Jan. 23
7:30 p.m.
Museum of the Moving Image
35 Avenue at 37 Street
Astoria, NY 11106

Hosted by: Academy Film Archive

Mark Toscano, a preservationist at the Academy Film Archive, presents an evening of restored masterworks and rarities as part of the Museum of the Moving Image’s Avant-Garde Masters series.

After being closed for three years, MOMI has recently reopened with a $67 million renovation that features a brand new 267-seat theater and a 68-seat screening room.

The films of this particular screening have been chosen by Toscano based on an inspiration from Keewatin Dewdney’s 1967 film The Maltese Cross Movement, which is included in the lineup. Dewdney’s film and the others “playfully explore many elemental and metaphorical aspects of celluloid cinema.”

A couple other highlights in the lineup, which is listed in full below, include an early experimental film by indie screenwriting expert J.J. Murphy, Sky Blue Water Light Sign, which underground film historian Scott MacDonald describes as “one of the happiest, most uplifting short films I’ve ever seen.” Also, there’s an early ’80s short by Stan Brakhage protégé Phil Solomon, What’s Out Tonight Is Lost, as well as films by Robert Nelson, Peter Rose and Standish Lawder.

Mark Toscano also runs a fun blog about his profession called Preservation Insanity.

Here’s the full lineup:

The Maltese Cross Movement, dir. Keewatin Dewdney, 1967, 7 mins.
Penny Bright and Jimmy Witherspoon, dir. Robert Nelson, 1967, 4 mins.
Hotel Cartograph, dir. Scott Stark, 1983, 11 mins.
The Divine Miracle, dir. Daina Krumins, 1973, 6 mins.
Sky Blue Water Light Sign, dir. J.J. Murphy, 1972, 9 mins.
Eclipse Predictions, dir. Diana Wilson, 1982, 4 mins.
What’s Out Tonight Is Lost, dir. Phil Solomon, 1983, 8 mins.
Hand Held Day, dir. Gary Beydler, 1975, 6 mins.
Analogies, dir. Peter Rose, 1977, 14 mins.
Dead Reckoning, dir. David Wilson, 1980, 9 mins.
Raindance, dir. Standish Lawder, 1972, 16 mins.