Amy Halpern

Slow Fireworks (2023)

My Dear Evaporant, (2022)

What can I say about a private letter? ...

Chabrot (2022)

A private toast. Inspired by a random encounter with this Wikipedia entry, while looking up "Chabrol, Claude" for a full listing of his films: "Faire chabrot or faire chabròl is an ancient Occitanian custom whereby at the end of a or broth, one adds r ...

4 Fingers, 5 Toes (2022)

Endangered animals on an endangered medium. A heartbeat 4/4 Slow cinema, with a sex scene. ...

Hula (2022)

Abstract music notation and something very obvious. ...

Emit a Beam, See a Light (2022)

Statement and demonstration. ...

VERGE for my sisters (2022)

A horizon like a blade.  Consistent across landscapes in California – ocean to desert and back to the ocean. ...

I Tremble / 8:46 (2022)

An opera in the public domain. A film about duration. "I tremble for my country when I think that god is just. ...

Ginko Yellow (2022)

with Indigo Cohan. ...

Fire Belly (2021)

Ancient alchemists believed that salamanders can be reborn from fire, like the phoenix or Christ. They do not survive fire, nor extreme dryness. And they cannot be resurrected after burning. ...

Birds in the Window (2020)

"Trying to get in, trying to get out. Encounters from the plague year. ...

Unowned Luxuries #3 (2020)

#27 (2020)

Jane, Looking (2020)

A portrait of Jane Wodening (Brakhage). "A person who was the subject of the camera for many years looks back at us with an interrogating stare. ...

Newt Leaders (2020)

Presents the physically necessary film "leaders"; at the front and back end of movies as aesthetic in themselves. ...

Vezelay Curtain (2018)

The Deer's Blessing (2017)

Newt Pauses (2016)

My Diamond (2015)

Maya Double-Bottomed Bowl (2014)

Elixir (2013)

Following Gage-like skull trauma, a woman's body unravels in dissolving textures and neuronal visions. ...

By Halves (2012)

By Halves uses appropriated footage from rejected 35mm prints that were cut in half and readjusted to be used as spacers for 16mm to sync sound tracks on film, and not meant to be projected. ...

Injury On A Theme (2012)

A short sweet film concerning torture. For Lynda Gudde. ...

Palm Down (2012)

Two palindromes. One resurrection. No happy ending. ...

Cheshire Smile (2012)

with Adnan Ibrahim "Stand up and use your ears like a man" - Charles Ives ...

The Decay of Fiction (2002)

The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles serves as the backdrop of Pat O'Neill's artfully-crafted film. Shot in the classic Hollywood style, the movie follows various mysterious characters as they move through the haunted halls of the hotel, exploring along the ...

Pouring Grain (2000)

Access to the View (2000)

with Yogi John Franzoni ...

Falling Lessons (1992)

A rhythmic montage of almost 200 faces, human and animals, that Halpern pans vertically, creating a cascade of visages suggesting that while individuals express a range of emotions they remain ultimately enigmas. ...

Ma Sewing (1991)

My mother, now 94. Filmed more than 30 years ago. ...

Ready-Made (1985)

Grey Area (1982)

The dilapidated former house/headquarters of South Central LA's Black Panthers is at the center of a clash between radical ideals of the past, and 1980s Buppie efforts to use white-owned platforms (banks, media) to uplift the community. ...

Invocation (1982)

Gesturing hands emerge from the darkness, readying us for the cinematic experience. ...

Cuticle Torture (1981)

1981, 16mm, b&w, silent, 2 mins. Shots of Halpern cutting her fingernails, biting them, and dunking them in water. ...

African Woman – USA (1980)

A woman from Nigeria seeks work in the United States while her daughter struggles with premonitions and homesickness. ...

Pythoness (1979)

Cigarette Burn (1978)

With Nancy Halpern and Yves Marton. "Sitting home smoking cigarettes during the occupation. Very nasty and sophomoric. And beautiful." — A.H. ...

Self-Portrait As A City (1977)

Plausible Light Source (1976)

Filament (The Hands) (1975)

In the politically charged atmosphere of the early 70s, Mikis Theodorakis conducted a concert of his music in Philadelphia. His music was banned in Greece, his own country, at that time by the US-funded junta. Visiting the US on a limited visa, he was rest ...

Peach Landscape (1973)

Illusions of surface, abstract to pictorial. Initially the grain of the film emulsion, complete with scratches, variations in framing – the meat of film – are the most apparent elements of all. The object shown is revealed to be a bowl of canned peache ...

Three Preparations (1972)

In three parts: Statice/frameline; Drops; The Cannonball Section. Unpopulated (except for the cheap ending on the Cannonball Section). (Previously shown as SLOW FLUSH.) –A. C. H. ...

Roll #1 For Nancy (1972)

A Glance (1972)

Literally, a glance. A dedication; my emissary. –A. C. H. ...

Shooting Women (2008)

Reveals the history of camerawomen around the world, celebrating not only the survival of pioneer women in a male-dominated field, but a new generation of camerawomen's visions. ...

Women Behind the Camera (2007)

Reveals the courageous lives of pioneer camerawomen from Hollywood to Bollywood, from war zones to children's laughter, in a way that has never been seen before. Based on a book by Alexis Krasilovsky, the film tells the stories of camerawomen surviving the ...

Soft Fiction (1979)

Chick Strand's SOFT FICTION is a personal documentary that brilliantly portrays the survival power of female sensuality. It combines the documentary approach with a sensuous lyrical expressionism. Strand focuses her camera on people talking about their own ...

Kristallnacht (1979)

A bewitching, mysterious work of enveloping beauty, the film's ominous title and a dedication to Anne Frank deeply inform our reading of its haunting subtext. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in partnership with the National Film Preservation Founda ...