Close-Up presents an extensive programme celebrating the oeuvre of one of our greatest living avant-garde masters Larry Gottheim. Considering the theme of nature in art and functions of racial, cultural and personal identity, Gottheim’s practice explores the ways in which time, movement, and becoming are bound up in a complex relation between formal cinematic patterns and pro-filmic subjects. From his late-1960s series of sublime "single-shot" films to the dense sound/image constructs of the mid-1970s and after, his cinema is the cinema of presence, of observation, and of deep conscious engagement. Whist addressing genres of landscape, diary and assemblage filmmaking, Gottheim's work stands alone in its intensive investigations of the paradoxes between direct, sensual experience in collision with complex structures of repetition, anticipation and memory. Produced across twenty-five years Gottheim’s recent feature Chants and Dances for Hand extends and refines this exploration to its zenith. This programme seeks to open a dialogue between Chants… and his early works, tracing the ways in which the shifting formal patterns of his oeuvre might illuminate deeper engagement with the larger.

We’re thrilled to welcome Larry Gottheim to Close-Up to present the world premiere of Chants and Dances for Hand, as well as the full Elective Affinities cycle and a selection of his early films on 16mm – many of which have never been screened in the UK. Gottheim will be in attendance for all of these screenings to answer questions about his work.

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Programme 1: Chants and Dances for Hand

Your Television Traveler, 1991, 18 min, Colour, 16mm
Chants and Dances for Hand, 1991-2016, 42 min, Colour, Digital
Introduction and Q&A with the filmmaker

We’re thrilled to welcome Larry Gottheim to Close-Up to present the world premiere of Chants and Dances for Hand. Produced across twenty-five years Gottheim’s most recent feature extends and refines the avant-garde master's life-long concerns with repetition, anticipation and memory to their zenith. read more

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Programme 2: Elective Affinities

Horizons, 1971-73, 75 min, Colour, 16mm
Mouches Volantes, 1976, 16mm, b/w. 69 min, B/W, 16mm
Four Shadows, 1978, 16mm, colour. 64 min, Colour, 16mm
Tree of Knowledge, 1980, 60 min, Colour, 16mm
Introduction and Q&A with the filmmaker

Elective Affinities is a series of four feature-length films Gottheim started in the early 1970s and completed in 1981 with Tree Of Knowledge; the series explores not only images and their relationship to sound and time, they also examine issues such as family, psychology, education, freedom, and the theme of nature in art. read more

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Programme 3: Early Works

Blues, 1969, 8’30 min, Colour, 16mm
Corn, 1970, 11 min, Colour, 16mm
Fog Line, 1970, 10’30 min, Colour, 16mm
Doorway, 1970, 7’30 min, Colour, 16mm
Thought, 1970, 7’30 min, Colour, 16mm
Harmonica, 1971, 10’30 min, Colour, 16mm
Barn Rushes, 1971, 34 min, Colour, 16mm
Introduction and Q&A with the filmmaker

In all my subsequent films I kept these films in mind, sometimes with explicit references. As my life and films unfolded, the issues that would continually be released by these early films provided the red thread through it all. This is most present for me in Chants and Dances for Hand, however distant it may seem. read more

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Many thanks to Chris Dymond and Larry Gottheim for making this programme possible.

This screening is part of a touring programme of Gottheim’s works that will screen across Britain and Europe from the 19 May to 24 June 2017. After opening at Close-Up, the programme will tour to Manchester and Leeds, returning to London for a series of analytical screenings at no.w.here and LUX, before heading to Berlin, Stockholm, Vienna, Budapest, and Barcelona.
LUX runs a masterclass with Gottheim on 31 May: lux.org.uk 
A selection of shorts and Chants... screen 1-2 June at no.w.here: no-w-here.org.uk