March 12, 2004
Oskar Fischinger Screening
Retrospective Tribute to Oskar Fischinger (1900-67)
and
Book release celebration for Optical Poetry by Bill Moritz
Filmforum at the Egyptian Theater
Sunday March 14 at 7:00pm
The American Cinematheque
6712 Hollywood Boulevard
323-466-3456
Optical Poetry is a culmination of William Moritz's 34 years of research and work with the Fischinger Archive, which began upon his meeting Elfriede Fischinger, Oskar's widow, in 1969. Earlier in 1958, as a student at USC’s School of Cinema, he recalls, "I saw my first Fischinger film, and it popped all my buttons!"
Fischinger's pioneering experiments in Visual Music and the melding of graphic arts, abstract design, and sound were instrumental in shaping animation into an art and cinematic form and inspiring animators to pursue its aesthetic potential. An accomplished representational animator who eventually worked uneasily under contract for Paramount, MGM, and Disney, Fischinger produced numerous abstract animated films over his lifetime, invented machines such as the "Wax Machine" and the "Lumigraph" for creating images, and became an accomplished and influential abstract painter.
http://www.filmforum.org/Mar14/Mar14.html
Posted by Perry at March 12, 2004 10:16 PMComments
arg.
im leaving town tomorrow morning and wont be able to attend.
ive seen moritz talk on fischinger at kinetica2. by all means, attend this if you can. moritz is the leading expert on fischinger and this is a really cool opportunity to see a lot of rare, interesting and abstract/experimental animation.
two thumbs up. now if only i was going to be around.
Posted by: tripp at March 13, 2004 10:00 AM
I agree with Tripp. Bill is absolutely fantastic and usually comes to speak to Christine Panushka's History of Animation class. He's been a friend of the animation program for years (as well as an 'SC grad himself . . .), and is very open to sharing his knowlege with students, and all of his archives at the iotaCenter (personally spent many an hour there for my thesis paper on Berthold Bartosch).
Posted by: Jason Scott at March 14, 2004 01:29 AM
sad update from Film Forum:
Filmforum is deeply grieved to learn that William Moritz passed away on March 12, 2004. This week's screening will include tributes to Bill and a celebration of his work and life. If you have anything you'd like to say about this extraordinary man - scholar, teacher, filmmaker, writer, preservationist, friend of film-makers everywhere - please feel free to come with a statement. We will be screening the Oskar Fischinger films as a tribute to his work.
Posted by: pw at March 14, 2004 02:35 PM
This is an amazing loss to the animation community. Bill almost single-handedly preserved the works of so many animators, making sure their art could be viewed by future generations. I can't believe he's not around anymore . . . we will sorely miss him in the general animation community, but specifically here at USC.
Posted by: Jason Scott at March 15, 2004 08:18 PM
I regret that I never met Bill, but even so the screening/tribute was beautiful, sad & very moving, including heartfelt remembrances from Vibeke & Christine. From all accounts he was an amazing guy. The Fischinger films look more amazing every time I see them, and Bill's book is a fantastic resource. They even screened one of his films at the end, a single continuous shot of an incredible assortment of people (gay, straight, hippies, crossdressers, suits) leaving a theatre in SF in the early 70s. Unforgettable. I felt privileged to be there, and I offer my condolences to those of you that knew him.
Posted by: perry at March 16, 2004 12:16 PM
CVM has put up a Moritz tribute site with recent info and news, bio, obits, etc. regarding our beloved William Moritz. We'll continue to update it with tributes, news of memorial services, and more information
Posted by: Cindy at March 18, 2004 01:44 AM
