Crossroads (1976) by Bruce Conner, © Conner Family Trust, San Francisco
Saturday, July 11, 2026, 4:00 pm
Crossroads and The Exploding Digital Inevitable
Film Preservationist Ross Lipman In Person
Presented in association with Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
Admission: $18 General / $12 Cinematheque Members
Event tickets here
In 1976, groundbreaking collagist, sculptor and filmmaker Bruce Conner released his magnum opus, a thirty-seven-minute assemblage of US government footage of the iconic Bikini Atoll atomic bomb test. The Exploding Digital Inevitable is a documentary essay by Ross Lipman, who oversaw the restoration of Conner’s Crossroads in 2012. Integrating an array of movie and audio clips, still photographs and rare archival documents, Lipman tells the story of Crossroads and Conner’s collaboration with Terry Riley and Patrick Gleeson, including original interviews with both composers. Presented together, Crossroads and its unique production history come into view as one of the most profound meditations on the nuclear era.
SCREENING:
The Exploding Digital Inevitable: Part 1 (2017) by Ross Lipman (US); digital video,color, sound, 24 minutes. Exhibition file from maker.
Crossroads (1976) by Bruce Conner (US); screened as digital video, b&w, sound, 37 minutes. Exhibition file from Conner Family Trust and Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles. Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive
The Exploding Digital Inevitable: Part 2 (2017) by Ross Lipman (US); digital video,color, sound, 25 minutes. Exhibition file from maker.
TRT: 86 minutes
This screening part of the BAMPFA series Film Preservationist Ross Lipman In Person
This series highlights Ross Lipman, “acclaimed film restorationist and independent filmmaker,” whose work explores film as “both a material artifact and an artistic medium.” Featuring restorations and presentations spanning American independent and experimental cinema, it reflects his ongoing effort to propose “a new philosophy of the archive for the post-digital era.”
Ross Lipman is an American restorationist, independent filmmaker, and essayist. He is the author of The Archival Impermanence Project.
The Archival Impermanence Project brings together decades of Ross Lipman’s work as a film restorationist, blending case studies, essays, and archival materials into a richly layered exploration of cinema. Both practical and philosophical, it rethinks how films survive and evolve over time—offering a compelling vision of restoration as an art shaped by the very condition of impermanence. Order now!