APRIL 11 - MAY 18, 2024 Thom Andersen: An American Cinematheque Retrospective Series | LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF, THE THOUGHTS THAT ONCE WE HAD, “A Train Arrives At The Station,” RED HOLLYWOOD, – — ——- (AKA THE ROCK N ROLL MOVIE), “Melting,” “California Sun,” EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE, ZOOPRAXOGRAPHER, “Juke: Passages from the Films of Spencer Williams”
ABOUT THE SERIES: A long-time Los Angeles local, writer, teacher, film critic, historian, programmer, and experimental filmmaker, Thom Andersen knows cinema, which is why the American Cinematheque is delighted to welcome the filmmaker in-person for a complete retrospective of his works that break apart and reconstruct the meaning of the art form. Andersen’s fascination with the fleeting nature of experience and the attempts of images to capture them can be witnessed from his first ever short film made as a student at USC, “Melting,” documenting the disintegration of a sundae. His theoretical approach and passion for the form deepened over the course of several films such as – — ——- (AKA THE ROCK N ROLL MOVIE), as much an exploration of the editing process itself as it is a reflection on LA’s 1960’s music scene. His sense of time, place, and memory come into focus with the highly acclaimed documentaries LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF, a symphonic portrait of the city at pedestrian level, as well as RED HOLLYWOOD, which wades through the era of McCarthyism, examining cinema’s political capabilities. After having to cut a shot of a train from Ozu’s THE ONLY SON from his cinematic essay THE THOUGHTS THAT ONCE WE HAD, Andersen, filled with regret, created the structural short film “A Train Arrives At The Station,” a carefully crafted composite of train arrivals, in order to tie up the loose end. Join us as we aspire to reach Andersen’s level of pure cinematic devotion.