We recently wrote about a collection of film shorts exploring the history of the Bay Area's experimental cinema, called Radical Light. Riding that wave is the SFMOMA, which is showcasing a sweet new batch of shorts called Bay Area Ecstatic. Showing this Thursday at 7 pm in the Phyllis Wattis Theater, it's a look at the decades of "cine-sorcerers" who have passed through the Bay Area and conceived films full of mysticism, drug-induced states of being and frenzied sexuality.
Made to induce ecstasy in viewers and make your brain go all sorts of haywire, the short movies--spanning 1958 to 2007--shown this time around are works by such luminaries as Kenneth Anger (Invocation of My Demon Brother, featuring the Rolling Stones) and Bruce Conner (Looking For Mushrooms). The entire program will be inroduced by Brecht Andersch a local filmmaker and historian responsible for digging up and shedding light upon generations of subversive filmmakers like Bruce Baillie and Stan Brakhage. Check the full lineup of films here. The program is $5, or free with museum membership or admission. Grab a ticket here.
