The Highwater Trilogy

A short film made during lockdown.

Made by re-editing a deteriorated nitrate print of The Bells (1926), starring Lionel Barrymore and Boris Karloff, this work shows the fragility of the film image while foreshadowing the Holocaust.

Chicago, 2018. A man is killed by police on the street. Through a composite montage of images from surveillance and security footage as well as police body-cams, Incident recreates the event and its consequences, featuring vain justifications, altercations and attempts to avoid blame. Bill Morrison delivers a chilling political investigation in search of the truth.

Early Bill Morrison film from 1992, black & white, 16mm.

The true history of a collection of some 500 films dating from 1910s to 1920s, which were lost for over 50 years until being discovered buried in a sub-arctic swimming pool deep in the Yukon Territory, in Dawson City, located about 350 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

A scene from The Bells (1926) is optically reprinted and edited to Michael Gordon's 7 minute composition. A meditation on the fleeting nature of life and love, as seen through the roiling emulsion of a film.

A meditation on the human quest to transcend physicality, constructed from decaying archival footage and set to an original symphonic score.

Based on the story of Howard Walls, A clerk at the Library of Congress who saved a collection of early paper reel films from the incinerator, director Bill Morrison embellishes the tale a bit in this inspired short work. Here, the vision of a woman in an early porno film has been engrained in the mind of a man working at the Library of Congress and his search for the film of her has an unexpected consequence, as he saves a collection of historically significant films from being destroyed.

Bill Morrison’s experimental short features decayed film reels from the lost, German silent film Pawns of Passion (1928).

Original Super 8 footage shot by Dr. Oliver Sacks of his patients at Beth Abraham Hospital, Bronx, NY, who were administered the drug L-Dopa in the summer of 1969 and “awakened” after decades of inactivity is featured in this cine-poem that combines archival footage with a score for solo saxophone composed by Philip Glass.

Alan is a musician who leaves a busted-up band for New York, and a new musical voyage. He tries to stay focused and fends off all manner of distractions, including the attraction to his good friend's girlfriend.

A response in music and film to the conflict that launched a century of war, and a celebration of the power of art to keep us sane and offer us comfort. Beyond Zero: 1914-1918 brings together three of the world's most pioneering artists: the Kronos Quartet, known for decades for their trailblazing performances and collaborations; acclaimed Serbian composer Aleksandra Vrebalov; and filmmaker Bill Morrison, respected for his work with rare and even partially destroyed archive images.

An early Bill Morrison short, in this work he traverses an urban landscape utilizing high contrast black and white footage. The bustling nature of the setting is complimented by the energetic music by Michael Gordon.

Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Iceland, July 9, 2016. The surprising discovery of a canister —containing four reels of The Village Detective (Деревенский детектив), a 1969 Soviet film—, caught in the nets of an Icelandic trawler, is the first step in a fascinating journey through the artistic life of film and stage actor Mikhail Ivanovich Zharov (1899-1981), icon and star of an entire era of Russian cinema.

Originally planned as part of Michael Kanieckis play, «Howard Hughes: The World Is Round», the film follows the internal monologue of billionaire Hughes as he navigates between Earth and The Screening Room. James Godwin is featured in the voice-over. The performance was presented at The Kitchen, NYC, March 1994.

A collection of films from an eclectic array of contributors commissioned to raise funds for the Bristol independent cinema The Cube.