1/18/2024 – Portraits and Short Visual Diaries: A Salon with Margaret Rorison
Posted January 4th, 2024 in Canyon Cinema Salon, Events and Screenings, News / Events
Portraits and Short Visual Diaries: A Salon with Margaret Rorison
Thursday, January 18, 2024 @ 7:30pm (doors 7pm)
16 Sherman Street, San Francisco
Curated and introduced by Margaret Rorison
“This selection of 10 short films celebrates the mobile nature of the 16mm camera, and the limitations of its mechanism that allow for true experimentation and play. The program, dedicated to my dear friend and filmmaker, Amy Halpern, focuses on works that embrace portraiture and the diaristic nature of the moving image, with films spanning from 1955–2021.” (Margaret Rorison)
As always, this Salon event is free and open to the public, with refreshments served beginning at 7pm and the doors closed for the start of the show at 7:30. Please note that well-fitting masks (N95 or KN95) are strongly encouraged, and that the theater’s seating capacity is extremely limited. An informal conversation with the curator will follow the screening.
With thanks to Jon Shibata and Pacific Film Archive. All films distributed by Canyon Cinema unless otherwise noted.
Screening Line-up:
New York Near Sleep for Saskia (Peter Hutton, 1972, 16mm, 10 minutes)
Ciao Bella (Betzy Bromberg, 1978, 16mm, 13 minutes)
Elixir (Amy Halpern, 2012, 16mm, 7 minutes)
Elasticity (Chick Strand, 1976, 16mm, 25 minutes)
Sacred Heart of Jesus (Freude, 1965, 16mm, 6 minutes, courtesy of Pacific Film Archive)
Flight (Greta Snider, 1996, 16mm, 5 minutes)
Piensa En Mí (Alexandra Cuesta, 2009, 16mm, 15 minutes, courtesy of the artist)
Goat (Paige Taul, 2021, 16mm to digital, 3 minutes)
The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo (Margaret Tait, 1955, 16mm, 7 minutes, courtesy of Pacific Film Archive)
Les Tournesols (Rose Lowder, 1982, 16mm, 3 minutes)
Approximate running time: 95 minutes
About Margaret Rorison
Margaret Rorison is a filmmaker, projectionist, educator, and curator from Baltimore, MD. Her work aims to support and preserve contemporary filmmakers and film culture. Her current work focuses on portraiture, memory, and the precarity and beauty of nature. Her work has been exhibited at Anthology Film Archives, Miami PULSE Art Fair, Microscope Gallery, The Museum of The Moving Image, The National Gallery of Art, and The Walker Art Center. Her short films have shown at festivals including The Ann Arbor Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Images Festival, SF CROSSROADS, Open City Documentary Film Festival, & Mono No Aware Cinema Arts Festival.
From 2012-2022, she directed Sight Unseen Screening Series, an experimental film series that brought contemporary filmmakers and curators to Baltimore to present their work. The series brought over 50 notable filmmakers, curators, and artists to Baltimore to present their work, forming partnerships with various Baltimore-based organizations and institutions.
Rorison also works as an audiovisual specialist for the Film Programs at The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and has been teaching filmmaking and photography at various institutions in the Baltimore Area since 2014. She received her BA from UMD, College Park in Creative Writing and Spanish Literature, and an MFA in Photographic & Electronic Media from MICA.
The Canyon Cinema Salon series is made possible with generous support from the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation, the Owsley Brown III Philanthropic Foundation, and the City of San Francisco Grants for the Arts.
