Joseph Bernard
Nacimiento : , Port Chester, New York
Historia
"Raised on the east coast of the U.S., I received degrees from the Hartford Art School and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. All my work is collage-based and all images, though silent, are heavily influenced by music and poetry. I've painted & photographed all my life, but from the late 70's to mid 80's I made over 100 super-8, silent films. These are highly subjective, non-narrative observations often on filmmaking itself."
Director
Shot weeks apart, I made two films of personal sightings while on public outings, in the company of the great mammals off Cape Cod. Like icebergs, very little of their bulk, beyond shimmering back and a rearmost dorsal fin is visible as they glide the surface. These forty-ton humpbacks power dive with a grace and purpose that had me conjuring their descending views; diminishing jagged streaks of light into plummeting depths of darkness.
Director
Beyond Quiet is an autobiographical video essay on painting, photography and Super-8 film.
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
"Interwoven footage of 12 females engaged in specific and personal physical activities -- each filmed separately, throughout the east coast and midwest (U.S.), then edited into a collective dance of sorts. This was my last completed film." -JB
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
The frantic opacity of being alive.
Writer
A splice-less, text soliloquy acknowledging an unknown, random audience of one I'm sharing this film with. Originally shot in b&w, the digital version has gone pink. Super-8, silent. - Joseph Bernard
Director
A sometimes very rapid montage of stills & short clips referencing aspects of filmmaking, as well as my own paintings on glass and photographs. So then -- a film about filmmaking, a dervish dance, a celebration of light, color, movement and all the charged beauty I was capable of then, or since. Super-8, silent, non-narrative. - Joseph Bernard
Director
A splice-less, text soliloquy acknowledging an unknown, random audience of one I'm sharing this film with. Originally shot in b&w, the digital version has gone pink. Super-8, silent. - Joseph Bernard
Director
"A declarative and somewhat facetious circular text weaves through many sampled versions of what "film" might be, i.e., home movie, Hollywood, training, documentary, newsreel, sports, abstraction, etc. Shot in b&w and silent, yet two more categories. Along the way, this film provides an identity of its own. Super 8, silent, experimental."
Director
Non-narrative film, highly manipulated: tape-over-frames, ink-tinted, bleached and drawn into. As a montage, abstractly and rhythmically intense. Super-8, silent, color, b&w. Dedicated to Bill Gubbins.
Director
Whale Watch (1) gathers personal sightings while on a public outing, in the company of the great mammals off Cape Cod. – Joseph Bernard
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
"A sixth meditation on aspects of filmmaking with repeated tracings of light traveling through glass (emblematic of cameras, viewers, meters, projectors). This one also macro-views editing bench equipment, as sites the eye/ mind goes to while splices dry. Super 8, silent, experimental, non-narrative."
Director
"#5 from a series of 7... A dance leading to a dance. Super 8, silent, non-narritive."
Director
"From a series of 7 "Intrigues", (as referenced by Delmore Schwartz), this fourth one pries the curious poetry of light and darkness within filmmaking. Super 8, silent, non-narrative,"
Director
"This is the opening to a series of seven "Intrigues", inspired by Delmore Schwartz's observations on the word. These seven titles of mine center on aspects of filmmaking. This one intersperses use of prism light, underwater shooting, the echoing of shadows and other darkened fragments/ abstractions. Super 8, silent, non-narrative."
Director
"Totally under-exposed 35mm slides of African maps were drawn over by a 10 & 12 year old. The slides, with their emulsion-scratched images, were then rephotographed... as a wonderful collaboration."
Director
"Bach implied; splice-free, light, airy, soft-focus reflections out the back window of a car returning from the beach on a perfect summer's day. Super 8, silent, non-narritive."
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard.
Director
"My attempt to repeat 'success'...this was the companion follow-up to RITUAL. Both films are densely compressed and they opened up many more options for future work. Super 8, silent."
Director
"This homage to structural filmmaker Paul Sharits, was made by re-photographing thousands of cement splices, then arranging them into four movements. The continuous image of the splice bar implies an almost dream-like landscape/ horizon line. I met him shortly after completing the film and gifted a print, which he responded to favorably. Super 8, silent, experimental."
Director
A short silent film by Joseph Bernard.
Director of Photography
This is a shortened version of a three-movement film made over a summer’s stay in Provincetown, MA (Cape Cod), first alone, then with family. A journal of sorts, it renders the place with obvious affection. The town remains today, to an amazing degree, as it appears in this film from decades ago.
Editor
This is a shortened version of a three-movement film made over a summer’s stay in Provincetown, MA (Cape Cod), first alone, then with family. A journal of sorts, it renders the place with obvious affection. The town remains today, to an amazing degree, as it appears in this film from decades ago.
Director
This is a shortened version of a three-movement film made over a summer’s stay in Provincetown, MA (Cape Cod), first alone, then with family. A journal of sorts, it renders the place with obvious affection. The town remains today, to an amazing degree, as it appears in this film from decades ago.
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
This is one of those rare, total in-camera edits that provided options for many of my later, densely layered films. The timing and lap dissolves were a pitch-perfect gift! Super 8, silent, experimental.—Joseph Bernard
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
A film by Joseph Bernard
Director
"Beyond much single frame shooting, ICON, an early film, allowed for the use of cropped stencil letters as abstractions and the idea of bringing my painting sensibility and tools to film. Super 8, silent, experimental."
Director
Spectrum and prism divide the screen; whites and light, etc. "Out of this purity comes all colors. I've always been attracted to refracted light and prismatic phenomena" says Bernard. For Richard Devereaux. Super 8, silent, non-narrative.
Director
"The film's title takes into account meanings and implication of the word 'chamber', as well as of the heart, intimate music, darkness, room, camera, prison, gun part...both empty and loaded. CHAMBER provided my conversion from painter to filmmaker." -JB
Director
"Half of MIRROR/ANOTHER MIRROR - this is, in part, a portrait of Carlo assisting. A shared reflection of abstractions and persistent blue passages. The camera was less than adequate, but I value the intention of this partnership and the haunting film it provided." -J.B.
