Autumn Spectrum

Autumn Spectrum

1958 · 7 min

Whether at the stage of conceptualization or "editing", the blending and multiple impression of the images were done in-camera. In this sense, I think I have found ways to strengthen the evolution of the camera as a creative instrument. The whole film is one scene without any dark moments. In AUTUMN SPECTRUM, movement is the dominant element, while nostalgia is the real theme of the film.

Directed by Hy Hirsh

Your Rating

Make it a double feature

1h 46m together

Autumn Spectrum

Devi

A close match in mood and era.

More from Hy HirshSee all →

Eneri

Short experimental film by Hy Hirsh. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with iotaCenter and National Film Preservation Foundation in 2000.

Come Closer

Come Closer · 1953

Directed, assembled by Hy Hirsch.

Gyromorphosis

Gyromorphosis · 1954

According to the director, "Gyromorphosis strives to bring into actuality the inherent kinetic qualities seen in the construction-sculpture of Constant Nieuwenhuys of Amsterdam. To realize this aim I have put into motion, one by one, pieces of this sculpture and, with colored lighting, filmed them in various detail, overlaying the images on the film as they appear and disappear. In this way, I have hoped to produce sensations of acceleration and suspension which are suggested to me by the sculpture itself."

La Couleur de la forme

La Couleur de la forme · 1961

La Couleur de la forme

With his last film, Hirsch more than ever justifies a critic’s description as ‘the Matisse of the Cinema.

The Cage

The Cage · 1947

A soundless film starts in a studio: an artist sits, a nude stands; a page burns, paper cutouts appear, images are distorted. The artist removes his eye; it falls from his hand, seeing images spin as it rolls. A man falls, objects in the studio falls on him, he's not the artist. A woman gets help from a man in a lab coat; he and the man on the floor fight over a shotgun. Outside, in the city, people and cars move backwards. On the street, those from the studio chase a woman who's stolen leeks. In the backward cityscape, they move forward. They run toward a seaside amusement park. The artist follows, his head in a bird cage. He ends up with the woman who went for help; or does he?

Fort Rupert

Fort Rupert · 1951

MovieDocumentary

Kwakiutl, Kwakwaka'Wakw, potlatches. British Columbia tribe as a civilization in decline as assimilation has almost obliterated native culture. Fort Rupert, Britsh Columbia Canada

Scratch Pad

Scratch Pad · 1960

Directed by Hy Hirsh. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2000.

Hunting Keys

Hunting Keys · 1959

A film by Hy Hirsh. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with iotaCenter and National Film Preservation Foundation in 2000.

Clinic of Stumble

Clinic of Stumble · 1948

Clinic of Stumble

A comically solemn dance film composed of superimposed images.

More Like This

Wild River

Wild River · 1960

MovieDramaRomance

A young bureaucrat for the Tennessee Valley Authority goes to rural Tennessee to oversee the building of a dam. He encounters opposition from the local people, in particular a farmer who objects to his employment (with pay) of local black laborers. Much of the plot revolves around the eviction of a stubborn octogenarian from her home on an island in the river, and the young man's love affair with that woman's widowed granddaughter. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation.

Devi

A devout upper-class Hindu has a vision in a dream that his daughter-in-law is the human incarnation of the Goddess Kali and begins worshipping her.

Death of a Bureaucrat

Death of a Bureaucrat · 1966

Death of a Bureaucrat

A model Cuban revolutionary tragically dies at work and, as a badge of honor, is buried with his labor card in his suit pocket. When his widow attempts to apply for his pension, the pension office demands the original labor card. Desperate, his nephew embarks on an increasingly chaotic and surreal quest through the Cuban bureaucratic system to secure permission to exhume the body, only to be met with endless forms, contradictory regulations, and apathetic officials.

Western Union

Western Union · 1941

When Edward Creighton leads the construction of the Western Union to unite East with West, he hires a Western reformed outlaw and a tenderfoot Eastern surveyor. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation in 2000.

The Return of Frank James

The Return of Frank James · 1940

The Return of Frank James

Farmer Frank and his ward hunt brother Jesse's killers, the back-shooting Fords.

The Big City

The Big City · 1963

Arati takes a job as a door-to-door saleswoman in Calcutta's wealthy neighbourhoods, in defiance of her traditionally-minded husband, Subrata, and his live-in parents. Emulating her Anglo-Indian friend Edith, who speaks equal to the men she encounters on the job, Arati quickly becomes her firm's top salesperson. When Subrata loses his job, the power dynamic begins to shift.

Lilith

MovieDramaRomance

Vincent Bruce, a war veteran, begins working as an occupational therapist at Poplar Lodge, a private psychiatric facility for wealthy people where he meets Lilith Arthur, a charming young woman suffering from schizophrenia, whose fragile beauty captivates all who meet her.

Window Water Baby Moving

Window Water Baby Moving · 1959

Window Water Baby Moving

MovieDocumentary

On a winter's day, a woman stretches near a window then sits in a bathtub of water. She's happy. Her lover is nearby; there are close ups of her face, her pregnant belly, and his hands caressing her. She gives birth: we see the crowning of the baby's head, then the birth itself; we watch a pair of hands tie off and cut the umbilical cord. With the help of the attending hands, the mother expels the placenta. The infant, a baby girl, nurses. We return from time to time to the bath scene. By the end, dad's excited; mother and daughter rest.

Eye Myth

Eye Myth · 1967

After the title, a white screen gives way to a series of frames suggestive of abstract art, usually with one or two colors dominating and rapid change in the images. Two figures emerge from this jungle of color: the first, a shirtless man, appears twice, coming into focus, then disappearing behind the bursts and patterns of color, then reappearing; the second figure appears later, in the right foreground. This figure suggests someone older, someone of substance. The myth? Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter