ONLINE FILM PROGRAM
Online film program: “Water, Climate, and Film” for the Eye Filmmuseum
I curated this program of early nature films for the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam’s 2021 International Conference. Watch eight beautifully preserved, digitized films from the EYE collection (1911-1926) depicting insects, African birds, polar bear hunting, logging, and an active volcano. Program runs 54 minutes and features new music by Martin de Ruiter. (Note: the Eye Player works anywhere with a browser other than Google Chrome)
Access program here
PUBLIC EVENTS
Eye Masterclass: “Water, Climate, and Film,” May 2021
To accompany the film program above, I presented an accompanying (online) Masterclass lecture for the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam. I designed this Masterclass in homage to the illustrated lecture tradition; it is a general introduction to my scholarship on film history and the environment that includes plentiful images and clips from the Eye collection that are not shown in the screening (including previously inaccessible footage from a film in the “Secrets of Nature” series:The Golden Eagle, 1925). Masterclass runs 40 minutes.
Access video here
Conference presentation, “Wheels of Progress: National Park Roads in US Government Films from the 1920s,” Orphan Film Symposium, May 26, 2020
In May 2020, the Orphan Film Symposium, which had been scheduled to take place at the EYE Film Institute in Amsterdam, went online, and became a public conference accessible to an audience around the world. Read more about the conference here. The panels are all now available online, my talk begins at 44:30 in the link below.
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Introduction to 1960s films about air pollution for “Darkening Days” panel, Orphan Film Symposium, May 27, 2020
For Orphans 2020, I also participated in a second panel on air pollution films from the 1960s, along with Sarah Eilers (US National Library of Medicine), Oliver Gaycken (University of Maryland), and Angela Saward (Wellcome Collection). Read more about the conference here. The entire panel is accessible at the link below.
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Q&A with Jane (Brakhage) Wodening, Los Angeles Filmforum, March 8, 2020
On March 8, 2020, just before the Coronavirus shut down all public events, Los Angeles Filmforum hosted Jane (Brakhage) Wodening for an evening of screenings, discussion, and a Q&A. For this event, which I co-curated with Adam Hyman, we screened classic avant-garde films by Stan Brakhage, Barbara Hammer, and Jonas Mekas in which Jane appears, along with a new film dedicated to Jane by Nathaniel Dorsky. Read more about the event here. Jane’s opening monologue, along with her post-screening discussion and Q&A (which I moderated), were videotaped.
Access video here
ONLINE ESSAYS
Online essay on U.S. government films about air pollution from 1960-72
Read my article “Darkening Day: Air Pollution Films and Environmental Awareness, 1960-1972,” published on the National Library of Medicine’s website on September 8, 2020. All seven films discussed are accessible to watch online.
Access my article and watch films here
Online essay on Purge This Land (Lee Anne Schmitt, 2017)
Read my article on the essay film Purge This Land by director Lee Anne Schmitt, written for the online initiative Directed by Women, August 26, 2019. Schmitt’s urgent, quietly brilliant film is currently available for free here. Running Time: 83 minutes.
Access my article here
Online essay on Yosemite Valley (Ford Educational Library, c. 1924)
Short article on nature as represented in the sponsored film Yosemite Valley, written for the online film studies journal In Media Res, with link to watch the film. Running Time: 9 minutes.
Access my article and watch film here
Online essay on Toponymy (Jonathan Perel, 2015)
Read my article on the nonfiction film Toponymy by Argentinian director Jonathan Perel, along with an article by Brian R. Jacobson on the same film, written for the website Docalogue. The film is available on demand here. Running Time: 82 minutes.
Access my article here
Newly preserved film Flaming Canyons (Castle Films, 1929) with online essay
Watch the new preservation of the stencil-colored 1929 travelogue Flaming Canyons on the National Film Preservation Foundation website, and read my article about the film. Transfer Note: Copied at 20 frames per second from a 35mm print preserved by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, from source material provided by EYE Filmmuseum. New Music: Stephen Horne. Running Time: 13 minutes.
Jennifer Lynn Peterson 