Cinema Conservancy Presents: John Korty

On Thursday, February 26th, BAM Cinemas hosted a screening of shorts by the San Francisco-based filmmaker, John Korty. This screening was part of a series entitled, Fog City Maverick: The Films of John Korty, and included an introduction and pre-show Q&A with Korty himself. The series was co-presented by the Artists Public Domain program, Cinema Conservancy. Best described in their own words, the Cinema Conservancy program, “releases and preserves independent films to ensure their legacy and public availability”.  Launched in 2012 by Tyler Brodie and Hunter Gray, the organization aims to support American independent filmmakers by providing production resources such as hard to get documents and grant applications, financing for projects, and also facilitating the restoration and preservation process for newer independent films that have already been neglected. Among the films they have restored are, Stations of the Elevated (Dir. Manfred Kirchheimer, 1981), The Color Wheel (Dir. Alex Ross Perry, 2012), and Northern Lights (John Hanson, Rob Nilsson, 1978). 

Cinema Conservancy has hosted a number of events as part of an ongoing screening series, which aims to “highlight the significance and diversity of American Independent Cinema, presenting a varied selection of narrative, documentary, experimental and uncategorizable film work” (artistspublicdomain.org/cinema-conservancy). The Korty program contained an exemplary selection of these genres, from wacky animation to sobering anti-war documentary, and served to present John Korty as a pioneer among the American Independents who has consistently produced honest, engaging, and beautiful films throughout his career.

*Complete program notes are available on the BAM Cinematek website:

http://www.bam.org/film/2015/john-korty-shorts-program

Children's Television Workshop Spot: Sesame Street, "Cr" (c. 1970's)

The Language of Faces (1961)

(image credit: The Language of Faces: http://filmcomment.com/entry/rep-diary-films-of-john-korty)