Man Inflating a Woopie Cushion

Long Ago

A story of long, long ago. When the world was just beginning.

Another Country

"A supplementary country called cinema … I began collecting stamps in my passport, with this infan­tile, idiotic, idea that I could set foot in all the countries of the world … Where I almost stumbled into catastrophe was when the postcard, a strange clandestine umbilical chord, couldn't be found." – Serge Daney

Landskip

"Every single entity contains an adumbration or landskip of the whole Universe" (Jan Baptist van Helmont, 1650).

Parergon

“All that which in Picture is not of the body or argument thereof is Landskip, Parergon, or By-work” (Thomas Blount, Glossographia, 1656).

Redwood Souvenirs

Time spent house-sitting for Fredric Jameson from 2020 until 2022. Assembled after his death as a memento for myself and others.

weak signal

Images of something like nature struggling to endure against the noise of an entropic electronic signal.

Frail Hope

A solitary figure pirates "A Ilha dos Prazeres Proibidos" (Carlos Reichenbach 1979), while also downloading "Carson City" (André De Toth, 1952). We see some of the latter film. The figure departs, wakes up, to then go about his day, leaving the door open. It is early spring.

Seven Images of Disappearance

Seven images, each staging their own disappearance.

Ode to R.G. Springsteen

Daily dedications to a minor artisan of the classical Hollywood western. Each segment was originally a kind of letter, a private correspondence, sent in fragments to a friend over a few weeks—an ode to R.G. but also to B.C. (an ode to cinema, to everyday life, and to the cinephilic fantasy of their becoming indistinguishable).

Reservoir (Seven Fragments)

Set at an artificial reservoir in North Carolina, RESERVOIR (SEVEN FRAGMENTS) is a meditation on the unnatural histories of the American environment. The film approaches both the cinematic image and the landscape it captures as damaged, estranged things—things adrift in a world of irreparable discord.

Invocations for Spring

The landscape here is an assemblage of fragments—of disjuncts. Some vain repetitions as the season changes and a cloud passes by. "We are expected to rejoice in darkness, and triumph in mutability; to lay the foundation of happiness in things which momentarily change or fade; and to expect the utmost satisfaction and instruction from what it is impossible to arrest, and difficult to apprehend” -John Ruskin, 1856

Historic Record of the Conquest (El Morro)

The narration—interrupted by the soundtrack of Alfred E. Green's 1948 western Four Faces West—describes a 19th century photograph by Timothy O’Sullivan, titled Historic Spanish Record of the Conquest. The photograph is slightly out of focus, pinned against a bluish wall, and flaps in response to the occasional wind of a droning fan. And there’s bit of sunlight, reflected against a map of the West Indies.

out of touch (franklinia still life)

the franklinia flower, now extinct in the wild, appears here as a printed image (a drawing from 1782) pinned against a kitchen wall. hand and figure move disjointedly. the light of day gives way to electricity, to darkness, and to morning. recorded on a video camera built in 2002: an obsolete image tracing some accidental gestures and capturing a form of life existent only in cultivation. some fragments of vermeer, general electric, and chiquita brands international.

Ray's Place

An oblique remake of Nicholas Ray’s On Dangerous Ground (1951), Ray’s Place follows Ray from his haunts in New York City to Binghamton where, exiled from Hollywood, he taught alongside members of the American avant-garde. Participating in both Hollywood’s golden age and the experimental cinema of the 1970s yet at home in neither, what is Ray’s place?

Red River Nonsites

Located somewhere between the writings of Robert Smithson and the westerns of Howard Hawks—that somewhere being the present, momentarily suspended in a few video fragments of the landscape. A here and an elsewhere, a site (sight) and its nonsite (nonsight). Another movie adrift in the atmosphere. Pieces of information on the assembly and disassembly of Red River (1948) played and fast-forwarded against a background of fall leaves. Cattle, cowboys, and everything else that once made up the cinematic imaginary.

Barton Fink

A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.

Riding Giants

Riding Giants is story about big wave surfers who have become heroes and legends in their sport. Directed by the skateboard guru Stacy Peralta.

Dave Chappelle's Block Party

The American comedian/actor delivers a story about the alternative Hip Hop scene. A small town Ohio mans moves to Brooklyn, New York, to throw an unprecedented block party.

Ocean's Eleven

Danny Ocean and his gang attempt to rob the five biggest casinos in Las Vegas in one night.

The Science of Sleep

A man entranced by his dreams and imagination is lovestruck with a French woman and feels he can show her his world.

Beverly Hills Cop III

When his boss is killed, Detroit cop Axel Foley finds evidence that the murderer had ties to a California amusement park called Wonder World. Returning to sunny Beverly Hills once more, Foley reunites with Detective Billy Rosewood to solve the case. Along with Billy's new partner, Detective Jon Flint, they discover that Wonder World is being used as a front for a massive counterfeiting ring.

Broken Flowers

An introverted man receives an anonymous letter from an ex-lover informing him that he has a son who may be looking for him. A freelance sleuth neighbor motivates the man to embark on a cross-country search for his past flames, seeking answers.

Bruce Almighty

Bruce Nolan toils as a "human interest" television reporter in Buffalo, NY, but despite his high ratings and the love of his beautiful girlfriend, Bruce remains unfulfilled. At the end of the worst day in his life, he angrily ridicules God — and the Almighty responds, endowing Bruce with all of His divine powers.

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

A trio of thrill-seeking go-go dancers kidnap a young girl and attempt to seduce an old rancher and his two sons out of their small fortune, but their scheme doesn't play out as intended.

Good Bye, Lenin!

Alex Kerner's mother was in a coma while the Berlin wall fell. When she wakes up he must try to keep her from learning what happened (as she was an avid communist supporter) to avoid shocking her which could lead to another heart attack.