Panorama Ephemera by Rick
Prelinger
Anthology Film Archives, Sept 20, 8PM
PANORAMA EPHEMERA (made by Rick Prelinger, 2004, 89:35 min., color and
black and white) is composed of sequences drawn from a wide variety of
ephemeral (industrial, advertising, educational and amateur) films,
touring conflicted North American landscapes. The
films' often-skewed visions reconstruct a history filled with horror
and hope, unreeling in familiar and unexpected ways.
PANORAMA EPHEMERA focuses on familiar and mythical activities and
images in America (1626-1978). Its cast includes children, animals,
farmers, industrial workers, superheroes, pioneers heading West, crash
test dummies, and many others. Many creatures, objects, and
substances that often seem too familiar to notice take center stage,
including pigs, corn, water, telephones, fire, and rice. At first
resembling a compilation, it soon reveals itself as a journey through
American landscape and history, and the story begins to emerge between
the sequences.
The film consists of 64 self-contained film sequences ranging from 5
seconds to 4 minutes in length arranged into a narrative. Unlike many
films made using archival footage, it's primarily a combination of
sequences rather than a collage of individual shots. Many compilation
or collage films use preexisting footage similarly to how we might
speak in words or syllables. I think this film speaks in paragraphs.
A DVD-quality version of PANORAMA EPHEMERA may be downloaded at no cost
from the Internet Archive:
http://www.archive.org/movies/movies-details-db.php?collection=feature_films&collectionid=panorama_ephemera.
It is released under a Creative Commons
"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike" license, and may be freely
shown, copied, or distributed according to the terms of this license
(http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/).
SHOWDATE:
Monday, September 20 at 8 pm: Anthology Film Archives, New York City
Anthology Film Archives is located at 32 Second Ave. at Second Street
and can be reached by the Second Avenue F train or the #6, Bleecker
Street stop. Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for students, seniors,
& $5 for AFA members. Further information: 212-505-5181 or
www.anthologyfilmarchives.org
--
Rick Prelinger
Prelinger Archives http://www.prelinger.com
P.O. Box 590622, San Francisco, Calif. 94159-0622 USA
Online film collection at Internet Archive:
http://www.archive.org/movies/prelinger.php