Leighton Pierce in person!
A Home-Made Optics: Films and Videos of Leighton Pierce
1995-2001, Leighton Pierce, USA, ca. 90 min

Since the 1980s, the films and videos of Iowa-based artist Leighton Pierce have painted a lush portrait of Midwestern life. Tonight’s program compiles his rich domestic observations: a gurgling backyard fountain in GLASS (1998); the repetitive clatter of children’s feet on the porch in THE BACK STEPS (2001); and the plucking of a solitary, stretched length of twine in 50 FEET OF STRING (1995). Also: WOOD (2000) and PUPPY-GO-ROUND (1996). Co-presented by CATE and the Film Studies Center at the University of Chicago, which will screen “A Wandering Optics” on Friday, March 2. Various formats. (Thomas Comerford)

Thursday, March 1, 6:00 pm

Saul Levine in person!
Saul Levine: Notes From The Underground
1968-83, Saul Levine, USA, ca. 90 min.

“Saul Levine is the foremost dissenting filmmaker in America,” writes critic P. Adams Sitney. “His works are high-energy messages of friendship, records of sexual love and political activism.” The small-gauge master and SAIC alum will present beautifully restored 16mm blow-ups of his intimate and incendiary 8mm “notes”: NOTE TO PATI (1969); NOTE TO COLLEEN (1974); NEW LEFT NOTE (1968-83); THE BIG STICK/AN OLD REEL (1967-73); and NOTE TO POLI (1982-3). Co-presented with the Experimental Film Club at the University of Chicago, which will screen other Levine works on Friday, March 9. 16mm. (Amy Beste)

Thursday, March 8, 6:00 pm

Mary Ellen Bute: Centennial
1934-53, Mary Ellen Bute, USA, ca. 70 min.

“A pioneer of visual music and electronic art, Mary Ellen Bute produced over a dozen short abstract animations between the 1930s to the 1950s. Set to classical music by the likes of Bach, Saint-Saens or Shoshtakovich, and filled with colorful forms, elegant design and sprightly, dance-like-rhythms, Bute’s filmmaking is at once formally rigorous and energetically high-spirited, like a marriage of high modernism and Merrie Melodies.”--Ed Halter, cinematexas

2006 marked the centennial of Bute’s birth; tonight’s survey celebrates her artistic accomplishments, including RHYTHM IN LIGHT (with Melville Webber and Ted Nemeth, 1934); SYNCHROMY NO. 2 (1935); DADA (produced for Universal Newsreel, 1936); PARABOLA (1937); SPOOK SPORT (with Norman McLaren, 1939); TARANTELLA (1940); POLKA GRAPH (Fun with Music) (1947); COLOR RHAPSODY (1948); IMAGINATION (Produced for Steve Allen, 1948); NEW SENSATIONS IN SOUND (RCA Commercial, 1949); PASTORALE (1950); ABSTRONIC (1952); and MOOD CONTRASTS (1953). Organized by the Center for Visual Music, in association with Cecile Starr and The Women’s Independent Film Exchange. 16mm. (Amy Beste)

Thursday, March 15, 6:00 pm

Vladimir in person!
Vladmaster!
2004-6, Vladimir, USA, ca. 60 min.

Portland artist Vladimir elevates the View-Master to high art with her hand-made stereoscopic Vladmasters, repurposing the plastic viewers for extraordinary public performances. Drawing upon Greek legends, entomology, and newspapers, her “films” are 28-frame haikus, photographed from richly detailed dioramas and set to her artfully composed soundtracks-including chimes and dings. Tonight, Vladimir will present a brief survey of her output, including LUCIFUGIA THIGMOTAXIS (2004); THE PUBLIC LIFE OF JEREMIAH BARNES (2004); ACTAEON AT HOME (2005); and FEAR & TREMBLING (2006). View-Masters will be provided. (Amy Beste)

Thursday, March 29, 6:00 pm

Upcoming programs in Conversations at the Edge:

April 5
LTTR in person!
Lttr: The Dead, The Absent And Fictitious
1991-2006, Various directors, Italy/Spain/UK/USA, ca. 75 min.

April 12
Jennifer Montgomery in person!
NOTES ON THE DEATH OF KODACHROME
2006, Jennifer Montgomery, USA, ca. 80 min.

April 19
Sharon Lockhart in person!
PINE FLAT
2006, Sharon Lockhart, USA, 135 min.

April 26
Peggy Ahwesh in person!
Pistolary! Films and Videos by Peggy Ahwesh
1989-2001, Peggy Ahwesh, USA, ca. 85 min,

May 3
SAIC Film, Video & New Media Department Year-End Show