This September, Spectacle is proud to present a retrospective of the luminary American experimental filmmaker Scott Bartlett in collaboration with The Film-Makers’ Cooperative.

Scott Barlett (1943 - 1990) was a traveling man with a fancy for strobing lights and fast motion. His films are pure psychedelia. Patching together philosophical ramblings on mystic traditions, hit songs from the ‘60s and ‘70s, and wobbly light patterns, Bartlett creates pithy works of genius. To this day, he remains best known for 1968’s OFFON, a gleaming vision of the cosmos that tested the limits of early video technology and set Bartlett down a path of stalwart experimentation within the cinematic tradition.

PROGRAM THREE: Cultural Studies

LOVEMAKING. 1970. 13 min.
GREENFIELD. 1977. 13 min.
HEAVY METAL. 1979. 13 min.
MEDINA. 1976. 15 min.
SOUND OF ONE. 1976. 11 min.

Always absorbed by his surroundings, Bartlett made exceptional ethnographic works and personal portraits throughout his life. In LOVEMAKING, he tackled his eponymous subject matter head on, creating an anti-sexploitation film that luxuriates in its romantic imaging of sex. GREENFIELD sees him venture to a commune in Northern California where he becomes absorbed in the free rhythms of its residents’ work and leisure. For HEAVY METAL, Bartlett used elaborate optical techniques to explore early gangster films. MEDINA and SOUND OF ONE both center Bartlett’s interests in non-Western traditions. Here, Bartlett surrenders himself to his environs, letting their patterns and actions guide his camera’s movement.