Now Available: Five New Digital Files from Dorothy Wiley
Posted August 4th, 2023 in Announcements, New Acquisitions, New Digital Files, News / Events
Canyon Cinema is delighted to announce the acquisition of five new digital files from longtime member Dorothy Wiley! Included amongst this new deposit are 4 titles that were previously available on 16mm – Cabbage, Letters, The Weeny Worm or the Fat Innkeeper, and Zane Forbidden – as well as one film that is new to Canyon’s catalog: Coffee. Thanks to Jon Shibata and UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive for providing these beautiful new digitizations.
For more on Dorothy Wiley’s work, see “Off the Shelves: This is Serious Business,” by Antonella Bonfanti.
Coffee (1977, 8 minutes, color, silent, digital file)
Silent, meditative film of an everyday object, a “cosmic love letter to coffee” (Sarah Hotchkiss).
Cabbage (1972, 9 minutes, color, sound, 16mm or digital file)
I like to film ordinary things I do and see everyday because film makes it so easy to see the immense cosmic fearsomeness and beauty of everything. While watching film, I can abandon myself to the event. I don’t find that so easy to do in the kitchen in the morning. I still don’t understand that part.
Letters (1972, 11 minutes, color, sound, 16mm or digital file)
One day I was watching my son write a letter – making marks on paper, folding it, slipping it into another folded paper, putting a name on it, a little picture in the corner, sending it flying through the air. Every movement seemed so packed with love energy that I began to think of all letters as Valentines. I thought of all the incredible letters Wiley and I had received over the years so I filmed four of them – a letter from Judy, a letter from worms, a letter from bugs, and a letter from Ethan. Wiley and Bob and Diane Nelson whistled popular favorite classics for the soundtrack.
The Weeny Worm or the Fat Innkeeper (1972, 11 minutes, color, sound, 16mm or digital file)
I first saw these creatures at the Bodega Bay Marine Biology Lab. I was amazed – I lived on this planet so long not knowing I was sharing it with weenie worms. They only live a few places in the world. Victor had been working with them for several years doing DNA experiments.
Zane Forbidden (1972, 10 minutes, color/b&w, sound, 16mm or digital file
I love home movies.
