Amy Halpern

Ancient alchemists believed that salamanders can be reborn from fire, like the phoenix or Christ. They do not survive fire, nor extreme dryness. And they cannot be resurrected after burning. (Amy Halpern)

Chick Strand's SOFT FICTION is a personal documentary that brilliantly portrays the survival power of female sensuality. It combines the documentary approach with a sensuous lyrical expressionism. Strand focuses her camera on people talking about their own experience, capturing subtle nuances in facial expressions and gestures that are rarely seen in cinema. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 2015.

No synopsis available yet.

Reveals the courageous lives of pioneer camerawomen from Hollywood to Bollywood, from war zones to children’s laughter, in a way that has never been seen before. Based on a book by Alexis Krasilovsky, the film tells the stories of camerawomen surviving the odds in Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Iran, Mexico, the U.S. and other countries, as well as exploring their individual visions.

My mother, now 94. Filmed more than 30 years ago. (Amy Halpern)

with Adnan Ibrahim "Stand up and use your ears like a man" - Charles Ives

Ancient alchemists believed that salamanders can be reborn from fire, like the phoenix or Christ. They do not survive fire, nor extreme dryness. And they cannot be resurrected after burning. (Amy Halpern)

No synopsis available yet.

My mother, now 94. Filmed more than 30 years ago. (Amy Halpern)

with Adnan Ibrahim "Stand up and use your ears like a man" - Charles Ives

Presents the physically necessary film “leaders”; at the front and back end of movies as aesthetic in themselves. (Amy Halpern)

No synopsis available yet.

1981, 16mm, b&w, silent, 2 mins. Shots of Halpern cutting her fingernails, biting them, and dunking them in water.

A rhythmic montage of almost 200 faces, human and animals, that Halpern pans vertically, creating a cascade of visages suggesting that while individuals express a range of emotions they remain ultimately enigmas.

No synopsis available yet.

Gesturing hands emerge from the darkness, readying us for the cinematic experience.

A private toast. Inspired by a random encounter with this Wikipedia entry, while looking up “Chabrol, Claude” for a full listing of his films: “Faire chabrot or faire chabròl is an ancient Occitanian custom whereby at the end of a or broth, one adds red wine to the bowl to dilute the remnants and brings it to the lips to drink in big gulps.” – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Illusions of surface, abstract to pictorial. Initially the grain of the film emulsion, complete with scratches, variations in framing – the meat of film – are the most apparent elements of all. The object shown is revealed to be a bowl of canned peaches. But even with identification, the visual illusions return – e. g., a concave surface becomes convex, the flat bottom of the bowl becomes an egg.

A portrait of Jane Wodening (Brakhage). “A person who was the subject of the camera for many years looks back at us with an interrogating stare.” (Amy Halpern)

No synopsis available yet.

Following Gage-like skull trauma, a woman’s body unravels in dissolving textures and neuronal visions.

Two palindromes. One resurrection. No happy ending.

Literally, a glance. A dedication; my emissary. –A. C. H.

By Halves uses appropriated footage from rejected 35mm prints that were cut in half and readjusted to be used as spacers for 16mm to sync sound tracks on film, and not meant to be projected.

No synopsis available yet.

Statement and demonstration.

In three parts: Statice/frameline; Drops; The Cannonball Section. Unpopulated (except for the cheap ending on the Cannonball Section). (Previously shown as SLOW FLUSH.) –A. C. H.

No synopsis available yet.

Abstract music notation and something very obvious.

No synopsis available yet.

With Nancy Halpern and Yves Marton. "Sitting home smoking cigarettes during the occupation. Very nasty and sophomoric. And beautiful." — A.H.

with Arwa Ibrahim 1 - Detention 2 - Hollywood Hills 3 - Reptile 4 - Bestiary 5 - Abstract and Concrete 6 - Doorway Occupation 7 - Sideways

No synopsis available yet.

with Indigo Cohan.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

An opera in the public domain. A film about duration. “I tremble for my country when I think that god is just.” (Thomas Jefferson)

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

“Trying to get in, trying to get out. Encounters from the plague year.”

with Yogi John Franzoni

No synopsis available yet.

A film by Amy Halpern

A horizon like a blade.  Consistent across landscapes in California – ocean to desert and back to the ocean.

No synopsis available yet.