Leland Auslender

The Birth of Aphrodite

Leland Auslender

Cheryl Smith, Gwyneth Cooper

Depicts the birth of the goddess of love and beauty from sky-god father and sea-goddess mother. After a period of gestation in the ocean depths, Aphrodite is delivered from the womb of the wave and continues her ascent, becoming the planet Venus.

Venice Beach in the Sixties: A Celebration of Creativity

Leland Auslender

AKA "Venice In The Sixties" AKA "The Beat" Originally shot for a television show and never used, this is essentially a full-color look inside the atmosphere of the Venice West coffeehouse, its various sections, activities and people.

The Sculpture of Ron Boise

Leland Auslender

Poetic documentary about this famous contemporary metal sculptor, showing him at work on one of the last pieces completed before his untimely death, some say from the three "D's," Drink, Drugs and Dissipation, but more accurately from the three "S's," Struggle, Starvation and Systemic disintegration. The viewer witnesses the step-by-step process of creation as the artist collects, cuts, shapes and welds cast-off materials into a sensitive human figure. The film concludes with a cine-poem in which Boise's works are elements in an overall abstract experience.

Dear Little Lightbird

Leland Auslender

This unusual film shows how pain - the death of a child - can become a way of seeing, a spiritual experience, instead of only a woeful experience as we are taught. DEAR LITTLE LIGHTBIRD carries the viewer into the world of the mystical vision, where the eternal beauty, spirituality, and unity of life and death are experienced. Beautifully photographed and deeply moving, it was awarded 'One of the Ten Best', International Cinema Competition, Photographic Society of America.