film inspire reflection on time and movement, duration and memory. The screening features «Instants» (2012) and «Essais» (2020) in a performative presentation that involves language, music, and a conversation. Hannes Schüpbach is joined by cellist Flurin Cuonz and Werner von Mutzenbecher, a pioneer of artist film.
“[…] 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
Microscope is very pleased to present a night of live film performances by San Francisco-based filmmaker and artist Scott Stark.
The program includes eight new and recent performative works by the artist often involving video-projection and live sound, culminating in a 20-minute dual 16mm film performance.