Date: Friday, February 26th, 2016 at 8:00pm
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com
Highlights Include:
Laser Blast (Color, 1978) A teenager stumbles upon an alien weapon, which transforms him into a grotesque killer in this trailer for the cheesy sci fi film.
Omega (Color, 1970)An optical poem by West Coast experimental filmmaker Donald Fox. This is a dazzling, highly original non narrative, exhilaratingly beautiful film. Omega deals with the end of mankind on earth, prophesying man's liberation from his earthly bounds to roam the universe at will. By sending an energy ray to the sun and harnessing its solar power, man is able to make an evolutionary leap. The film can be used to explore the outer limits of the concepts of death, evolution the afterlife, and the future of mankind. Phew! A film that over 40 years later still inspires.
We Study in Moscow (Color, 1960s, excerpt) This propaganda clip features a Russian students being taught principles of laser physics and experiments with lasers-with eerie pre-electronic music track.
Holography: Memories in Light (Color, 1985) Presents a fascinating and comprehensive look at the invention, development and use of holography in industry and art-from holographic space ships to a holographic Andy Warhol.
The Simple Lens: an Introduction (Color, 1976, excerpt)
Shows how light is organized by the human eye or a camera, using the directed light from a laser. Illustrates refraction and explains how images are formed and translated.
Learning About Light (Color, 1976, excerpt)
Shows experiments which illustrate the way in which light normally moves, how it bends and is refracted, how a prism separates white light into its component colors, and various applications of lasers.
Lasers Unlimited (Color, 1969)
This fascinating industrial short explains what lasers are, how they work, and how they developed. Describes research and 1960s advances in the application of the laser in medicine, science, communication, and industry, including use of the “laser knife” in surgery, for scoring electronic circuits at Western Electric, and as an alignment tool for the Boeing 747 aircraft. Focuses on work at Bell System research labs into the laser's potential in memory storage and information transmission. Demonstrates holograms and their potential use in communication.
This fascinating industrial short explains what lasers are, how they work, and how they developed. Describes research and 1960s advances in the application of the laser in medicine, science, communication, and industry, including use of the “laser knife” in surgery, for scoring electronic circuits at Western Electric, and as an alignment tool for the Boeing 747 aircraft. Focuses on work at Bell System research labs into the laser's potential in memory storage and information transmission. Demonstrates holograms and their potential use in communication.
Crime: Dye Guns, Lasers, Justice? (Color, 1972, excerpt) Former Attorney General Ramsey Cark talks about lasers and crime, surveillance, laser walls and crime prevention tools of the future.
Airborne Laser Laboratory (Color, 1960s, excerpt)
A surreal demonstration of the wide range of laser based military weapons-produced for Air Force Now Films.
Technical Note: The Airborne Laser Lab was a gas-dynamic laser mounted in a modified version of a KC-135 used for flight testing. Similar to the commercial Boeing 707, The NKC-135A was extensively modified by the Air Force Weapons Laboratory at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, and used in an 11-year experiment to prove a high-energy laser could be operated in an aircraft and employed against airborne targets. During the experiment, the Airborne Laser Lab destroyed five AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and a Navy BQM-34A target drone.
Kinetic Art in Paris (Color, 1971)
The works of Kinetic artists Julio Le Parc, Victor Vasarely, John Rock Yvar aren’t the only things explored in detail in this ultra rare, quirky documentary that features music from the short-lived cult British pop duo White Trash. Viscerally challenging, this kaleidoscopic homage to light, sound, motion and restraint is quintessential viewing for anyone with a desire to be fascinated by anything…even if just for a moment. Don’t miss this!
Plus! For early birds: Laser (1979)
A lush and mesmerizing visual depiction of lasers and their various uses from medical to industrial. From gorgeous vintage laboratory interiors to an optical kaleidoscope of the many uses of this magical harnessed light beam, with a great moogy soundtrack.
Curator Biography:
Stephen Parr’s programs have explored the erotic underbelly of sex-in-cinema (The Subject is Sex), the offbeat and bizarre (Oddities Beyond Belief), the pervasive effects of propaganda (Historical/Hysterical?) and oddities from his archives (Strange Sinema). He is the director of Oddball Films, a stock film company and the San Francisco Media Archive (www.sfm.org), a non-profit archive that preserves culturally significant films. He is a co-founder of Other Cinema DVD and a member of the Association of Moving Archivists (AMIA) where he is a frequent presenter.
Stephen Parr’s programs have explored the erotic underbelly of sex-in-cinema (The Subject is Sex), the offbeat and bizarre (Oddities Beyond Belief), the pervasive effects of propaganda (Historical/Hysterical?) and oddities from his archives (Strange Sinema). He is the director of Oddball Films, a stock film company and the San Francisco Media Archive (www.sfm.org), a non-profit archive that preserves culturally significant films. He is a co-founder of Other Cinema DVD and a member of the Association of Moving Archivists (AMIA) where he is a frequent presenter.
About Oddball FilmsOddball Films is a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Silicon Valley, Kurt Cobain: The Montage of Heck, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.
Our screenings are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educational films, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.