The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and the San Francisco Film Society (SFFS)-presenters of the San Francisco International Film Festival-have joined forces to present a new film series titled The Seventh Art: New Dimensions in Cinema. This innovative film series will pair monthly screenings at SFMOMA with discussions with filmmakers, directors, curators and critics. The series is organized by Benjamin Weil, SFMOMA curator of media arts, and Roxanne Messina Captor, executive director of the San Francisco Film Society.
Cinema is often referred to as the seventh art in France, the first six being music, painting, sculpture, theater, dance and photography. Weil states, “The concept behind The Seventh Art series is to reveal the various ways in which cinema is constantly being stretched, resulting in new hybrids or oddities that then create more widespread trends. Often these films go overlooked for years before they get rediscovered. They are found to be important sources of inspiration for forthcoming generations of artists and cinematographers alike.” Messina Captor adds, “We’re pleased that our initial collaboration with SFMOMA, which started during last year’s 44th San Francisco International Film Festival with the presentation of Be Now Here, a three-dimensional cinema installation by Michael Naimark, has blossomed into an ongoing series that will explore the multifaceted art of cinema. The sneak screening of Richard Linklater’s Waking Life last month gave viewers a preview of the groundbreaking style of films, which we will show-from Erich von Stroheim’s Greed (1925) to Steve Lisberger presenting TRON, as he develops the sequel TRON 2002.” All the films in the series were chosen because their creators pushed the envelope of the film medium and inspired future filmmakers and artists to explore new technologies and visions. Many of these hybrid films reflect upon the effects of evolving technology and how it affects the field. While exploring the fringes of cinema’s formal conventions, these films also address the ever-blurring boundary between reality and fiction, dreamscapes and life.
The Seventh Art: New Dimensions in Cinema will premiere on January 10th, 2002, at 7 p.m. and will continue on the second Thursday of every month in SFMOMA’s Wattis Theater. For more info including a full schedule, visit the SFFS web site.
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