Film Talks - A Touring Program of Experimental Cinema (Program 2)

With Book Editors and Program Curators Andrew Vallance and Simon Payne
of Film Talks will be hosted by the Film Studies Center at the University of Chicago on May 9. Program 2 will be hosted by Block Cinema at Northwestern University on May 10.

An exciting selection of experimental films and videos is presented in this program of work by eleven of the artists included in the new book Film Talks: 15 Conversations on Experimental Cinema. Editors Andrew Vallance and Simon Payne have assembled a diverse group of working filmmakers to discuss, as they write, “the field of experimental cinema, in relation to other art forms, moving image culture at large, and wider social issues” in a series of one-on-one conversations. This artist conversing with artist format brings unique richness and depth to discussion of experimental filmmaking. The screening represents a wide variety of approaches to moving image making by established masters whose careers began in the 1960s and 70s and by several artists following on in the decades since; included are Guy Sherwin, Lynn Loo, Malcolm Le Grice, Chris Welsby, Vicky Smith, Jennifer Nightingale, Alia Syed, Jayne Parker, William Raban, John Smith, and co-organizer Simon Payne.

Copies of Film Talks will be available for purchase. For details of the book please see here.

Program:

LEAVING AND ARRIVING (Lynn Loo, 2017, 1 min, 16mm digital transfer, UK)

ANIMAL STUDIES (Guy Sherwin, 1998-2023, 9 min, digital, UK)

STRONTIUM (Malcolm Le Grice, 2021, 9 min, digital, UK)

OXYGEN (Chris Welsby, 2021, 12 min, digital, Canada)

NOT (A) PART (Vicky Smith, 2020, 6 min, 16mm, UK) 

CORNISH AND FAROESE KNITTING PATTERN SERIES (Jennifer Nightingale, 2016–2017, 3 min, 16mm, UK)

CLIPPY (Alia Syed, 2016, 3 min, 16mm digital transfer, UK)

THE OBLIQUE (Jayne Parker, 2018, 11 min, digital, UK)

INTERVALS (Simon Payne, 2023, 10 min, digital, UK)

AVAILABLE LIGHT (William Raban, 2016, 9 min, digital, UK)

A STATE OF GRACE (John Smith, 2019, 3 min, digital, UK)

Total duration: 76 min

Andrew Vallance is a video artist whose works concern his sense of the urban environment, its sedimented histories and relational narratives. Vallance has also developed numerous curatorial projects, working with Simon Payne, initially on Assembly: A Survey of Recent British Artists’ Film and Video, 2008-13 (Tate Britain) and various events under the banner of Contact. He has championed experimental filmmaking of all descriptions and explored discursive forms of programming that brings artists together in conversation.

Simon Payne is a video maker whose works involve systematic graphic sequences, abstract color fields, and an exploration of digital video aesthetics. His work has been shown in festivals and screenings worldwide. He has also written widely on experimental cinema. He edited the no.w.here journal Sequence: New Artists’ Film & Video (2011–6), co-edited the book Kurt Kren: Structural Films, with Nicky Hamlyn and A.L. Rees, whose posthumous book, Fields of View: Film, Art and Spectatorship, he also edited. Since 2013, he has been co-curating Contact with Andrew Vallance.

Film Talks is supported by the Arts University Bournemouth and Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK. 

Image credit (above): AVAILABLE LIGHT (William Raban, 2016, 9 min, digital, UK)
Image credit (header): THE OBLIQUE (Jayne Parker, 2018, 11 min, digital, UK)

Host or Publisher The Block Museum of Art