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The Winter There Was Very Little Snow

THE WINTER THERE WAS VERY LITTLE SNOW is a visual mood poem using the barest narrative form to convey the feeling and time of crisis for a man in middle age. His marriage has collapsed; he is without a job; and his father has just died. There is no reality, only an indistinguishable mixture of images and moments drawn from some space in time that could be his past, his present, or his future.

The Animal

A man meets a woman at a deserted railroad station somewhere in northern New England. It is the middle of winter; snow is falling. The two drive to a remote farmhouse. Two strange children, who never speak, appear at the window; an old woman calls them away.

Monarda

Walter Ungerer’s Monarda (2010) has been screening across the country as part of the 2011 Black Maria Film Festival, a traveling program of new experimental cinema. Like much of Ungerer’s work, the 10-minute Monarda explores the mystifying qualities of nature. Beginning with a shot of grass, Ungerer quickly abstracts his images through digital manipulation until they are barely recognizable. Traces of natural forms (leaves, twigs) ground what is an otherwise indescribable procession of images. Though the visuals evade literal synopsizing, there’s a simplicity and concision to the film that allows the viewer to get caught up in their own experience rather than get sidetracked on decoding the filmmaker’s intentions. Monarda instills a feeling of both apprehension and wonder in the viewer. It’s a disquieting film, but one whose subtle craft and atmosphere becomes more impressive over multiple viewings.

The House Without Steps

A sensuous woman, an angry artist, a mysterious puppet maker, suspicious townspeople, mischievous kids; these are the characters in the film.

Blue Parrot

Abstract contemporary sculptures at a museum, male and female mannequins at a downtown mall, the Venice Beach and Santa Monica Promenades with their various attractions of hawkers, exhibitionists and vendors; these are all the subjects of this film. Added to the collection are a ride on a carousel composed of beautifully restored antique horses, a tram ride to the heights of the Getty Museum, an inner city LA bus ride, and the journey to the Boston airport from Maine. This material is blended together by layering, multiplying and repeating sequences to produce a array of colors, shapes, objects and sounds. that reflect the effects of a brief visit to Los Angeles.

Green Eye

How the universe evolved, and how humans developed are questions that arise with our awareness of life on the planet. There seems always to be much conjecture about it, but no clear answers. Mystery and wonder are pervasive. This film stems from my thoughts about it. As the images I created evolved into continuous sequences, it pursued a direction hitherto unknown by me until it was a film, and finished.

Kingsbury Beach

Digital stills and video footage of a child on a beach in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, are manipulated and obscured to create a nostalgic atmosphere of remembrances. The Amiga computer has now been replaced by the Macintosh. The editing program is the Media 100.

Epitaph

Meditations on human destruction composed at land's end.

The Window

One of a collection of experimental shorts shot on VHS, miniDV or created in the computer, where the results were edited and manipulated by filmmaker Walter Ungerer with various computer software programs.

noCOM

The film title is an abbreviation for no comment. With all due respects I find this to be an appropriate description of this film, which is based on abstract drawings, obscure images, and distorted sounds.

Clouds

The film explores the different shapes and colors of clouds. It probes the space clouds occupy. Through the use of haunting ethereal sounds and ghostlike imagery, the experience of seeing the heavens is interpreted.

Ici

The film begins with abstract images of continuously changing in color, shape and texture. Slowly it reveals the source and real identity of the original subject-matter, and in so doing has transcended the abstract world for reality. Yet, they co-exist. Time lapse video clips form the basis of this work.

The Awakening

The film parallels the short treatise The Awakening of Faith by Asvaghosha which provides a comprehensive summary of the essentials of Mahayana Buddhism. That treatise discusses the question of how man can transcend his finite state and participate in the life of the infinite while still remaining in the midst of the phenomenal order.

The Bird Feeders

A woman and a man, both no longer young of age, follow basic routines in their home. Outside at the birdfeeders, birds follow basic routines. As the sun rises and moves across the sky, life passes for all. The film uses a combination of stop motion and time lapse to record. This creates a visual staccato effect, which is also very apparent in the audio track when the two people are talking. Using this technique only small intermittent bits of a conversation are recorded. Much of the talking is omitted leaving newly constructed sentences and meanings.

Anna's Amazing Moving Animals

A short animation based on the drawings of an elephant and a giraffe by the filmmaker's seven year old daughter Anna.

Such as It Is

It is a film in four parts: underground, city, rural countryside, fog and ocean. Though the parts are separate, they are bound by the film; as earth, air, fire and water were separate are bound by the concept of universe for ancient Greece.