Canyon at The Roxie returns with Down, In Front: Films by Alfonso Alvarez
Posted October 25th, 2021 in Events and Screenings, News / Events
Down, In Front: Films by Alfonso Alvarez
Tuesday, November 23, 2021, 7pm
The Roxie Theater, San Francisco
Canyon at The Roxie returns November 23rd with a spotlight on Bay Area filmmaker and expanded cinema artist Alfonso Alvarez!
This retrospective program assembles 25 years of Alvarez’s 16mm films, videos, and expanded cinema with live musical accompaniment. In collaboration with media makers Suki O’Kane, Steven Dye, and The Special Musical Guests, Alvarez will present old and new work that spans the use of found footage, optical printing, hand-processing, and expanded forms. He and his crew will gather down in the front of the theater and build a small village of projectors and musical instruments for this screening.
La Reina (1993, 10 min, 16mm)
La Reina is an experimental film about the miraculous manifestation of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico in 1531. Using highly textured, multilayered images, the film contemplates the moment of her mysterious apparition in the dead of winter, surrounded by fire, while around her the air was filled with birdsong and otherwordly music.
My Good Eye (1995, 4 min, 16mm)
Some groovy eye-candy made for the 1995 Lollapalooza Travelling Cinema Tent.
Calling All Cars (2002, 5 min, 16mm)
An exciting day in the life of a rookie lawman. He has never had to fire his weapon, respects his superiors, and is always ready for any emergency – day or night.
Something in The Air (2005, 7-10 min, 3-channel 16mm projection)
Forces of nature having its way. When the levee breaks, have no place to go. Louisiana had a record 10 named tropical storms make landfall in 2020.
In This Tunnel (2015, 17 min, 4-channel 16mm projection)
Bodies at rest and in action. The juxtaposition of images, and of photographic and abstract representation, illustrate the spectacle and majesty, at times brutal and at times beautiful, of human sport and athletic competition.
MMXX: A Leap Year Starting on a Wednesday (2021, 21 min, video)
A chronicle of 2020 as seen on my daily bicycle commute. Virus DNA makes up 8% of the human genome. We’re all survivor stock.
Take (2014, 7 min, video)
We either think that we’re invincible or that we are invisible. When realistically we’re somewhere in between. We all think that we’re nobody but everybody is somebody else’s somebody.
$15 ($12 for Friends of Canyon members)
For tickets and program info: https://www.roxie.com/ai1ec_event/down-in-front/
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Bay Area filmmaker and longtime Canyon artist member Alfonso Alvarez was inspired to make experimental films after seeing the work of Luis Buñuel, Barbara Hammer, and Oskar Fischinger. His work lately involves hand-printing found footage on black-and-white 16mm film, hand-processing, and toning. The results are lush misshapen images – ultimately deployed in multi-projector installations.
Oakland-based musician, composer, improviser, and instigator Suki O’Kane works with artists from a wide array of music, movement, expanded cinema, and public art genres. She is a student of monumental and durational forms, combining Jurassic electronics, everyday objects, and found sounds to create noisy, handheld miniatures.
Steven Dye is a visual and performing artist and filmmaker. Experimentation and collaboration form the structure of much of his work. He uses found and recorded audio and visual images to explore the expressive qualities of light, sound, and perception.
The Special Musical Guests:
Marta Alvarez, vocals/guitar
Joshua May, vocals/bass
Jon Annunziato, drums
ABOUT CANYON AT THE ROXIE
Bringing into focus visionary Bay Area film artists of past and present, Canyon at The Roxie is a monographic screening series that blends classic, overlooked, new, and restored films from Canyon Cinema’s collection; presented in their original 16mm splendor.
