Joel Schlemowitz

The Glowing Woman

Joel Schlemowitz

Spiraling colors and abstracted rotating text, with a poem by Wanda Phipps on the soundtrack both layered and singular.

The Ogre's Feathers

Michael Almereyda

Frank Harts, Rachel Chandler

A young man sets out on a journey to the Ogre's lair, in search of a feather with the power to save a dying king.

Beyond the Bolex

Alyssa Bolsey

Jacques Bolsey, Wim Wenders

Filmmaker Alyssa Bolsey stumbles on a treasure trove of vintage cameras, old film reels, fading photos, technical drawings and boxes of documents that belonged to her great-grandfather Jacques Bolsey. Among the many boxes, she spots an old movie camera with the word "Bolex" embossed on its side and a dangling tag with the date, "1927." Entranced, she embarks on a journey to reveal how Jacques aimed to disrupt the early film industry with a motion picture camera for the masses.

Teslamania

Joel Schlemowitz

Two camera rolls shot at the Collective Unconscious during a performance of "Teslamania" featuring Gecko Saccomanno and Tesla Coil Engineer Jamie Mereness. The film's visual effects, double exposures and refracted images were all done in camera, just as we see them here. On the soundtrack, Gecko provides various "Tesla tidbits," including Tesla's scheme to provide free electricity transmitted through the air, anecdotes about the Collective's Tesla Coil performances, "Tesla cooking," and a list of the inventor Nikoli Tesla's many exotic phobias.

Little Nothings

Joel Schlemowitz

A short film consisting of “Little Nothings,” a poem by Wanda Phipps, read by her with the accompaniment of in-camera superimpositions. The poem was picked through chance operation, by throwing Wanda’s poems into the air. The superimpostions were done in-camera, thus the synchronizations of word and image were also determined through chance operation. By superimposing in the camera over a sync sound shot the images in this film are presented as they were filmed, without editing.

Morris Engel Time Sculpt

Joel Schlemowitz

A short filmic portrait of Morris Engel’s watch-part collages.

For Joe

Joel Schlemowitz

American experimental filmmaker Joel Schlemowitz here pays tribute to Joe of Swiss Camera, a friend who repaired all of his Bolex 16mm cameras. A collage of images and sounds playfully portraying the technical process of capturing and displaying film, Schlemowitz is perhaps sardonically directing his camera upon us, the audience. Simultaneously a portrait of precision and a celebration of the coarseness of film itself, FOR JOE evokes the rhythms and spectacle of capturing image in an earlier era of filmmaking. - Stela Jelincic

1734

Joel Schlemowitz

A short film of Emily Dickinson’s poem number 1734, which begins with: “Oh, honey of an hour”. The words of the poem appear hand painted onto the film frames.

Scenes from a Visit to Japan

Joel Schlemowitz

A short travelogue shot in super-8 and divided in three sections. Eschewing narration, the film is more of a poetic (rather than prosaic) documentary, conveying impressions through the aesthetic concept of yūgen (evocation by what is left unsaid).

Fogg

Joel Schlemowitz

FOGG was inspired, in retrospect, by Marie Menken’s BAGATELLE FOR WILLARD MAAS.

Unmeasured Prelude for Kerry Laitala

Joel Schlemowitz

Multiple camera passes of baroque statuary with a soundtrack of dripping water and a Louis Couperin prelude highly distorted. The centerpiece of the film is Kerry Laitala's Chattertonesque photographic self-portrait.

All Saints Day

Jon Behrens, Joel Schlemowitz

A collaboration between filmmakers Jon Behrens in Seattle, Washington, and Joel Schlemowitz in Brooklyn, New York, shot on ALL SAINTS DAY, November 1, 2000. They each shot 100 feet of film at the same time of the day 3,000 miles apart, and they did not tell each other what they shot. The film was hand-processed, cut up into two-foot lengths and then cut back together, alternating between Joel's footage and Jon's footage. The soundtrack for this film was done the same way.

Bacchanale

Joel Schlemowitz

A Bacchanalia, kindly provided by the Aesthesians, and set to the music of Saint-Saëns from an old 78 record.

Reverie

Joel Schlemowitz

A film in the manner of the Symbolists. A cascade of dream images in a gothic setting. The dreamer imagines flames and fur, Gustave Doré’s depictions of Dante Alighieri and a clutter of objects on a Victorian desk, all amid a web of Rebecca Moore’s haunting music.

Doris' Garden

Joel Schlemowitz

A garden portrait for Doris Kornish.

All Saints Day II

Jon Behrens, Joel Schlemowitz

This film is a collaboration with filmmaker Joel Schlemowitz, on ALL SAINTS DAY 2001 we each shot 100 ft of film, at the same time of the day, 3000 miles apart, and we did not tell each other what we shot. The film was hand processed and cut up into 2ft length’s and then cut back together alternating from Joel’s footage to Jon’s until all the film was gone. This film is the follow up to ALL SAINTS DAY which was done using the same techniques the year prior soundtrack for this film was done the same way.