With Ken Jacobs in person

Martin Scorsese’s dynamic approach to filmmaking was strongly influenced by the avant-garde films he saw in the 1960s. This program features his own selection of American avant-garde classics that have all been restored with support from the Film Foundation. Program runs approximately 90 mins.

Black Is (Aldo Tambellini, 1965, 4 mins. 16mm). A cameraless film in which the artist scratched, perforated, drew, and used acid and other substances on the surface of the film to create a mesmerizing, abstract study of light and motion. Preserved by Harvard Film Archive through the Avant-Garde Masters program funded by The Film Foundation and administered by the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Rabbit’s Moon (Kenneth Anger, 1950-1972, 16 mins. 35mm). Originally filmed on nitrate color film stock, Kenneth Anger’s dazzling fantasia about the legend of a rabbit that lives in the moon combines elements of French mime and Italian commedia dell’arte. Anger created several different versions over the years. This version, restored in 35mm, was made in 1972 and features a soundtrack of 1950s doo wop songs. Preserved through the Avant-Garde Masters program funded by The Film Foundation and administered by the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Prefaces (Abigail Child, 1981, 10 mins. 16mm). Prefaces is composed of wild sounds placed tensely beside images of workers, the gestures of the marketplace, colonial Africa, and abstractions, to pose questions of social force, gender relations, and subordination. Preserved by Harvard Film Archive through the Avant-Garde Masters program funded by The Film Foundation and administered by the National Film Preservation Foundation.