The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Orson Welles reads the poem especially for this film by Larry Jordan, which is dedicated to the late Wallace Berman, and is made possible by a grant from The National Endowment Of The Arts.

The Sacred Art of Tibet

An accurate depiction of the basic tenets of northern Mahayana Buddhism, cast into living or "experiential" form, consistent with powerful mantras heard on the soundtrack of the film. Tarthang Tulku, a Tibetan Lama, was the advisor.

Carabosse

Animation, also of a new order in the recent series of short works. Mostly on black space, the figures in blue perform a very compact and jewel-like opera in surreal form, again to Satie’s piano music. Ideally, the film should be projected on a 30" wide white card sitting on a music stand, center stage of a large auditorium or music hall, with sound from the projector piped into the big speaker system. The film is most effective this way, but can be shown normal-size also

Solar Sight II

In explaining the process of SOLAR SIGHT II, artist Lawrence Jordan writes, "Many of the approaches to the cut-out material are the same as in part SOLAR SIGHT I, however SOLAR SIGHT II is a much different film. It is more meditative. It has a somewhat slower pace. I tried to let the cut-outs float more gracefully. Again, John Davis' music forms an integral part of the meditation. I have used that word 'meditation' because that is how some very astute friends of mine described it to me on first viewing. The approach is partly planned, partly...

Moonlight Sonata

"After GYMNOPEDIES, I had long wanted to animate a film specifically for a pre-selected piano piece by [Erik] Satie. MOONLIGHT SONATA is that film. It was totally designed for the 'Gnossienne V' and the movements of the animation are timed to the overall rhythms as well as the specific beats of the music." - Lawrence Jordan

Gymnopédies

Animation. The theme is Weightlessness. Objects and characters are cut loose from habitual meanings, also from tensions and gravitational limitations. A lyric Eric Satie track accompanies the film. Such a portrait seems necessary from time to time to remind us that equilibrium and harmony are possible, and that we will not dissolve into a jelly if we allow ourselves to relax into them: A horseman rides through the landscape, through the town, but never arrives anywhere in particular. An acrobat swings on a rope above a canal in Venice, and i...

Poet's Dream

The poet's dreams a maiden's bubbles through edifices of forest and eclectic contagion.

Our Lady of the Sphere

Animation using cutout animation to craft a bizarre science fiction experiment. Moving spheres, such as balloons and bubbles, are superimposed on static backgrounds to suggest travel and discovery.

Tapestry

TAPESTRY, part of Lawrence Jordan's "Odyssey" triptych and filmed much later in Jordan's life, is a charged record of his bachelor life after marriage and child-rearing.

Rockin' The Corps

Destiny's Child, KISS, and Hootie and the Blowfish rock out for Marines at Camp Pendelton.

Visions of a City

Sepia toning lends a romantic (even wistful) quality to Larry Jordan's film Visions of a City, which he shot in San Francisco in 1957 and edited in 1978. The pace is un-irritating, in contrast to the San Francisco of today; but unlike the equal weight Helen Levill gives to all her subjects, there is an internal evolutionary development in the Jordan film that ultimately delivers a story. Until the introduction of the human protagonist, poet Michael McClure, we are treated to an extravagant display of visual delights.

Cheech Marin & Friends: Live from South Beach

Legendary King of Latino Comedy guy Richard 'Cheech' Marin hosts a unforgettable night of non-stop laughs with five up-and-coming comedians: Al Madrigal,Gilbert Esquivel, Carlos Oscar, Felipe Esparza and Joey Medina.

Cornell, 1965

Lawrence Jordan's portrait of the reclusive artist Joseph Cornell.

Solar Sight

In describing the foundations for SOLAR SIGHT, artist Lawrence Jordan writes, "A question I had in mind was: what's the place of the human being in the cosmos? More and more we think about what is 'beyond.' Less and less is art concerned. I don't know why. The question seems a bit grandiose but I approached it quite simply. I have never worked with color photography as primary background to cut-out animation before. I was surprised that the result was so powerful (helped by John Davis' very resonant music). It was liberating to release human...

The Ogre's Garden

This short piece is somewhat romantic, despite its title. We do see the ogre however. He inverts himself into the action throughout the film. As usual, the action is partly symbolic, partly surreal.

Hamfat Asar

"The strangeness of this film is laced with carefully moulded apocalypses as the filmmaker explores a vision of life beyond death – the Elysian fields of Homer, Dante’s Purgatorio, de Chirico’s stitched plain. A moving single picture. Evolving the structure or script for the film involved a process of controlled hallucination, whereby I sat quietly without moving, looking at the background until the pieces began to move without my inventing things for them to do. I found that, given the chance, they really did have important business to atte...

Ein Traum der Liebenden

In EIN TRAUM DER LIEBENDEN [A DREAM OF LOVERS], Monk meanders through a maze of Minoan bull-leaping, satyrs and revelatory rainbows.

Sophie's Place

Five years in the making, Lawrence Jordan's feature-length "alchemical autobiography" Sophie's Place takes as its inspiration the story of the Greek goddess of wisdom, Sophia. Writes Jordan, "I must emphasize that I do not know the exact significance of any of the symbols in the film any more than I know the meaning of my dreams... I hope that the symbols and the episodes set off poetic associations in the viewer. I mean them to be entirely open to the viewer's own interpretation."

Finds of the Fortnight

Cut-out animation alternated with text collages.

Rodia-Estudiantina

Avant-garde short by Lawrence Jordan.