Hunting Keys

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

Directed, assembled by Hy Hirsch.

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."

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

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?

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

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

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.

A comically solemn dance film composed of superimposed images.