Listen with your eyes is an ongoing series of screenings that aims to create a space for children of all ages to engage with and enjoy experimental forms of cinema. By turns playful, beautiful, and idiosyncratic, the films in this programme range from hand-coloured collages and optical printing experiments to studies of movement and dance. Rather than being prescriptive, they invite viewers to discover their own ways of engaging with these celebrations of colour, motion, and imagination. Although not exclusively intended for young minds, they express a beauty and wonder that both children and adults can share.

Please note that this is a relaxed screening, open to children of all ages. While talking is permitted, singing and dancing are actively encouraged!

Before the screening there will be a free 16mm direct animation workshop in the café.

Programme:

The Sun Came Dripping a Bucket Full of Gold 
Andrew Kötting, 2014, 3 min

A mysterious encounter between a woman (Eden Kotting) and a straw bear.

Hand Movie 
Yvonne Rainer, 1966, 6 min

Filmmaker and choreographer Yvonne Rainer performs an elaborate dance with the fingers of one hand.

The Flight of an Ostrich (Schools Interior)
Jessica Sarah Rinland, 2016, 3 min

Whilst watching an educational video about ostriches, a shy 8-year-old girl breaks the monotony of the classroom as her imagination takes flight.

28.IV.81 (Bedouin Spark)
Christopher Harris, 2009, 3 min

Edited in camera on a single reel of 16mm film, Christopher Harris’ miniature transforms his child’s night light into a shimmering celestial vision.

Minsan Isang Panahon (Once Upon a Time)
Melchor L. Bacani III, 1990, 5 min

An experiment in optical printing using Super 8 home movies and hand-­coloured found film material, set to the music of Pat Boone.

A Study in Choreography for Camera
Maya Deren, 1945, 3 min

Deren films dancer Talley Beatty as he glides gracefully through a series of different spaces.

Black Bus Stop
Kevin Jerome Everson, Claudrena N. Harold, 2019, 9 min

Students at the University of Virginia reclaim the iconic site of the Black Bus Stop through a sequence of exhilarating choreographed performances.

Rainbow Dance
Len Lye, 1936, 5 min, 16mm

In this film, created by animation pioneer Len Lye using a variety of innovative layering and collaging techniques, a man dances and plays tennis as colours explode and swirl around him.

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Listen with your Eyes is organised by Open City Documentary Festival and co-programmed by Hyun Jin Cho & Oliver Wright.