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Nathaniel Dorsky

Intersections
Nathaniel Dorsky
22.07.25
18:00 		Tuesday 22.07.25 18:00 Cinematheque 2
B117
Special Program B117 2025-07-22 18:00:00 2025-07-22 18:00:00 Asia/Jerusalem Nathaniel Dorsky <p><strong>Curated and presented by Chen Sheinberg</strong></p><p>Nathaniel Dorsky, born in 1943, continues to make films to this day. He is an experimental filmmaker whose work focuses on light, movement, and color. His films shift between nature and plant life and enclosed urban spaces. He trains his 16mm camera on textures, sometimes detaching the figure or object from the surrounding background. Dorsky developed a method of montage known as Polyvalent Editing. His films are non-narrative, and this program offers Israeli audiences an encounter with a cinematic world entirely different from the familiar, even within the realm of experimental film.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Alaya</strong></p><p>1976-1987 | 28 min. | 16 mm | Silent | Sand, wind, and light merge with emulsions. The spectator is the star. (N.D.) "<em>Alaya </em>manages a perfection of ‘musical’ light across a space of time greater in length than would seem possible (consider how brief most such perfected works are, such as Peter Kubelka, say) … and with minimal means of line and tone. … After about three minutes I began to be aware of the subtlety of rhythm, within each shot and shot-to-shot, which carried each cut, causing each new image to sit in-the-light of those several previous … a little short of a miracle." Stan Brakhage</p><p> </p><p><strong>Variations </strong></p><p>1992-1998 | 24 min. | 16 mm | Silent | <em>Variations</em> had come to a close, just as I was sketching new ideas for my other film, <em>Triste</em>. What tender chaos, what luminous stream of rhymes cinema can summon—beyond the grasp of daytime language. In the Bronze Age, countless sanctuaries were built for healing. Among their central rites was the art of restorative sleep. This montage speaks in the spirit of that tradition. (N.D.)</p><p> </p><p><strong>Apricity</strong></p><p>2019 | 22 min. | 16 mm | Silent | The title, <em>Apricity</em>, refers to the warmth of the sun in winter. It is an homage to the writer Jane (Brakhage) Wodening. In speaking to her I mused, "perhaps your age is the winter and you are the warmth of the sun." (N.D.)</p> Cinematheque Jerusalem Cinematheque

Curated and presented by Chen Sheinberg

Nathaniel Dorsky, born in 1943, continues to make films to this day. He is an experimental filmmaker whose work focuses on light, movement, and color. His films shift between nature and plant life and enclosed urban spaces. He trains his 16mm camera on textures, sometimes detaching the figure or object from the surrounding background. Dorsky developed a method of montage known as Polyvalent Editing. His films are non-narrative, and this program offers Israeli audiences an encounter with a cinematic world entirely different from the familiar, even within the realm of experimental film.

 

Alaya

1976-1987 | 28 min. | 16 mm | Silent | Sand, wind, and light merge with emulsions. The spectator is the star. (N.D.) "Alaya manages a perfection of ‘musical’ light across a space of time greater in length than would seem possible (consider how brief most such perfected works are, such as Peter Kubelka, say) … and with minimal means of line and tone. … After about three minutes I began to be aware of the subtlety of rhythm, within each shot and shot-to-shot, which carried each cut, causing each new image to sit in-the-light of those several previous … a little short of a miracle." Stan Brakhage

 

Variations

1992-1998 | 24 min. | 16 mm | Silent | Variations had come to a close, just as I was sketching new ideas for my other film, Triste. What tender chaos, what luminous stream of rhymes cinema can summon—beyond the grasp of daytime language. In the Bronze Age, countless sanctuaries were built for healing. Among their central rites was the art of restorative sleep. This montage speaks in the spirit of that tradition. (N.D.)

 

Apricity

2019 | 22 min. | 16 mm | Silent | The title, Apricity, refers to the warmth of the sun in winter. It is an homage to the writer Jane (Brakhage) Wodening. In speaking to her I mused, "perhaps your age is the winter and you are the warmth of the sun." (N.D.)