Waterfall (1967)

WHO: Chick Strand made this.

WHAT: A lovely 3 minute film that reworks footage from the Busby Berkeley musical Dames and other sources, with a Japanese koto soundtrack. Described by Strand herself thusly:

A film poem using found film and stock footage altered by printing, home development and solarization. It is a film using visual relationships to invoke a feeling of flow and movement.

WHERE/WHEN: On a program screening tonight only at 7PM at the Kadist Art Foundation storefront on the corner of Folsom and 20th Street.

WHY: Tonight's a tough call. The Castro Theatre is screening a pair of rare 35mm prints, of Allen Baron's 1961 independent X-mas -set crime picture Blast of Silence, and of George Raft, Joan Blondell, and Randolph Scott in Christmas Eve a.k.a. Sinner's Holiday tonight to launch the announcement of what might be the best-yet line-up of films for next month's Noir City festival at the venue. And Baron will be in attendance!

But, that double-bill conflicts with a screening of just-about equally-rare films from the Canyon Cinema collection, selected and presented by Janis Crystal Lipzin and Denah Johnston. It's an all-female line-up (perhaps a balance to the all-male screenings at the Kadist Canyon Pop-Up last Saturday and two weeks ago) including films by Storm de Hirsch, Marie Menken, Anna Geyer, and many others. I believe I've only seen two of the films showing before, Waterfalls and Dorothy Wiley's Miss Jesus Fries On Grill, and if they are a reflection of the quality of the rest of the program this should be a stunning show tonight.

We're in the middle of the final week of the Canyon Pop-up and its remarkable opportunity to for locals to borrow DVD transfers of works from the Canyon Cinema collection- for free! I've enjoyed seeing films like Anthony McCall's Line Describing a Cone (a uniquely interactive sculptural film experience) and Luther Price's Clown (the most horrifying Super-8 film I've ever witnessed) in the Kadist space over the past weeks, but I've almost equally enjoyed being able to watch and rewatch works by Craig Baldwin, Paul Clipson, Claire Bain, Saul Levine, Canyon co-founder Bruce Baillie, etc. in reference copies that would be (in most cases) otherwise completely unavailable to me. I'm definitely going back tonight to return my latest batch and borrow a new set in time to be returned before the Pop-up closes this Saturday. Whether I stick around to watch the free screening, or head over to the Castro, I have not yet decided.

HOW: Tonight's program is all-16mm projection.