De Luce

May 6th, 2010 at 8 pm
at Echo Park Film Center, 1200 N. Alvarado St (at Sunset) Los Angeles
Admission is sliding scale, starting at $5; please pay what you can afford.

May 13th, 2010 at 8 pm
at Artists’ Television Access, 992 Valencia Street (at 21st) San Francisco
Admission is sliding scale, starting at $6; please pay what you can afford.

The San Francisco Art Institute has had a long tradition of fostering the development of artists working with film and video in uniquely personal ways, and who have gone on to become successful artists, educators and curators. For many who have gone through the program, Janis Crystal Lipzin has been a strong mentor and role mode. As an interdisciplinary artist committed to filmmaking she has created a body of work that utilizes alternative photochemical processes, installation and performance to explore personal, political and environmental issues. This program features her newest work, a handmade Super-8/digital hybrid entitled De Luce 1: Vegetare, alongside a decade’s worth of work by alumni including Alexis Bravos, Brian Traylor, Chris Kennedy, Christina Battle, Elizabeth DiGiovanni, Jeremy Menzies, John Palmer, Kai-Ting Chuang, Karen Johannesen, Rick Bahto, Tsen-Chu Hsu, and Vanessa O’Neill. Proceeds from tonight’s program will be donated to the SFAI Faculty Union’s legal fund as they continue their struggle against the unjust layoffs of nine tenured faculty members, including Janis Crystal Lipzin.
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I would also like to point out another faculty member among the nine laid off who has been a mentor not only to myself but to many other of the artists on this program. Charles Boone is a composer who has always been especially close to the Film Department. Though his courses were often in other departments, Charles has worked very closely with many film students, including myself, and I would not be making the work I am making today if it weren’t also for the work I did with Charles.

For more information about the faculty layoffs, please visit the SFAI Action Group site. Of particular interest is a letter from Steve Anker, Dean of the School of Film/Video at Calarts, who says much more eloquently that I could ever manage what Janis’ removal from the faculty means for the future of the Film Department at SFAI.

If you are unable to make it to the screening but would like to support the faculty in their struggle, you can make a donation at the Faculty Union of SFAI’s site. Arbitration begins on April 30, 2010 and the union needs to raise $10,000 to help defray the expected $50,000 legal bill. Any donation large or small will help them at this critical time.