Buseok (2024) by Park Kyujae

A man searches for memories of his family’s past, alternating between Geomeunyeo, Buseok Temple and his grandmother’s house, all of which are located along a straight line on the map. Geomeunyeo is a rock located in the reclaimed area of Buseok, Seosan, South Korea. It was originally a reef that was exposed above sea level, but is now above ground. The name of Buseok, which means floating rock, is said to be derived from Geomeunyeo. (Park Kyujae) bay area premiere

Apollo (2003) by Tomonari Nishikawa

It shows my interest in materials, medium and apparatus of cinema. The sound will be produced from the visual on the optical soundtrack—for some parts, I used a 35mm still camera to expose the soundtrack area and I scratched off the film emulsion directly for other parts. This is my senior thesis project at Binghamton University and Julie Murray was my advisor. (Tomonari Nishikawa)

Market Street (2005) by Tomonari Nishikawa

As I am interested in the projection apparatus and human visual perception, I carefully juxtaposed images on Market Street by single-framing, in order to create certain happenings on the screen. By studying my super 8 films, Sketch Film #1 and Sketch Film #2 (both 2005), I made decisions for sequences of this film before working on this project. No re-photographing technique is involved. The result may look abstract, yet representative enough to show the characteristics of the street. This film was commissioned by the San Francisco Foundation and the Exploratorium for the event A Trip Down Market Street 1905/2005: An Outdoor Celebration. (Tomonari Nishikawa)

where night falls a thud (2024) by Sophie Watzlawick

At the heart of the human being, in the air and under the sea
Beyond these tableaux, the worst is happening
An invisible off-screen disaster
A human-made desolation that, if it doesn’t kill, requires to open up to other realities
To tremble in the turmoil in order to survive.
(Sophie Watzlawick) bay area premiere

Ashes to ashes by Sidney Gordon

Ashes to ashes depicts fragments of the artist’s diary as they undergo physical and emotional transformation through a blazing agricultural landscape. Words turn to ash as the past is consumed by flames. Rivers ignite from embers, flow through vessels and begin to crack. Manifested through the land and material processes lies a situated reflection on recovery, loss and evolution. The film was shot at the 2024 Independent Imaging Retreat. It was developed with common comfrey and contaminated wood ash foraged from the farm and was coated in the artist’s blood. (Sidney Gordon) world premiere

45 7 Broadway (2013) by Tomonari Nishikawa

This is about Times Square, the noises and movements at this most well-known intersection. The film was shot on black and white films through color filters—red, green and blue—then shots were optically printed onto color films through these filters. The layered images of shots by handheld camera would agitate the scenes and the advertisements on the digital billboards try to pull ahead of others. (Tomonari Nishikawa)

Careless Passage (2024) by Jerome Hiler

Somehow, aeons ago, consciousness came about. I’m often drawn to think of the earliest stages of life when we were swimming blindly in water. How was it possible to develop that bubble-like appendage to our brains that allowed the great miracle of sight? What a revolution in that infinite cosmos for consciousness to join with sight. (All this taking place among bubbles near a warm shore). Was this event some kind of mandate from the Universe so that it might know itself? Are we tools in that quest? How do these thoughts fit into the parade of ongoing distractions that make up daily life? Careless Passage will answer none of these questions. Its purpose is to muse and swim among migrant sights seen by the transforming eye of a camera. (Jerome Hiler) bay area premiere