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Eureka

Date produced: 1974

Filmmaker(s):

Nicolás Echevarría

Description:

"Primer súper 8 de Nicolás Echevarría, quien ya había realizado un trabajo experimental en 16 milímetros y veía en los superocheros una suerte de "comunidad de marginados" con la que se sentía a gusto, mostraba sobre el fondo de una pieza de Ravel las poses de un contorsionista que buscaba la autosatisfacción en un decorado que asocia la noción burguesa de confort al erotismo" (Vázquez Mantecón 2012)

"First super 8 film of Nicolás Echevarría, who had already filmed and experimental piece in 16 mm and saw in the supereighters a sort of "outcasts' community" that he identified himself with, it showed with the background of a Ravel musical piece the poses of a male contortionist looking for self-satisfaction in a setting that associates the notion of the bourgeoisie to the comfort of eroticism"


Form in Motion

Date produced: 1950

Filmmaker(s):

Jose M. Pavon

Description:

"Color, light and movement are skillfully and pleasurably combined in Jose M. Pavon's Form in Motion, an experimental film that "experiments" in the best sense of that word. Employing such simple properties as shower curtains, knives and forks and Mexican glassware, Mr. Pavon has used both his camera and his imagination to great effect. Unfortunately, the film from time to time moves beyond the subject matter limits set up by its title, an inconsistency which mars slightly the overall impact." Movie Makers, Dec. 1950, 467.


H2O

Date produced: 1928

Filmmaker(s):

Ralph Steiner

Description:

"This film is a study of water in the new manner: A series of photographic shots of the reflections of boats, ferry houses, docks, etc., on water and the whole resulting in a chain of pure abstract patterns of shapes in water. Steiner achieves an astonishing tempo as his film advances. The picture is bound to attract wide attention and a great deal of discussion wherever is shown." Photoplay, Nov. 1929, 67


Herbie

Date produced: 1965

Filmmaker(s):

Paul Golding

George Lucas

Description:

"Herbie is an abstract pattern mostly of automobile headlights enough out of focus to cause the viewer to wonder what they are. The judges felt the maker of this film should be commended for synchronizing his sound track to the abstract movements, of the patterns made by the lights" PSA Journal, Aug. 1967, 37.


Jazzflections

Date produced: 1969

Filmmaker(s):

Leon Paquette

Description:

Jazzflections is a sound and color blending film by Leon Paquette of Lynn, Mass. It's 2½ minutes of experimenting in how music looks color-wise and shape-wise. It's short enough to be entertaining and yet long enough to let you know how some other guy feels about the sound of music," PSA Journal, Mar. 1970, 44.


Jícama [Jicama]

Date produced: 1970

Filmmaker(s):

Sergio Díaz Zubieta

O. Santos

Description:

"La película realizaba un montaje lúdico al yuxtaponer los mensajes políticos oficiales escritos en las bardas de la ciudad con imágenes o textos que los ironizaban o alteraban su sentido. El título viene de un juego de palabras con el fraseo de las sílabas "Mé-xi-co" / jí-ca-ma", que solían usarse entonces como porra en los partidos de fútbol de la selección nacional" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).

"The movie had a playful montage by juxtaposing official political messages written in walls around the city with images or text that ironized them or altered their meaning. The title comes from a word game that played with the phrasing of the syllables "Me-xi-co / ji-ca-ma", a popular chant during the national team soccer games of the time" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).


Kaleidoscopio

Date produced: 1946

Filmmaker(s):

Roberto Machado

Description:

"Kaleidoscopio, by Dr. Roberto Machado, is a brilliant and provocative study in abstractions, filmed in its entirety through a kaleidoscope. Dr. Machado's cinematic extension tube, however, is quite obviously not the familiar small toy of one's childhood: in one sequence, delicate human fingers are deployed before the device, while in another a set of colored, kitchen measuring spoons do a gay dance in multiple. The lighting — which traditionally was transmitted only through the base — ranges from that type (through gleaming balls of crushed cellophane) to reflected illumination on an assortment of children's marbles. Billed by its producer as a "film musical," Kaleidoscopio is indeed instinct with strong rhythmic patterns and pulsations. The picture is an exciting and imaginative advance along the ever widening frontiers of personal motion pictures." Movie Makers, Dec. 1946, 471.


Liquid Jazz

Date produced: 1962

Filmmaker(s):

Joseph M. Kramer

Description:

"Floating, bubbling, revolving, darting, projecting, swirling, blending, forming, superimposing colors upon colors in sync with jazz music. Two numbers of different tempo and patterns, a fantasia of color configuration and music. What can one say about this type of visual and audible accomplishment on film? This will be included in the [prize winning] Package." PSA Journal, Oct. 1962, 34.


Little White Horse

Date produced: 1962

Filmmaker(s):

Martha H. Hill

Description:

"An abstraction made by scratching patterns on black and white film with a needle. The clear areas were tinted with acetate dyes - thus adding color. The visual images are fitted to the mood and tempo of a commercial recording. The film was made without the use of a camera and required no developing. A novel presentation. This will be blown up to 16mm and will be included in the Package," PSA Journal, Oct. 1962, 35.


Materia nupcial [Bridal matter]

Date produced: 1974

Filmmaker(s):

Alfredo Robert

Description:

"Quizá para dejar claro que abordaba el tema desde un punto de vista artístico, la película comienza con imágenes de erotismo en las artes plásticas (Picasso y Fiona Alexander, principalmente) para relatar la historia de un hombre (Salvador Garcini) que se acerca sensualmente a su amada (Tina Romero) y descubre que tiene una vagina dentada, cosa que lo desorienta y conflictúa. Es curioso que a diferencia del poema de Neruda en el que se había inspirado, la película no mostraba el ejercicio de una sexualidad plena y consumada, sino precisamente de los miedos a ella.
El joven vaga atormentado por las calles de la ciudad. Acude con una especie de gurú (Juan José Gurrola), que interpreta música neuroatonal en un teclado eléctrico, mientras resuena el poema de Neruda. A partir de esto el joven recupera sus fuerzas y recibe una suerte de inciación sexual con una mujer de vestido blanco en la pirámide de Cuicuilco para finalmente volver, todo complejo superado, a la mujer del principio" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012)

"Maybe to make it clear that the topic was addressed from an artistic perspective, the film begins with erotic images from plastic arts (mainly Picasso and Fiona Alexander) to tell the story of a man (Salvador Garcini) that approaches sensually his loved one (Tina Romero) and discovers that she has a Vagina Dentata, which disorients and conflicts him. It is curious that unlike the Neruda poem it is inspired by, the film doesn't show a free and consummated sexuality, but the fears associated with it.
The tormented man wanders the streets of the city. He goes to a sort of spiritual guru (Juan José Gurrola), that interprets neuro-atonal music in an electric keyboard, while Neruda's poem sounds in the background. From this point the young man regains his strength and receives a sort of sexual initiation with a woman dressed in white in the pyramid of Cuicuilco to finally come back, all complexes aside, to the woman of the beginning" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012)


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