Canyon Cinema travels to Berkeley this week for a special screening of pivotal works from its collection. As a part of Canyon Cinema 50, its celebration of half a century in continuous operation, and together with the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive’s ongoing series Hippie Modernism: Cinema and the Counterculture, 1964-1974, the distributor will co-present Elegy To Ecstasy, an evening of films made by some of the most influential figures in the history of avant-garde cinema.

For the final screening of this series showcasing contemporary underground and experimental films we will be presenting the world premiere of Pazúcus: Island of Vomit and Despair, by Brazilian director Gurcius Gewdner!

Olivia Boudreau’s videos, films, and performance works inspire reflections on the experience of time and the act of perception. The Montreal-based artist carefully choreographs precise shots of long duration in works such as L’étuve (2011), where a group of women appear and disappear as dense vaporous clouds slowly fill a steam room. Her more recent works, including Femme allongée (2014), make use of narrative structure and editing. A woman draped in a white sheet lies immobile on a table.