Non-Narrative
see all genres ›The short form has proven ideal for more abstract cinematic expressions, whether channeling dreamtime logic or pastiching elements from other media.
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Genres / Short / Non-Narrative
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At Land
AT LAND begins at sea. In the film's stunning opening sequence, a woman (played by filmmaker Maya Deren) emerges on shore, climbs up a pile of driftwood... and finds herself in the middle of a formal banquet. She then moves from lush, verdant jungles to seaweed-strewn beaches, stealing chess...Watch Movie
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Intervals
INTERVALS is the Peter Greenaway’s self-described “attempt” at creating an entertaining, abstract film; a series of bustling streetscapes from that most photogenic of cities, Venice. Using a self-conscious experiment in frame rate and a structure borrowed from the most Venetian of concertos...Watch Movie
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Psych-Burn
“PSYCH-BURN was what musicians call a contract-breaker. ABC had given us some coin to make a few short films for a TV pilot. LOVE-IN TONITE was to be a psychedelic rock variety show with live performances, skits and whatnot to cash in on the emerging hippie demographic. Even pre-Disney, the...Watch Movie
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Moonlight Sonata
After GYMNOPEDIES, I had long wanted to animate a film specifically for a pre-selected piano piece by Eric Satie. MOONLIGHT SONATA is that film. It was totally designed for the "Gnossienne V" and the movements of the animation are timed to the overall rhythms as well as the...Watch Movie
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Gymnopédies
Lawrence Jordan took not only the music but the title from Erik Satie. These three pieces are probably the most famous of Satie's musical series. The precise sense of the word "gymnopédies" is unknown. Etymologically it denotes the goings on of named (gymno) children (paidos); yet here the word...Watch Movie
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A Colour Box
It is one of the curious quirks of film history that the UK General Post Office is responsible for several masterpieces of cinema. Among them, John Grierson's NIGHT MAIL and this characteristically fizzy Len Lye short, his first camera-less film. Painted directly on film stock, Lye's colors and...Watch Movie
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Big Sur
In describing the process of BIG SUR, artist Lawrence Jordan writes, "As with RODIA-ESTUDIANTINA only one shot, which probably was the result of lapse in concentration, was deleted from the original camera roll. This film was intended to extend my experiments with the 'in-camera' film, and is...Watch Movie
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Rated R for Nudity
Filmmaker Denis Villeneuve takes a playful stab at mass hypnosis. Celebrating the mesmerizing power of movies, he offers mischievous glimpses into a subconscious world inhabited by Ingmar Bergman, Steven Spielberg and Bo Derek. The audacious creative force behind POLYTECHNIQUE...Watch Movie
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Scene 32
SCENE 32 maps the terrain that lies between a beloved place and the things that represent it. The salt fields of Central Kutch are examined through High Definition video and hand processed 16mm film to become another thing altogether: neither a specific location in India nor its representation...Watch Movie
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Pink Swine
One of Lawrence Jordan's earliest animated films, PINK SWINE is an energetic and playful mix of various animation styles. Described as "an anti-art dada collage film," this free-form short presents cut-out images animated across old photos (a style picked up by Terry Gilliam a few years later)...Watch Movie
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T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G,
"If you take the facts of the retina, the flicker mechanism of film projection," Paul Sharits wrote, "then you can make films without logic of language." T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G assaults language rather more directly with its single-word soundtrack ("Destroy") and the image of poet...Watch Movie
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Two Bagatelles
Two experiments in pixilation co-directed by Norman McLaren and Grant Munro. In the first, (which was inspired by NEIGHBOURS/VOISINS) a man waltzes to a synthesized version of a Johann Strauss melody; in the second, he moves around playfully to a tune played on a street organ.Watch Movie
