Cruel Optimism

A dreamy, impressionistic 16mm film of light on water, comprised mostly of sepia tones.

Exploring impressionistic, emotional and sensory environments found within the vast natural and urban landscapes of America. Neither image nor sound takes precedence: the two interact and combine preserving a raw sense of the discovery that field recordings and in-camera edited film rushes often yield.

Music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, 16mm color film by Paul Clipson.

Super 8mm, 21 min., color and b&w, music by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma

A dream lament for a drowned world. Filmed in London, Zurich, San Francisco, Berkeley and Napa. Music by Grouper.

16mm film by Paul Clipson, and music by Sarah Davachi. Filmed in New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Brisbane, Krakow, Sidney, Portland, Napa, Oakland and San Francisco.

Music by Jefre-Cantu Ledesma. Film by Paul Clipson with Trevor Montgomery.

Short experimental film by Paul Clipson

Music by Byron Westbrook, 16mm film by Paul Clipson.

Music by Austin Cesear, 16mm film by Paul Clipson.

Water, fire and oil mix into an anxious premonition read across the surface of an eye, a pond and an expressway. Filmed in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland. Music by Alex Cobb 16mm color and B&W film by Paul Clipson

A commission for the San Francisco Exploratorium, this film-collage studies the water systems and architecture of the San Francisco waterfront, in abstract and formal contexts.

Paul Clipson puts us on the beach, just before fall, when summer is still present—a time we have a hard time realizing is still here because we know what comes next.

Paul Clipson unexpectedly exchanged his court sound engineer, Jefre Cantu-Ledesm, for a promising artist named Kadet Kuhne, who presents herself in this experimental film with ambient meditation drawing on the theme in Barake from 1992. Cadet is a very interesting creature who not only makes music but audiovisual art, sculpture, photography and canvas.

Mayrah is a film made from a time last summer while in Sidney, Brisbane and Melbourne. Australia was such an intense flurry of impressions, movements and environments, that the film took the form of a stone skipping across moments of this time: a series of visual memories, the surface of which both reflected some brief abstract and literal elements of my experience.

A black-and-white short film made in collaboration with Sarah Davachi.