May 5, Thursday, 7:30pm
Leighton Pierce

Leighton Pierce has made over 30 short impressionistic/experimental documentaries exploring the margins of memory and perception and the filmic construction of space and time. Many of his recent works focus on unsentimental close views of small events in domestic space. While always concentrating on the subtleties of sound/image relationships, these films are also visually unique as reflected in the cinematography awards these films have won. Before concentrating on film and video, Pierce studied music composition (musique concrete, and jazz). Many compositional tendencies still influence his production process. Parallel to that, he also worked as a ceramist and a sculptor. Most of these films (since 1985) were made while he has been employed as Professor of Film and Video Production at the University of Iowa. – Canyon Cinema

Red Shovel 8min, 16mm, 1992

A narrow angle of a view, closely watched, on the Fourth of July. RED SHOVEL is an impressionistic documentary focussing on a few moments in a small town along the coast of Maine on the Fourth of July (American Independence Day). The approach to image is very painterly with the simple view transformed "with Turneresque luminosity." Most of the unusual visual effect is from the careful use of a shallow depth of field and natural objects (blowing grass, bushes, etc.) to bend and twist the images into a languid sense of time. In the end the film documents a state of mind more than a particular spot. It also resonates with the ambiguous metaphoric threat of a national symbol impinging upon the child's toy. Awards: Cash Award, Bucks County Film Festival, 1992; Kodak Cinematography Award, Sinking Creek Film & Video Festival, 1993; Juror's Award, Black Maria Film and Video Festival, 1993; Humboldt Film Festival; Cash Award, Ann Arbor Film Festival; MediaWave, Gyûr, Hungary, 1993; AVE Festival, The Netherlands, 1993; OsnabrÄck Media Arts Festival, 1993; Impakt Film Festival; First Place, Marin Film Festival, 1994. Exhibition: American Museum of the Moving Image; National Gallery of Art; Robert Flaherty Film Seminar; included in Grey Suit #6 (a video art magazine).

Glass 7min, 16mm, 1998

A not-so-still life in the backyard with children, water, fire and a few other basic elements. This is another contemplative painterly piece in Leighton Pierce's on-going "Memories of Water" series. While the ultimate effect is intended to be poetic (and maybe even transformative), it is simultaneously a study in the laws of optics - an exploration of refraction, diffraction, diffusion, reflection and absorption.
"A window pane is a paradox of sorts, as it unifies two opposing functions. On the one hand it separates the 'inside' from the 'outside' while the two spaces still remain visually connected. Glass, like water, can also flow, and both substances also share the qualities of transparency, refraction, and reflection. It is in this last quality that 'inside' and 'outside' can merge into one image. The accompanying crystal clear soundtrack, which ranges from a groaning swing to a crackling fire, very effectively contrasts the diffuse qualities of GLASS." - from the Impakt Festival Catalogue 1998, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

50 Feet of String 52min, 16mm, 1995

This is a film consisting of 12 sections all dealing in some ways with the slow and subtle repeated rhythms of daily life. The approach is highly painterly and impressionistic. The pace is slow with the intention of inviting viewers (those willing to go) into a more visceral and less verbally analytical state of mind. The "action," small events like the mail arriving, the storm coming, and the grass getting mowed, are secondary to the way of perceiving those events. In many ways this film reaches back into a kind of personal memory one might recall from early childhood. Awards: Best of Fest, Ann Arbor Film Festival, 1996; Best Experimental, Atlanta Film and Video Festival, 1996; Co-Best Experimental, Athens Film Festival, 1996; Juror's Citation, Black Maria Film and Video Festival, 1996. Exhibition: Oberhausen Short Film Festival; OsnabrÄck Media Arts Festival; Image Forum, Japan; Impakt Film Festival; Robert Flaherty Film Seminar; Museum of Modern Art, NY.