Pneuma (1977) by Nathaniel Dorsky
Thursday, January 24, 1985, 8:00 pm
Michael Mideke/Nathaniel Dorsky
Pneuma (1977-84) by Dorsky, 29 min., color, PREMIERE
“According to Stoic philosophy, the soul or “Pneuma” is a fiery breath or ethereal wind permeating the body. At death, the “pneuma” survives the body, but as impersonal energy. For six years I have made an extensive collection of outdated rawstock that has been processed without being exposed, and sometimes re-photographed in closer format. Here we find a world alive with the organic deterioration of film itself, a brilliant and colorful display close to the essence of cinema in its before-image, preconceptual purity.” — N.D.
Twig (1966), Untitled Color Sections (ca. 1970), Bon’s Plow (ca. 1970), the last two premieres, Devil’s Canyon (1972-77) by Mideke, 45 min. Total.
“There are many dimensions to personal filmmaking; as many reasons for getting into it as there are filmmakers and probably just that many definitions of personal film… Devil’s Canyon represents a variety of film responses and explorations inspired by the wilderness area where I live. The real wilderness, however, is not that of the location but the wilderness of the film itself.” — M.M.