This annual film series begins on Wednesday, October 8 with “Free Radicals: The History of Experimental Media”

The 2014-15 season of the Schnitzer Cinema, curated by Cinema Pacific director Richard Herskowitz, will be devoted to American experimental media, with a special emphasis on the history of American avant-garde film.

All films begin at  7 p.m. at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art on the University of Oregon campus. Free refreshments will be provided!

The series begins October 8 with a personal overview of experimental film history by filmmaker Pip Chodorov and continues on November 5, with a live “expanded cinema” projection performance of a Harry Smith film by Dennis Nyback.

The fall’s last program, on November 19, will feature guest video artist Julia Oldham. Sponsored by Cinema Pacific and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Schnitzer Cinema returns in the spring with more classic and contemporary experimental media art.

•  On Wednesday, October 8, the series opens with “Free Radicals: The History of Experimental Media.” Avant-garde filmmaker Pip Chodorov’s affectionate overview of some of the leading figures of 20th century experimental film combines extensive film clips with conversations with such luminaries as Hans Richter, Robert Breer, Michael Snow, and Stan Brakhage.  The personal tales of the filmmakers (such as Ken Jacobs’ memories of dumpster diving), and Chodorov’s exploration of the immigrant backgrounds of artists like Jonas Mekas, give a strong sense of the socio-historical and artistic contexts of classic avant-garde films.

Following the screening, Richard Herskowitz, joined by other local avant-garde aficionados, will discuss personal experiences of encountering, being repelled by, and falling in love with experimental film and media art.

•  On Wednesday, November 5, Schnitzer Cinema presents a live projection of Harry Smith’s “Heaven and Earth Magic” by Dennis Nyback. In 1957, Portland-born Harry Smith, legendary producer of the “Anthology of American Folk Music,” began work on a feature length cut-out animated film he shot entirely alone in a tiny East Side apartment in New York. Using his own bed as an animation stand, he appropriated images from 19th century sources to tell an eerie, visually austere, surrealistic story about a woman, a watermelon, and a toothache. Film historian Dennis Nyback researched the expanded cinema techniques Harry Smith used in presenting his film in 1961 and will recreate them in real time, moving between multiple film and slide projectors to create a layered image onscreen.

• The fall season closes on Wednesday, November 19, with The Video Art of Julia Oldham. Casting herself in the role of lover, wanderer, and scientist, Oldham combines science fiction and dreamy mythology to create fantasy worlds that she inhabits in her videos. Her work frequently combines live action, animation and handmade costume and sets; and music and soundscape play an important role in her storytelling. Six of her short films will be screened.

For more information on this season of Schnitzer Cinema, click here.