Nathaniel Dorsky is one of a rare breed of filmmakers whose work can be classified as essential viewing.  In his visually handsome films, Dorsky renders the prosaic a poetic experience, editing nature, light, and figure to create an utterly sensual cinema. In tonight’s program, enjoy a series of 16mm shorts delving into themes and images of winter, poetry and prayer.

PROGRAM
Notes by the filmmaker

Sarabande
(Nathaniel Dorsky, 2008,  16mm, 15 min)

“Dark and stately is the warm, graceful tenderness of the Sarabande.”

Compline
(Nathaniel Dorsky, USA, 2009, 16mm, 18.5 min)

“Compline is a night devotion or prayer, the last of the canonical hours, the final act in a cycle. This film is also the last film I will be able to shoot in Kodachrome, a film stock I have shot since I was 10 years old. It is a loving duet with and a fond farewell to this noble emulsion.”

Aubade 
(Nathaniel Dorsky, USA, 2010, 16mm, 11.5 min)

“An aubade is a poem or morning song evoking the first rays of the sun at daybreak. Often, it includes the atmosphere of lovers parting. This film is my first venture into shooting in color negative after having spent a lifetime shooting Kodachrome. In some sense, it is a new beginning for me.”

Winter
(Nathaniel Dorsky, USA, 2008, 16mm, 21.5 minutes)

“San Francisco’s winter is a season unto itself. Fleeting, rain-soaked, verdant, a brief period of shadows and renewal.”