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Tuesday, Feb 7, 2017
7:30 PM (65 mins)
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BAMPFA
Jordan Belson: Films Sacred and Profane
Presented in association with the Center for Visual Music
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Introduction
Cindy Keefer is curator and archivist at the Center for Visual Music
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In Person
Get an advance look at the Hippie Modernism exhibition following the screening at the Public Preview!
Jordan Belson made abstract films richly woven with cosmological imagery exploring consciousness, transcendence, and the nature of light itself. Often called “cosmic cinema,” his films unfold imagery of skies, galaxies, suns, stars, auroras. Belson began as a painter and received his BA from UC Berkeley in 1946. Inspired by the work screened at the Art in Cinema series in San Francisco (1946–54), he began making films, developing a distinctive visual vocabulary relating inner and outer space. His work as visual director of the Vortex Concerts (1957–59) at Morrison Planetarium was a primary influence on the Bay Area light shows of the 1960s.—Cindy Keefer
Many of the films in this program were preserved by the Center for Visual Music with support from the National Film Preservation Foundation; unless otherwise noted, films are courtesy of the Center for Visual Music, Los Angeles. Newly restored 16mm film print of Cycles made by and genrously loaned by Stephen Beck.
Films in this Screening
Bop Scotch
(Bop scotch)
Jordan Belson, United States, 1952
FILM DETAILS
Print Info
- Color
- Digital
- 3 mins
Mandala
Jordan Belson, United States, 1953
FILM DETAILS
Print Info
- Color
- 16mm
- 3 mins
Séance
Jordan Belson, United States, 1959
FILM DETAILS
Print Info
- Color
- 16mm
- 4 mins
Vortex V presentation reel
Jordan Belson, United States, 1959
FILM DETAILS
Print Info
- B&W
- 16mm
- 5 mins
Allures
Jordan Belson, United States, 1961
FILM DETAILS
Print Info
- Color
- 16mm
- 8 mins
LSD
Jordan Belson, United States, 1962
FILM DETAILS
Print Info
- Color
- 16mm
- 4 mins
Samadhi
Jordan Belson, United States, 1967
FILM DETAILS
Print Info
- Color
- Digital
- 5 mins
Momentum
Jordan Belson, United States, 1968
FILM DETAILS
Print Info
- Color
- 16mm
- 6 mins
Chakra
Jordan Belson, United States, 1972
FILM DETAILS
Print Info
- Color
- 16mm
- 6 mins
Cycles
Jordan Belson, Stephen Beck, United States, 1974
FILM DETAILS
Print Info
- Color
- 16mm
- 10 mins
source
- Stephen Beck
Music of the Spheres
Jordan Belson, United States, 1977
FILM DETAILS
Print Info
- Color
- 16mm
- 11 mins