Pictured above: Skin in the Game (2016) by Ariana Gerstein
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Admission: $10 General/$6 Cinematheque Members
Advance tickets available here

“When I began making films, I was fascinated by the celluloid object and its transformation by the projector—with its singular light, scale and illusion of continuity and time. I never wanted to reflect the world I see with my eyes. I wanted to make something else. Something I could touch and not touch.” (Ariana Gerstein)

Recalling at times the lush animation works of Gunvor Nelson, the tactile films of Ariana Gerstein reconcile her fascination with filmic materiality with the soft ephemeralities of light, time and memory. Using complex hand-wrought editing methods and extensive optical printing Gerstein’s work dazzles in its visual complexity and rhythmic timing. Gerstein’s recent work innovatively integrates desktop image scanners into her analog filmmaking process, capturing minute personal gestures in a sort of slow-motion real-time animation process, creating a visuality both intimate and abstract. Tonight’s screening comprises a mini-retrospective of these works, 2000–2018, including Close the Lid, Gently; Performance for Perfection 1200; Images of Flying and Falling; upCycles; In Glass Houses; Skin in The Game and Traces with Elikem. (Steve Polta)

upCycles (2016) by Ariana Gerstein

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