Anthology Film Archives

BINGHAMTON BABYLON

October 15 – October 18

The development of a film program at the State University of New York at Binghamton and the establishment of the Cinema Department in 1969 was a watershed moment in modern film and video history. During the years 1967-77 a remarkable faculty, gifted students, and a host of accomplished visitors made Binghamton a nexus of film production and instruction – what Jonas Mekas called “the most exciting (and the most advanced) visual arts workshop in the world.” The faculty included Larry Gottheim, Ken Jacobs, Ralph Hocking, Ernie Gehr, Nicholas Ray, Saul Levine, and Dan Barnett; and their efforts produced a generation of movers and shakers across the American cultural scene. J. Hoberman, Camille Paglia, Steve Anker, Bill T. Jones, Art Spiegelman, Alan Berliner, Peer Bode, Daniel Eisenberg, Daile Kaplan, Phil Solomon, Andrea Weiss, Danny Fingeroth, Richard Herskowitz, and the founders of the Collective for Living Cinema are all Binghamton veterans.

We are presenting a series of three shows on the occasion of the publication of Scott MacDonald’s Binghamton Babylon: Voices from the Cinema Department (a nonfiction novel). MacDonald’s lifelong commitment to independent cinema (he is the author of the five-volume Critical Cinema series, and ten other books) was instigated by a screening hosted by the Cinema Department in April of 1972 that confronted all he thought he knew about cinema. His fury soon morphed into a consuming passion.

The three screenings include films made by Cinema Department faculty and students, as well as films made at Binghamton by visiting artists Morgan Fisher, Hollis Frampton, and Bill Brand. All three shows include films that have rarely been presented publicly.

Copies of Binghamton Babylon will be available for sale (at a special price) at the screenings.

Special thanks to Scott MacDonald, J. Hoberman, and all the filmmakers.

An additional program celebrating the publication of Binghamton Babylon will take place at Light Industry on Saturday, October 17, with Scott MacDonald introducing a rare 16mm screening of Dan Barnett's WHITE HEART. For more info, visit www.lightindustry.org.

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