At the vanguard of the Berkeley Renaissance and San Francisco Beat scene from the late 1940s, Belson worked closely alongside his friends Harry Smith and Bruce Conner throughout the 1950s, including visits to New York.  Like Smith, he received support and patronage from Hilla Rebay, one of the founders of the Guggenheim Museum, where Belson had his first exhibition. Belson's 1957-1959 "Vortex Concerts," staged with sound artist Henry Jacobs at the Morrison Planetarium in San Francisco, were an important influence on the multimedia "expanded cinema" of the 1960s, as was his singular film work. In the late 1970s Belson renounced all public involvement in the worlds of art and film, and began a fruitful period of near-seclusion, which he maintained until his death. A Guggenheim Fellow and Ford Foundation Fellow, Belson also twice received American Film Institute grants.

New 16mm prints from the Harvard Film Archive collection (acquired from the Estate of Jordan Belson) will be screened, in addition to a selection of 16mm-to-DCP films currently under preservation.