Running from September 2017 to January 2018, Los Angeles Filmforum's film series Ism, Ism, Ism: Experimental Cinema in Latin America (Ismo, Ismo, Ismo: Cine experimental en América Latina) will occur during Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA. Ism, Ism, Ism is the first comprehensive, U.S.-based film program and catalogue to treat the full breadth of Latin America’s vibrant experimental film production. The film series will feature key historical and contemporary works from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the United States. Revisiting classic names and forms from the experimental canon, the exhibition daringly places them within a completely novel scope and breadth. From innovative works by Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica and Mexican photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo to the breathtaking, yet practically unknown, oeuvre of queer Ecuadorian filmmaker Eduardo Solá Franco, the exhibition takes both the aficionado and open-minded viewer through a journey into a wealth of materials culled from the forgotten corners of Latin American film archives. Los Angeles Filmforum is the city's Los Angeles’ longest running exhibitor of experimental film and video, and previously produced the screening series and book Alternative projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles, 1945-1980.
Ism, Ism, Ism is accompanied by a bilingual publication, Ism, Ism, Ism / Ismo, Ismo, Ismo: Experimental Cinema in Latin America (Jesse Lerner and Luciano Piazza, editors, University of California Press, 2017) placing Latino and Latin American experimental cinema within a broader dialogue that explores different periods, cultural contexts, image-making models, and considerations of these filmmakers within international cinema. Available worldwide, https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520296084.
Ism, Ism, Ism Team
Project Director and Co-Curator: Luciano Piazza
Artistic Director and Co-Curator: Jesse Lerner
Project Coordinator: Brenda Contreras
Project Supervisor: Adam Hyman
Project Director (Research Phase): Alison Kozberg
Research and Curatorial Team: Isabel Arredondo, Tarek Elhaik, Alison Kozberg, Ángela López Ruiz, Rubens Machado Junior, Pablo Marín, María Luisa Marisy, María Belén Moncayo, Antoni Pinent, Álvaro Vázquez Mantecón, Marta Lucía Vélez.
Support
Ism, Ism, Ism is part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, a far-reaching and ambitious exploration of Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles.
Lead support for Ism, Ism, Ism is provided through grants from the Getty Foundation.
Significant additional support comes from the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts.
Pacific Standard Time is an initiative of the Getty. The presenting sponsor is Bank of America.
About Los Angeles Filmforum
Filmforum was formed in 1975, with the mission to promote a greater understanding of film as an art form and the filmmaker as an artist by providing a forum for independently produced, experimental films, which have little opportunity of reaching the general public through normal channels of commercial distribution. It showcases alternative media that aims to inspire, enlighten, and empower, as well as to entertain. By featuring the underrepresented voices and visions of truly independent filmmakers, Filmforum exposes audiences to the full range of artistic expression, cultural perspectives, and critical inquiry.
