presented in association with Pacific Film Archive, the Cultural Services of the Consulate General of France in San Francisco and the French American Cultural Society
“The most memorable of Lowder’s films are experiments in creating distinct visual experiences that, in their reduction of day-long phenomena into brief, precise, intense cinematic moments, sing the potential of an ecological film aesthetic.” (Scott MacDonald)
Hailing from the south of France, filmmaker, curator and archivist Rose Lowder has created, since 1978, a remarkable body of 16mm films which explore visual perception and the mechanics of the cinematic apparatus while absolutely exploding with ecstatic color and vibrant kineticism. Inspired largely by the rhythms of nature and rural life, Lowder’s films joyously celebrate the textures of the natural world with an impassioned, impressionistic eye. This two-part series, presented on the occasion of her first visit to the Bay Area since 1987, represents a brief overview of Lowder’s extraordinary body of work, 1978–2011. (Steve Polta)
Wednesday, October 10th at 7PM – Pacific Film Archive
Couleurs Mécaniques, program I
Rose Lowder In Person
Program introduced by Greta Snider
[PFA Admissions Apply]
Order advance tickets here.
Program to include: Certaines observations (a double-projector work); Les tournesols colorés (Colored Sunflowers); Quiproquo; Voiliers et coquelicots (Poppies and Sailboats); Habitat, Batracien (Batrachian); Jardin du soleil (Sun Garden); Rien d’extraordinaire (Nothing Special Beau-site); and Fleur de sel (Sea Salt Flower).
Sunday, October 14th at 4PM . YBCA — please note special show time!
Couleurs Mécaniques, program II
Rose Lowder In Person
[members: $6 / non-members: $10]
Order advance tickets here.
Second program to include: Roulement, rouerie, aubage, a study of paddle wheels on the River Sorgue; Rue des Teinturiers a longitudinal exploration of an urban landscape via intricate focus-pulling; Les Coquelicots (Poppies), a fusion of fishing boats and a field of red poppies; Jardin du sel/Salt Garden, a series of six poetic pictures, based on the sun, the wind and the sea, a strangely dark documentation of a sea-salt harvest; Bouquets 11-20, ten tightly structured, intricately woven, single-frame floral flicker films; and Beijing 1988, in which the ancient traditional philosophies and social practices of Chinese culture confront the ideological ambitions of the State. (Steve Polta)