Now available: two new films by Nathaniel Dorsky

Posted February 10th, 2020 in New Acquisitions, New Films, News / Events

Nathaniel Dorsky, born in New York City in 1943, is an experimental filmmaker and film editor who has been making films since 1963. He has resided in San Francisco since 1971.

“In film, there are two ways of including human beings. One is depicting human beings. Another is to create a film form which, in itself, has all the qualities of being human: tenderness, observation, fear, relaxation, the sense of stepping into the world and pulling back, expansion, contraction, changing, softening, tenderness of heart. The first is a form of theater and the latter is a form of poetry.” – Nathaniel Dorsky

Calyx (2018 | 13 minutes | COLOR | SILENT)

I photographed Calyx during the rather tense twenty-one days preceding my open heart surgery to replace an aortic valve and then shipped the footage off to the lab the day before my operation. I edited the twenty one rolls about three weeks after coming home from a rather dramatic nine days in the hospital. I hope this little film captures some of the feelings of dread mixed with an elegiac feeling for our world.

Calyx is the husk surrounding the tender bud of a soon to be flower. -N.D.

Apricity (2019 | 22 minutes | COLOR | SILENT)

The title Apricity refers to the warmth of the sun in winter. It is an homage to the writer Jane (Brakhage) Wodening. In speaking to her I mused, “perhaps your age is the winter and you are the warmth of the sun.” -N.D