Program Two
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The Film that Rises to the Surface of Clarified Butter
Directed by Owen Land (as George Landow).
US, 1968, 16mm, black & white, 9 min.
Print source: LUX
An illustrator drawing figures that resemble Tibetan deities can’t believe his eyes when they appear to come to life and dance on the paper; trapped between 2D and 3D space, the characters’ eerie limbo is amplified by the sinister loop of the soundtrack.
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Diploteratology
Directed by Owen Land (as George Landow).
US, 1967-78, 16mm, color, 7 min.
Print source: LUX
A revision of Bardo Follies, Diploteratology suggests that “death (destruction of the original image) is not an end but merely the next stage.”
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“No Sir, Orison!”
Directed by Owen Land (as George Landow).
US, 1975, 16mm, color, 3 min.
Print source: LUX
After singing a vivacious song of love in the aisle of a supermarket, a performer kneels down to ask forgiveness for those involved in the commercial food industry, which substitutes natural produce with non-nutritious commodities. Orison means prayer. The title of the film (a palindrome) is the answer to a question.
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Wide Angle Saxon
Directed by Owen Land (as George Landow).
US, 1975, 16mm, color, 22 min.
Print source: LUX
An interpretation of The Confessions of Saint Augustine featuring an ordinary middle-aged man who undergoes a conversion experience whilst watching an experimental film.
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Thank You Jesus for the Eternal Present
Directed by Owen Land (as George Landow).
US, 1973, 16mm, color and b&w, 6 min.
A rapturous audio-visual mix that “deliberately seeks a hidden order in randomness.” The film combines the face of a woman in ecstatic, contemplative prayer with shots of an animal rights activist, and a scantily clad model advertising Russian cars at the International Auto Show, New York.
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A Film of Their 1973 Spring Tour Commissioned by Christian World Liberation Front of Berkeley, California
Directed by Owen Land (as George Landow).
US, 1974, 16mm, color, 12 min.
Print source: LUX
Cinema-verité style footage of a radical Christian group’s lecture tour of US colleges is dynamically collaged via stroboscopic editing that uses a rapid rhythm of three-frame units.
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New Improved Institutional Quality: In the Environment of Liquids and Nasals a Parasitic Vowel Sometimes Develops
Directed by Owen Land (as George Landow).
US, 1976, 16mm, color, 10 min.
Print source: LUX
The IQ test returns in an entirely new work concerned with the soundtrack’s effects on the examinee, who enters a Chinese box of impossible perspectives. He briefly escapes the oppressive environment only to pass into the imagination of the filmmaker, where he encounters images from previous films.
