Now Available: 13 New Films from Dominic Angerame

Posted April 5th, 2024 in Announcements, New Acquisitions, New Digital Files, News / Events

Canyon Cinema is pleased to announce that 13 new films by Dominic Angerame are now available for rent. This group of films, all completed in 2024, spans many decades of filmmaking and diverse subjects; from a visual study of the beloved San Francisco Art Institute building, to a portrait of the Korean Demilitarized Zone filmed in 2005, to diary films documenting the No Nothing Cinema, the 1984 Democratic National Convention, and intimate encounters with friends and landscapes.

As Angerame describes his Film Diary Series: “During my decades of filming on 16mm black and white, color reversal and negative I found a great deal of material that could be used in any projects. I guess one would call them ‘stand alone pieces.’ Some of them are sketches and others are complete in one way or another. I knew I just could not throw them away, ignore them, or have them sit in a can never to be viewed. I decided to release them as they are, of course edited and finally coming to the life of their own. They are visual diaries of certain times and places and events in my filmmaker life.”

The San Francisco Art Institute (A Ghost Story) (2024, 9 minutes, b&w, sound, digital file)

“A beacon of creativity, a cauldron of experimentation and a haunted space of an (im)possible future – Dominic Angerame’s The San Francisco Art Institute (A Ghost Story) spins a micro-portrait of SFAI through time-lapsed and superimposed 16mm celuloid images, bursting with creative student inspired energies. Images of a vital art school are sadly replaced by cruel brutalist cement slabs of cursed capitalist indifference. This gem-of-a-film continues Angerame’s long sonic collaboration with musician Kevin Barnard. Here Barnard provides a nuanced and uplifting score which projects unexpected hope into the tragedy of this film art requiem. Angerame’s persistent experimental cine-documentation always speaks to beautiful and redemptive new forms in the face of seemingly impossible odds, and this work is nothing less!” — David Sherman, filmmaker, Professor

Aeon (2024, 11.5 minutes, b&w, sound, digital file)

“Thank you for sending your very great film, Aeon — and I’m sorry again for my slow response. (Waiting for a quiet and free time can sometimes be a lengthy procedure!) But it’s really a great work, truly transporting, and a vision I can wish and hope that many will see, and hopefully to feel this truth of both our small place within as well as our ultimate connectedness with the vastness of being and space — ‘our connection to the stars’ as Stan would have said.” — Marilyn Brakhage

War Zone (2024, 7.5 minutes, b&w, sound, digital file)

“War Zone has a tonal magic in both image and soundscape that transcends the subject and yet honors historical facts. The standard aspect ratio of the image that is so rare to be seen in new film work honors the beauty of the image dynamics. Dominic makes the subtle expression inherent in film transmit ‘Magic’ in an era dominated by flat digital image making.” — Sky David

Film Diary #1: Robert Fulton III (2024, 1.5 minutes, b&w, sound, digital file)

This film is a short homage to Bob and his family during the weekend I stayed at the Fulton Estate in Newtown. Bob was always playing the Sax and he once told me that every filmmaker needs to play a musical instrument.

Film Diary #2: No Nothing Cinema (2024, 2 minutes, color, sound, digital file)

“Dedicated to friend and one of the co-founders of No Nothing, Dean Snider, Film Diary #2: No Nothing Cinema documents the beginnings of San Francisco#s radical microcinema, which became a landmark venue for showcasing the work of independent and experimental cinema. Founded in 1982 by a group of local “emergency filmmakers,” including Angerame, the film captures not only a fleeting presence of the cinema’s now non-existent location on 30 Berry Street, but also the revolutionary spirit and passion of those who organized and came to the shows: Bruce Conner (who is playing the piano), Toney Merritt, Michael Rudnick, Mark Stern, Marion Wallace and others. Some roast Italian sausages in the courtyard before a screening, whereas others read past film programs hanging on the walls like posters. Film Diary #2: No Nothing Cinema revives and reminisces on brief, but memorable moments that are now long gone, demonstrating that it must take a collective effort to create something out of nothing.” — Kornelia Boczkowska

Film Diary #3: In Memory of Kurt Kren (2024, 2 minutes, color, silent, digital file)

I had the pleasure of meeting Kurt Kren when he lived here in the Bay and had the chance of hanging out with him a few times. All I remember was laughing all the time, not much else since I think the alcohol was flowing quite well. In review of my old Regular 8mm films I discovered footage that I had shot outdoors while I was living in Buffalo, NY. I had covered up the lens with tin foil and poked holes in it. After seeing the footage, I was reminded of Kurt and his film Asyl. So this footage is a reminder of my little time with Kurt Kren.

Film Diary #4: Forest Lawn Cemetery (2024, 3 minutes, color, silent, digital file)

Dedicated to Stan Brakhage. Before being introduced to 16mm filmmaking I was filming with a cheap Regular 8mm camera my sister had given me. I lived around the corner from Forest Lawn Cemetery on Main Street. This place I would often visit to either drop LSD or just for some serenity.

Film Diary #5: Last Temptation of Christ (2024, 2.5 minutes, b&w, sound, digital file)

This is dedicated to Rosemary Manno, a dear friend that passed away in 2021. Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ opened theatrically one city at a time in 1988. It was met with hysterical protests from the religious right. This happened also in San Francisco at the defunct North Point Theater. I was there to film the protests.

Film Diary #6: 1984 Democratic National Convention (2024, 3.5 minutes, color, sound, digital file)

In 1984 the Democrat Party Convention was held in San Francisco. The contenders included Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson against the front runner Walter Mondale. I was able to receive a guest pass as someone who supported Gary Hart. Guests were roped off in an area adjacent to the delegates. Movement was restricted for guests, and I had to capture imagery from my own vantage point. Sound includes Gary Hart, a news report of demonstrations happening a few blocks from the Mascone Center where the convention was being held.

Film Diary #7: Psalm Sunday (2024, 4.5 minutes, color, sound, digital file)

Dedicated to my dear friend Suzanne Kelliher. This is a portrait of a camping trip to the Cottonwood Mountains and Joshua Tree and the Sultan Sea. It was Palm Sunday. When I went to title the film it naturally came out as Pslam Sunday, more appropriate. This was the first time hiking since the Woodstock Music Festival of 69. I am amazed that I carried food, water, tripod, 16mm Bolex Camera, spools of film with me to hike in the desert. This is a visual diary of the trip into the desert and return.

Film Diary #8: Papa John Creach (2024, 2.5 minutes, b&w, sound, digital file)

This was filmed in Chicago 1978, Papa John Creach playing with Grace Slick and Hot Tuna. I filmed from stage side one roll of Reg 8mm black and white. As the film ran out of the second side of the film, someone from security tapped me on shoulder and demanded that I give him the film. I started fast talking and told him that I would stop filming, he still demanded the film. I then opened the camera and showed him that there was no film left in the camera. That seemed to please him and he left.

Film Diary #9: Water Fall (2024, 3.5 minutes, b&w, silent, digital file)

These are the waterfalls in Yosemite National Forest. The mesmerizing movement of water. Film ends with two dolphins sun bathing.

Film Diary Series: Parts #1-9 (2024, 26 minutes, color and b&w, sound, digital file)

During my decades of filming on 16mm black and white, color reversal and negative I found a great deal of material that could be used in any projects. I guess one would call them “stand alone pieces.” Some of them are sketches and others are complete in one way or another. I knew I just could not throw them away, ignore them, or have them sit in a can never to be viewed. I decided to release them as they are, of course edited and finally coming to the life of their own. They are visual diaries of certain times and places and events in my filmmaker life.

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