One of the central figures of the avant-garde film movement that emerged in the Bay Area in the 1960s, Swedish native Gunvor Nelson returns to San Francisco for a much-anticipated screening of recent and older work. Known for her exquisite compositions, painterly activation of the film’s surface, and playful blending of physical and cinematic space, Nelson’s works reveal deeply personal responses to her subjects. Tonight’s program includes her three recent digital video works: Tree-Line (1998), Snowdrift (2001) and the local premiere of Trace Elements (2003), as well as a mini-retrospective of 16mm films spanning three decades: Schmeerguntz (1966), My Name is Oona (1969), Take Off (1972) and Time Being (1991). Steve Anker writes, “The films of Gunvor Nelson compose one of the great bodies of independent work in the history of the medium.” (Scott Stark)