Amy Halpern

What can I say about a private letter?

An opera in the public domain. A film about duration. “I tremble for my country when I think that god is just.” (Thomas Jefferson)

A horizon like a blade.  Consistent across landscapes in California – ocean to desert and back to the ocean.

Statement and demonstration.

Abstract music notation and something very obvious.

Endangered animals on an endangered medium. A heartbeat 4/4 Slow cinema, with a sex scene.

A private toast. Inspired by a random encounter with this Wikipedia entry, while looking up “Chabrol, Claude” for a full listing of his films: “Faire chabrot or faire chabròl is an ancient Occitanian custom whereby at the end of a or broth, one adds red wine to the bowl to dilute the remnants and brings it to the lips to drink in big gulps.” – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

with Indigo Cohan.

Ancient alchemists believed that salamanders can be reborn from fire, like the phoenix or Christ. They do not survive fire, nor extreme dryness. And they cannot be resurrected after burning. (Amy Halpern)

My mother, now 94. Filmed more than 30 years ago. (Amy Halpern)

“Trying to get in, trying to get out. Encounters from the plague year.”

Presents the physically necessary film “leaders”; at the front and back end of movies as aesthetic in themselves. (Amy Halpern)

A portrait of Jane Wodening (Brakhage). “A person who was the subject of the camera for many years looks back at us with an interrogating stare.” (Amy Halpern)

with Arwa Ibrahim 1 - Detention 2 - Hollywood Hills 3 - Reptile 4 - Bestiary 5 - Abstract and Concrete 6 - Doorway Occupation 7 - Sideways

with Adnan Ibrahim "Stand up and use your ears like a man" - Charles Ives

Two palindromes. One resurrection. No happy ending.

A short sweet film concerning torture. For Lynda Gudde.

By Halves uses appropriated footage from rejected 35mm prints that were cut in half and readjusted to be used as spacers for 16mm to sync sound tracks on film, and not meant to be projected.

With Asha Wilson and Joyce Campbell.

Reveals the history of camerawomen around the world, celebrating not only the survival of pioneer women in a male-dominated field, but a new generation of camerawomen's visions.

Reveals the courageous lives of pioneer camerawomen from Hollywood to Bollywood, from war zones to children’s laughter, in a way that has never been seen before. Based on a book by Alexis Krasilovsky, the film tells the stories of camerawomen surviving the odds in Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Iran, Mexico, the U.S. and other countries, as well as exploring their individual visions.

The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles serves as the backdrop of Pat O’Neill’s artfully-crafted film. Shot in the classic Hollywood style, the movie follows various mysterious characters as they move through the haunted halls of the hotel, exploring along the way the secrets that are held within.

with Yogi John Franzoni

A rhythmic montage of almost 200 faces, human and animals, that Halpern pans vertically, creating a cascade of visages suggesting that while individuals express a range of emotions they remain ultimately enigmas.

The dilapidated former house/headquarters of South Central LA's Black Panthers is at the center of a clash between radical ideals of the past, and 1980s Buppie efforts to use white-owned platforms (banks, media) to uplift the community.

Gesturing hands emerge from the darkness, readying us for the cinematic experience.

1981, 16mm, b&w, silent, 2 mins. Shots of Halpern cutting her fingernails, biting them, and dunking them in water.

A woman from Nigeria seeks work in the United States while her daughter struggles with premonitions and homesickness.

칙 스트랜드는 이미지를 통해 은유적 의미를 드러내는 영화 편집 기법과 카메라의 독특한 움직임으로 잘 알려져 있다. 스트랜드는 종종 영화 속에서 촬영시 이미지를 중첩하는 기법을 사용했다. 사운드와 이미지는 스트랜드의 영화 속에서 의미를 전달하는데 중요한 역할을 한다. 그녀에게 영화는 여러 지역사회의 생생한 경험을 조사하기 위한 민족지적 방법이었다. 그녀는 전통적 인류학의 연구 방법이 영화제작을 통해 예술과 융합될 수 있다고 믿었다. 그녀는 작품을 통해 객관적 현실의 개념, 정신 이론에 대한 철학적 질문, 그리고 정신 이론들과 과학적 실재 사이의 장벽을 탐색했다. 젠더와 섹슈얼리티는 그녀의 작품속에 자주 등장하는 주제다. 스트랜드의 1979년 작품인 은 제 2세대 페니니즘 운동 시기에 발표된 작품으로 강간, 근친상간, 마약 중독, 취약성을 경험한 여성의 내러티브와 역사를 다루고 있다. 스트랜드는 영화감독으로서 자신의 위치를 종종 대중적 시네마와 필름을 지배하고 있는 남성적인 시선과 여성성에 대한 개념을 탐구하기 위해 사용했다. 그녀는 자신의 실험영화 작품을 통해 불평등한 권력 관계와 구조를 해체하려고 시도했다. 은 다큐멘터리 접근방법과 감각적인 서정적 표현주의를 결합하여 여성의 관능이 가진 생존력을 찬란하게 포착한 사적 다큐멘터리다. 스트랜드는 자신의 경험에 대해 말하는 사람들에게 카메라를 집중해 영화에서 좀 처럼 찾아 보기 힘든 몸짓과 표정이 가진 미묘한 차이를 드러낸다. 작품의 제목이 의미하는 은 여러 층위에서 작동한다. 다큐멘터리에 대한 스트랜드 자신의 접근방식을 특징짓는 진리와 허구 사이의 부드러운 선을 환기시키고, 영화의 에로틱한 내용과 표현방식에 적합한 소프트코어 픽션의 사상을 제안한다. (마샤 킨더)

A bewitching, mysterious work of enveloping beauty, the film’s ominous title and a dedication to Anne Frank deeply inform our reading of its haunting subtext.

In the politically charged atmosphere of the early 70s, Mikis Theodorakis conducted a concert of his music in Philadelphia. His music was banned in Greece, his own country, at that time by the US-funded junta. Visiting the US on a limited visa, he was restricted to musical appearances only - no public speaking permitted. His hands, eloquent even when their gestures are deprived (by silent filming) of the music they are making, speak. Several in-camera phenomena resulted from the highly-charged nature of the shoot.

Illusions of surface, abstract to pictorial. Initially the grain of the film emulsion, complete with scratches, variations in framing – the meat of film – are the most apparent elements of all. The object shown is revealed to be a bowl of canned peaches. But even with identification, the visual illusions return – e. g., a concave surface becomes convex, the flat bottom of the bowl becomes an egg.

In three parts: Statice/frameline; Drops; The Cannonball Section. Unpopulated (except for the cheap ending on the Cannonball Section). (Previously shown as SLOW FLUSH.) –A. C. H.