Film Series
Leslie Thornton
“Her work found its first location, and inspiration, in what in those times was understood as an ‘avant-garde’ film practice; the quoted term, suspiciously suspended, is rarely invoked in these times, but the rigor, the pure oppositional avowal, and the belief in moving imagery’s electro-shock potential”—Cinematexas
The career of American filmmaker and artist Leslie Thornton spans five decades. Thornton occupied an important place in cinema history early in her career, straddling structural filmmaking and the feminist avant-garde, using the materiality of film to interrogate matters of identity, representation, history, and perception. Her experimental practice has continued to evolve into the 2010s as she incorporates new technologies into her videos and installations. This retrospective takes a comprehensive look at Thornton’s work and includes selections by her contemporaries and influences, including Su Friedrich, Werner Herzog, Eric Baudelaire, and Pere Portabella.
Thornton’s film paired with Werner Herzog’s portrait of Olympian Walter Steiner.
A program reprising an early tour of screenings Thornton did with artist Su Friedrich.
This program charts Thornton’s recent work from linear narrative to gallery installation.
A program of Thornton’s early documentary work, including All Right You Guys and Howard.
Thornton’s dense personal collage and Pere Portabella’s deconstruction of Count Dracula.
A program of work focusing on the body, including two films with Ron Vawter.
Andy Warhol’s sado-masochistic adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange.
Eric Baudelaire’s feature screens with a new entry in Thornton’s SO MUCH MUCH project.
Shindo’s masterpiece transforms an ancient folktale into a chilling erotic ghost story.
The rare and radically different 2004 iteration of Thornton’s magnum opus.
Thornton returns to her research into Isabelle Eberhardt’s life in this open-ended project.
Thornton’s experimental biography of 19th-century adventurer Isabelle Eberhardt.