alr

Nathaniel Dorsky, Songs and Seasons

If we do relinquish control, we suddenly see a hidden world, one that has existed all along right in front of us. In a flash, the uncanny presence of the poetic and vibrant world, ripe with mystery, stands before us.

— Nathaniel Dorsky, Devotional Cinema, 2003

For over five decades, Nathaniel Dorsky (b.1943) has been crafting work of arresting beauty: silent 16mm films exploring life, light and movement. Dorsky's supreme artistry of 16mm cinematography and rhythmic montage has given way to a distinctive mode of meditative cinema largely filmed in the streets, always without sound, and grounded in a penetrating understanding of film form. A professional and much sought after film editor, Dorsky is also a passionate and dedicated cinephile whose unique understanding of cinematic process is wonderfully captured in his published essay Devotional Cinema. The Harvard Film Archive is proud to screen two pristine prints from the HFA collection as part of Nathaniel Dorsky’s visit, and honored to host the world premiere of his four latest films. – Jeremy Rossen

Related film series

Read more

An Evening with Nathaniel Dorsky

Read more

Recent and Remembered Films by Nathaniel Dorsky

Read more

The Illuminations of Nathaniel Dorsky

Read more

Luminosity – The Films of Jerome Hiler

Read more

Stan Brakhage's Metaphors On Vision

Current and upcoming film series

Read more

Fragments of a Faith Forgotten: The Art of Harry Smith

Read more

The Yugoslav Junction: Film and Internationalism in the SFRY, 1957 – 1988

Read more

From the Jenni Olson Queer Film Collection

Read more
a double-exposed image that includes a 16th century Russian man being fed grapes by another amid decadent decor

Wings of a Serf

Read more
a close-up of a Bissau-Guinean woman wearing a scarf on her head and looking directly at the camera with a slight smile

Le Dépays + Sans soleil

Read more
Peter Sellers wearing a large hat with "ME" embroidered on it, and gripping a Pilgrim-like collar

Carol for Another Christmas

Read more

Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy