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.

A bewitching, mysterious work of enveloping beauty, the film’s ominous title and a dedication to Anne Frank deeply inform our reading of its haunting subtext. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in partnership with the National Film Preservation Foundation, in 2009.

Reveals the history of camerawomen around the world, celebrating not only the survival of pioneer women in a male-dominated field, but a new generation of camerawomen's visions.

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.

No synopsis available yet.

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)

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

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

No synopsis available yet.

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.

No synopsis available yet.

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.

No synopsis available yet.

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)

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

No synopsis available yet.

Abstract music notation and something very obvious.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

Two palindromes. One resurrection. No happy ending.

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

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