SF Cinematheque presents: Rebecca Baron and Jim Haynes In Person
Presented in association with the Berkeley Film & Media Seminar, Department of Film & Media, UC Berkeley
Ted Serios (1918–2006) was a true American original—a hard-drinking bellhop possessed of the uncanny ability to render photographic scenes onto film, purely through force of will! Long the subject of scientific, artistic and spiritualist speculations, Serios’ imagery of distant (even prehistoric and extraterrestrial) landscapes is endlessly confounding and inspiring. Drawing on fascinating 16mm kinescope documentation created during extensive scientific study of the man at work, Rebecca Baron’s Detour de Force presents Serios as an oddly charismatic madman and charming (if challenging) research subject, providing a mediated pseudo-ethnographic view into the strangely gendered world of mid-60s speculative research science. Detour’s soundtrack features compositional contributions by Ernst Karel, Guiseppe Ielasi and local electro-acoustic legend Kyle Bruckmann. Drawing directly from the imagery and imaginative psychic projections of Serios, local sound and multimedia artist Jim Haynes appears with his live performance homage, 18 Films About Ted Serios. This suite of live video works—incorporating surveillance cameras, wiretapping, shortwave radio, glass pipettes, strobe lights and wasps—evokes the ghost in the machine and reaches toward the moving visual thinking of minds in the mediated electronic age. (Steve Polta)
NOTE: Rebecca Baron will appear in person at UC Berkeley (142 Dwinelle Hall) at 5pm on Thursday, November 5 to present an in-depth presentation on her lyrical essay films and inquiries into media and mediation. Admission to this Thursday event is free. Full details available here.
