Drawn from filmmakers on three continents, this program of experimental short films and videos centers on the theme of the individual's relationship to the environmental space he or she inhabits. The protagonists in these films (both real and imagined) engage in a full range of human activities, including taking a shower (The Bather), playing hockey (Ha'Aki), visiting an art museum (Hot Dogs at the Met), committing suicide (Us), performing body modification (Chop Off), surviving in the forest (KOGI), moving through urban spaces (A Time and a Time, densen, Without You, influenza/Composition II, Camera Roll, Métro), and plunging through celluloid space (Trailer Trash).

The avant-garde filmmaking enterprise is essentially one defined by creative artists working single-handedly and with great sensitivity to reinterpreting the field of vision before their camera lenses. Departing from more conventional modes of storytelling, the filmmakers in this program employ more discursive techniques to further the narrative, including the use of found footage, collage, animation, superimposition of texts, the absence of visible characters, voiceless soundtracks, and the transformation of the human figure and man-made constructions into studies of formal abstraction. In so doing, these moving image artists manipulate quotidian reality into beautiful and stirring tales of the fragile nature of human existence.

Additional Film Added

To mark the passing of famed New York photographer Helen Levitt, a special screening of her short film In the Street, shot in the mid-'40s and released in 1952, has been added to the Human Landscapes program. The film was created by Levitt, James Agee, and Janice Loeb with music composed and performed by Arthur Kleiner. Distributed by Cecile Starr.

A Time and A Time, Dir/Wri: Sarah Cox
Us (Nous), Dir/Wri: Olivier Hems
Chop Off, Dir/Wri: M.M. Serra
KOGI, Dir: Paula Gaitán
Trailer Trash, Dir: Mark Street
densen, Dir: Anna Linder
Without You, Dir: Tal Rosner
influenza/Composition II (chrome square), Dir: Jeroen Jongeleen
Camera Roll (for Taylor), Dir: Joel Schlemowitz
Métro, Dir: Martin Laporte
Ha'Aki, Dir/Wri: Iriz Pääbo
The Bather,Dir: George Griffin
Hot Dogs at the Met, Dir: Ken Jacobs
In the Street, Dirs: Helen Levitt, James Agee, Janice Loeb

Martin Laporte, M.M. Serra, George Griffin, Jeroen Jongeleen, Sarah Cox, Paula Gaitán, Anna Linder, James Agee, Helen Levitt, Olivier Hems, Iriz Pääbo, Tal Rosner, Mark Street, Joel Schlemowitz, and Ken Jacobs