Notes - 10 films by Saul Levine
Boston, MA (Jan. 26, Sunday 2PM) — RPM Festival, in collaboration with the Brattle Theatre, is proud to present a special retrospective of the work of Saul Levine, a passionate and uncompromising voice and a pioneering and influential figure in American experimental cinema. Levine, who has been living and working in Boston for over five decades, is known for his unconventional approach to filmmaking, combining personal expression with political urgency. His films, which often incorporate elements of diary filmmaking, are celebrated for their raw emotional depth and distinctive, highly subjective style.
Levine’s work offers a powerful and intimate vision of his experience, often characterized by its chaotic energy, political activism, and an unflinching dedication to exploring complex themes such as identity, sexuality, and love. Film theorist P. Adams Sitney has referred to him as “one of the most underrated filmmakers in the American avant-garde cinema,” yet also praised him as “the foremost dissenting filmmaker in America.” Sitney described Levine’s works as "high-energy messages of friendship, records of sexual love and political activism, radiated by humor, prophetic anger, loneliness, and even, though rarely, repose."
Levine's films are deeply personal, often fragmented, and imbued with a sense of urgency—qualities that resonate with the spirit of personal cinema. His “note(s)” series, in particular, exemplifies his approach to moving-image diaries, offering a compelling and intimate look at his life and times. As a champion of small-gauge film—particularly 8mm and Super 8mm sound formats—some of Levine’s works have often been seen only in informal settings due to the limitations of screening technology. This program marks the first time many of these films will be presented to the public outside of private salon viewing parties.
The program offers a rare opportunity for both longtime admirers and newcomers to experience the full range of Levine’s recent work, including films that have never before been shown in a public venue.
Post-screening discussion:
Saul Levine & Brett Melican
Brett Melican is a filmmaker, writer, and curator based in Boston, MA. He assists with programming for RPM Festival and IFFBoston, works on the production staff of the Telluride Film Festival, and is a member of the AgX Film Collective.
NOTES OF AN EARLY FALL
33:30, Sound, Color, 1978/2019
LIGHT LICK AMEN
4:56, Color, Silent, 1999-2017
LIGHT LICK PARDES COUNTING FLOWERS ON THE WALL
12:47, Color, Silent, 2018
LIGHT LICK LOVE STAIN
3:27, color, Silent, 2019
ENTRY NOTE
2:22, B/W, Silent, 2018
PHOTO NOTE
1:15, Silent, B/W, 2019
ON ANOTHER NOTE
4:41, Sound, Color, 2019
NOTE TO TETSUA
1:04, B/W, Silent, 2018
CAWS NOTE
3:33, Color, Silent, 2018
SUN DRUM MOON NOTE
6:42, Color, Silent, 2018
Total: 75mins
NOTES OF AN EARLY FALL
33:30, Sound, Color, 1978/2019
Notes of an Early Fall [NOTES] was mostly made in Binghamton in 1976 - a warped record constructed out of visits to the zoo, relatives and various locations. Appearances by obsessive birds, caged bears and hungry rams.
"Certain shots are very evocative, such as a long shot of a group of people sitting on a park bench, one person playing a song on a recorder. The sound of the music, its fragility, is matched by the distance of the shot, lending a feeling of precariousness to the moment. There is a repeated shot of a warped record playing, with the same musical phrase endlessly repeated. The shot is an interior one, with the lighting casting a golden glow on the scene. The warped repetitions begin to reverberate with suggestions of frustrations."
– Daryl Chin, The Soho Weekly News
"His first talkie, NOTES OF AN EARLY FALL is a characteristically raw work that parlays even the sound of microphone rumble into a formal element. Featuring a lengthy sequence devoted to the dance of an outrageously warped record, and a cameo appearance by a malfunctioning TV set, the forty-minute film suggests an entropic, melancholy Ballet Mecanique."
– J. Hoberman, Homemade Movies
LIGHT LICK AMEN
4:56, Color, Silent, 1999-2017
A stark portrait of my father at daily morning prayers to which I respond, AMEN. Light Licks are a series of films I began in 1999. The films are made frame by frame, often by flooding the camera with enough light to spill beyond the gate into the frame left unexposed. Light Licks are ecstatic flicker films inspired by jazz and mystic visionary practice and extend my interest in the ways film can be a medium of visual improvisation.
LIGHT LICK PARDES COUNTING FLOWERS ON THE WALL
12:47, Color, Silent, 2018
PARDES is the ancient Persian word for walled garden. In Hebrew and Aramaic, it means paradise, heaven, the garden of Eden, the peak or terminus of ecstatic visionary, trance, flight, wildflowers, morning glories, an urban jungle an Eden for a petite Tyger.
Light Licks are a series of films I began in 1999. The films are made frame by frame, often by flooding the camera with enough light to spill beyond the gate into the frame left unexposed. Light Licks are ecstatic flicker films inspired by jazz and mystic visionary practice and extend my interest in the ways film can be a medium of visual improvisation.
LIGHT LICK LOVE STAIN
3:27, color, Silent, 2019
Light Licks are a series of films I began in 1999. The films are made frame by frame, often by flooding the camera with enough light to spill beyond the gate into the frame left unexposed. Light Licks are ecstatic flicker films inspired by jazz and mystic visionary practice and extend my interest in the ways film can be a medium of visual improvisation.
ENTRY NOTE
2:22, B/W, Silent, 2018
A small apocalypse prophecy on the threshold of disaster world/ home.
PHOTO NOTE
1:15, Silent, B/W, 2019
Seeing photographers Barbara Boswoth, Laura McPheem and Roy Decarava conversation after 1991 MassArt graduate. Mark Lapore at the end.
ON ANOTHER NOTE
4:41, Sound, Color, 2019
Notes on chance, readymades, and time. Shot at MassArt graduation 1997 and Boston 4th of July, 1997. Some of the people appearing are Barbara Bosworth, Stephen Tourlentes, Roy Decarava. Edited shortly thereafter, printed DEC. 2018 released 2019.
NOTE TO TETSUA
1:04, B/W, Silent, 2018
Moon flight loud silence soft dark hard light a Ray o grammade with a camera out of sight
SUN DRUM MOON NOTE
6:42, Color, Silent, 2018
Sun Drum Moon Note Pedestrian reflections on ecstasy and vision.
CAWS NOTE
3:33, Color, Silent, 2018
notes As the crow flies, as the crow cries, as the crow alites