Jan. 29
3:00 p.m.
Museum of the Moving Image
35 Avenue at 37 Street
Astoria, NY 11106

Hosted by: Museum of the Moving Image

Meditative contemplation gives way to barbaric chaos in this selection of classic avant-garde and experimental films from 1947 to 1976. Several of the makers and one of the stars of these short movies will be in attendance at the screening. They are: Millicent Brower, Larry Gottheim, and Carolee Schneemann.

What’s also interesting about this particular lineup is that not only do the films go from meditation to chaos, but their order is close to being neatly chronological. The most meditative film, Untitled by Norman Mailer, is from 1947 while the most chaotic, Jerry’s by Tom Palazzolo, is from 1976. Is that an unconscious statement about the historical progression of avant-garde film?

The screening will also repeat on Jan. 30 at 5:30 p.m. The full lineup is below:

Untitled, dir. Norman Mailer, 1947, 9 mins. (Starring Millicent Brower)
Blues, dir. Larry Gottheim, 1969, 8 mins.
Doorway, dir. Larry Gottheim, 1970, 7 mins.
Body Collage, dir. Carolee Schneemann, 1967, 4 mins.
Meat Joy, dir. Carolee Schneemann, 1964, 11 mins.
Jerry’s, dir. Tom Palazzolo, 1976, 10 mins. (Watch online)

Still of Schneemann’s Meat Joy taken from the Museum of the Moving Image website: