Jon Voorhees

"A short film shot in the winter of 1974." - WWD "An unusually balanced film, a very simple film (but then, one which knows itself) . . . light is the subject matter, beginning in sun and ending at fireplace, but this continuity is not permitted to disturb the singular emotion of the film. I am especially intrigued by the stops and-starts within zoom and pan movements-these metamorphizing eye-movement more exactly than the usual smoothness, thus keeping the work most carefully personal." - Stan Brakhage

"A diary. Nine months: May 1971-January 1972. Encompassing those things that touch our persons; earth, air, water, fire and celluloid. Finished and dedicated to Alexander Schweig on the occasion of his birth." J.V.

"For Anne Kofke. 1970 Summer diary. The first of my own work to truly enrapture my imagination of the incredible possibilities for expression contained within film." J.V.

"...first shot on 8mm, then refined on 16mm. Loop variations of a man shoveling snow. Good use of film grain. In this film (as in Gehr's REVERBARATION) The film image qualities merge almost unrecognizably with the video image qualities. SHOVELING is good to look at." Jonas Mekas

"A plastic kiss for the Rolling Stones. How can I describe the subtleties of this film to you, when they whisper of themselves like fresh meat." J.V.

"Dampness permeates the stillness./ The quality of the sounds/ that enter this geography of the senses/ is far distant/ almost overhead-/ the slow surf, miles away./ crickets./ a slamming screen door, way over and down./ and then a dog barking./ then another dog, farther, barking at the lives of the people in their homes;/ their lights reach out through the shining night./ Moonlight glows from beneath the shadows./ The heart swells./ It is our dream- and we are a part of it." J.V.

"A diary. Nine months: May 1971-January 1972. Encompassing those things that touch our persons; earth, air, water, fire and celluloid. Finished and dedicated to Alexander Schweig on the occasion of his birth." J.V.

"For Anne Kofke. 1970 Summer diary. The first of my own work to truly enrapture my imagination of the incredible possibilities for expression contained within film." J.V.

"...first shot on 8mm, then refined on 16mm. Loop variations of a man shoveling snow. Good use of film grain. In this film (as in Gehr's REVERBARATION) The film image qualities merge almost unrecognizably with the video image qualities. SHOVELING is good to look at." Jonas Mekas

"A plastic kiss for the Rolling Stones. How can I describe the subtleties of this film to you, when they whisper of themselves like fresh meat." J.V.

"Dampness permeates the stillness./ The quality of the sounds/ that enter this geography of the senses/ is far distant/ almost overhead-/ the slow surf, miles away./ crickets./ a slamming screen door, way over and down./ and then a dog barking./ then another dog, farther, barking at the lives of the people in their homes;/ their lights reach out through the shining night./ Moonlight glows from beneath the shadows./ The heart swells./ It is our dream- and we are a part of it." J.V.

"For Anne Kofke" "RIVERS, particularly, reveals many interesting qualities. There is a sensability in it that I am willing to trust to the end, no matter what weaknesses the film contains. The attitude, the feeling is right, and most of the images are right. Strong lyrical qualities. A beautiful merging of personal incongruities and irrelevancies. Good use of superimpositions. The only time the film fails (to me) is in its ovvasional frame freezes which look like infatuations in otherwise healthy lyrical footage.... I find Jon Voorhees a rare new talent and I am looking forward to more of his work" Jonas Mekas, Village Voice, March 1973

The vision of a 17-year old Parisian woman as she makes her daily 20-minute metro ride to work. In four daydreams she sees her man, an unemployed American musician, seem to live a period of two or three hundred months during the length of her ride.