2
Feb/12

BILL MORRISON — A MODERN MASTER OF SILENT FILM: DECASIA

2
Feb/12

DECASIA (Bill Morrison, 2002)
World Financial Center Winter Garden
200 Vesey St.
Friday, February 3, free, 7:30
212-945-0505
www.artsworldfinancialcenter.com
www.billmorrisonfilm.com

Experimental filmmaker Bill Morrison’s production company is called Hypnotic Pictures, and for good reason; the Chicago-born, New York-based auteur makes mesmerizing, visually arresting works using archival found footage and eclectic soundtracks that are a treat for the eyes and ears. In conjunction with the upcoming theatrical release of his 2011 film The Miners’ Hymns at Film Forum next week, the World Financial Center is presenting “Bill Morrison: A Modern Master of Silent Film,” curated by WNYC’s John Schaefer as part of the “New Sounds Live: Silent Films/Live Music” series. The free four-night festival began Tuesday with a screening of The Miners’ Hymns, accompanied by a live score performed by the Wordless Music Orchestra, and continued Wednesday with Morrison’s latest, The Great Flood. Tonight features 2010’s award-winning Spark of Being, based on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, with the big finale on Friday, when Morrison’s masterpiece, Decasia, will be shown. Made in 2002, Decasia is about nothing less than the beginning and end of cinema. The sixty-seven-minute work features clips from early silent movies that are often barely visible in the background as the film nitrate disintegrates in the foreground, black-and-white psychedelic blips, blotches, and burns dominating the screen. The eyes at first do a dance between the two distinct parts, trying to follow the action of the original works as well as the abstract shapes caused by the filmstrip’s impending death, but eventually the two meld into a single unique narrative, enhanced by a haunting, compelling score by Bang on a Can’s Michael Gordon, which begins as a minimalist soundtrack and builds slowly until it reaches a frantic conclusion. The on-screen destruction might seem random, but it is actually carefully choreographed by Morrison, who wrote, directed, produced, and edited the film. As an added bonus, Decasia will be accompanied by the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble performing Gordon’s score live, which should make for a senses-shattering experience.