Film Screening: Tone Glow Presents "Elemental Meditations"
On May 17th in Chicago, Tone Glow presents a program of avant-garde films made by James Cagle and Paul Sharits
Tone Glow is excited to announce that our third film program will take place on Friday, May 17th at 7pm in Chicago. The event will be held at Sweet Void Cinema, a production company and microcinema located in Humboldt Park. The program is titled “Elemental Meditations” and will feature avant-garde films by James Cagle (1938-2020) and Paul Sharits (1943-1993). All films will be projected on 16mm.
Cagle was a Wisconsin-based photographer and filmmaker who retired as a Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts in 2007 after 42 years at St. Norbert College. The four short films he made during the 1970s saw him approach experimental filmmaking with both a playfulness and rigor, utilizing flickers and structuralist elements to craft elegant works suffused with intrigue. As with other avant-garde filmmakers from the Midwest, Cagle was sorely overlooked throughout his lifetime, and we are extremely excited to screen his films.
Paul Sharits was a New York-based artist whose non-narrative, non-objective films were concerned with materiality, light, and color. 3rd Degree (1982) was one of the final films that Sharits made, and saw him burning film strips and utilizing rephotography to highlight the simultaneous beauty and fragility of film itself. Ray Gun Virus (1966) is one of the earliest flicker films and was made using monochrome sheets of colored paper. The soundtrack consists solely of the amplified sound of the film as it passes through the projector. Of the film, Sharits has said: “The projector is an audio-visual pistol. The retinal screen is a target. Goal: the temporary assassination of the viewer’s normative consciousness.” “Elemental Meditations” was programmed by Tone Glow’s Editor-in-Chief, Joshua Minsoo Kim. Tickets for the program are $12 and can be found here.
WARNING: Films in this program contain strobing lights. This show may not be safe for those with epilepsy and other conditions with sensitivity to light.
Please arrive on time as space is limited. There will be room for a few more people beyond the 36 listed, though you will have to sit on the steps that are behind the seats at Sweet Void Cinema. Tickets can be purchased at the door. If you would like to see more programming like this, all of which is paid for out of my own pocket, feel free to donate here.
Thank you to the Film-Makers Coop for providing the films. Thank you to Josh Mabe for serving as our projectionist. And thank you to Sweet Void Cinema for hosting.
“Elemental Meditations” Program Details:
James Cagle, Matrix (1973, 8 mins)
James Cagle, Excavation (1974, 5 mins)
James Cagle, Metonic Cycles (1974, 12 mins)
James Cagle, Waterwork (1973, 11 mins)
Paul Sharits, 3rd Degree (1982, 24 mins)
Paul Sharits, Ray Gun Virus (1966, 14 mins)
TRT = 74 mins + intro + reel changes + 10 min intermission