Gary Lee-Nova remembers:   "I made some notes about Sam and our relationship a couple of years ago ('Sam Perry August 2015'):

"I had a film maker friend. He was also a writer and poet.
In the early 1960s, he traveled to northern India, to make a film about the Tibetan refugees.
In Vancouver, Sam and I did some film work together and collaborated on some projects, me in front of his cameras for the most part.
Later on, I was moving to Montreal and had to return some books that I had borrowed from him.
At his place, I asked him where to put his books and he told me to put them into a bureau drawer. I opened the drawer and there was a Browning Hi-Power 9mm semi-auto pistol or a Browning .32 calibre semi-auto laying the drawer.
I put the books in the drawer and then I asked him about the gun.
He explained that when traveling in the Himalayas, there was a robber problem, so he had the gun for that reason. He was traveling with a wife and children.
Several months later, I returned to Vancouver from Montreal.
In my absence, my filmmaker friend had become involved with the LSD25 crowd around Tim Leary and all his fellow travellers.
There was a crusade to distribute as much of the drug as possible. Sam's involvement led to him consuming far too much of the drug and he turned into a paranoid schizophrenic.
No one knew what to do about it beyond expressing sorrow and helplessness.
The few who tried to help him knew less than zero about psychology, or psychological illnesses. He was then in-and-out of a couple of psychiatric care facilities.
A few weeks later, another friend found my filmmaker friend dead in his studio, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Of course this was a shocking event, and I reprimanded myself severely over it because I knew he had that gun, but had forgotten about it.
I could have taken action, taken that gun away from him, but I failed."

"I hope that you'll keep me in the loop when the remainder of the material is digitized. All the best Scott.
Thank you. Best regards, Gary
P. S. Bcc: to Al Razutis"

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STEEL MUSHROOMS by GARY LEE-NOVA and DALLAS SELMAN

'Underground film' -- COLLAGE FILM

8 min. color sound 1967, production assistance Stan Fox

Watch Steel Mushrooms on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/pGgFB9CMqIM

Steel Mushrooms is a 1967 experimental ('underground') film made by Gary Lee-Nova and Dallas Selman, with soundscape by Dennis Vance. It was produced with support from Stan Fox.

A full description of the film can be found in the article "Recovering Lost History - Vancouver Avant-Garde Cinema 1960-69' by Al Razutis at the url:   https://www.alchemists.com/visual_alchemy/writings/recovering_lost_history.html#lee-nova

An 'extended interview' with Gary Lee-Nova done by director - filmmaker Richard Martin for his "Backbone" (the film) project is here:   https://vimeo.com/channels/966891/114223278

"My interests are to connect the dots... between light show projections, underground film, early video art, and what became called 'experimental cinema' and 'expanded cinema' (as described by Youngblood 1970)."(AR)

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OFF ON by SCOTT BARTLETT

'Synaesthetic film' -- FILM - VIDEO - LIGHTSHOW PROJECTION HYBRID

9 min. color sound 1967 - Scott Bartlett dir. with assistance from Tom Dewitt, Manny Meyer, and Michael McNamee

Watch Off On on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEr9Z7Q4ZxY

"Off On is an experimental film created by Scott Bartlett made and released in 1968. It is most notable for being one of the first examples in which film and video technologies were combined (also using psychedelic light show film loops). The nine-minute film combines a number of video loops which have been altered through re-photography or video colorization, and utilizes an electronic sound track to create its unique effect.

In 2004, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". " (Wikipedia)

Recent writings by Razutis: > Page on OFF ON

"My interests are to connect the dots... between light show projections, underground film, early video art, and what became called 'experimental cinema' and 'expanded cinema' (as described by Youngblood 1970)."(AR)

Full thread on Scott Bartlett film posted on FaceBook May 9, 2019 at https://www.facebook.com/102922939863571/photos/a.112187032270495/1337508106405042/?type=3&theater

The "Making Off On" by Cynthia Anne Haagens is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yASi81-qxRI

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7362 by PAT O'NEILL

'Synaesthetic film' -- 9 min. color sound 1967 - Pat O'Neill dir.

Frames from '7362' - panel by John Coulthart

Watch 7362 on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WusH--ZU_to

"Pat O'Neil...has made many experimental films using techniques perfected with an optical printer. This film incorporates footage of oil derricks in Venice, California and nude models filmed in the artist's studio. Its synthesizer score is by Joseph Byrd." -- Alessandro Cima.

"I finished my first film in 1962. Then I started doing abstract or composite films. I began to use the camera as a sort of gathering device to provide elements for manipulation through re-photography. This led to 7362 which was finished in 1967. I didn't have much knowledge about the history of the medium at that time. I had maybe three film classes at UCLA and beyond that the midnight screenings at the Coronet and the Cinema Theater were my education." -- Pat O'Neill, Millennium Film Journal interview 1997.

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AAEON by AL RAZUTIS

28 min. color sound 1969-71 - Al Razutis prod./dir

90 sec. excerpt video of 2 select sections AAEON 'head title', 'Nightwood' from 16mm film sources on YouTube:

3 min. excerpt video from AAEON 'Nightwood' section from 16mm film sources on YouTube:

"AAEON is based on experiments with dream recollection - it is a 'dream work' inspired directly by my dreams and the recollection of the vivid imagery and fractured time that would be recalled nightly by purposely waking myself (every hour) and audio recording my recollections of the events. This project required the construction of a film 'machine', the film optical printer, which I built in various stages in 1969-1972 in Crescent Beach and Vancouver." Photo of early version of optical printer by Al Razutis. "The film is composed of four interwoven stages or stanzas that constantly develop and redefine mythological space/time circulating around the ideas of 're-birth' (Tibetan Buddhist ideas, the Tarot, William Blake, oriental and western mysticism were some of the influences at the time) . The film is composed and edited on an optical printer effecting distortions of motion, time, composition, and colour through extensive use of 'layering' (in bi-pack printing, matte printing, step printing, colour separation, burning the film in a projection gate, infrared photography)." (A.R.) Original music composed and performed by Phillip Werren. The music and imagery were created as a 'synergy' of both elements. Production assistance was also provided by Peter Jones, NFB Vancouver, one of the few individuals at the NFB who took an active interest in supporting underground and experimental films of the 60's-70's. Appearing: Jurgen Hesse, Kathy Razutis, Ed Varney, and Al Razutis. Screened at the Bellevue Film Festival (1970). In the collections of Pacific Cinematheque Pacifique, and National Film Board of Canada, Vancouver. >> AAEON FILM PAGE - PICS / TEXTS All remaining release prints of this film are now stored at the Academy Archives in Hollywood, USA. References: Photo collage of AAEON frames and film optical printer / animation stand at Crescent Beach 1970, with Razutis making 'AAEON'.   Photo of final film optical printer at Visual Alchemy, Vancouver, 1974.

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AN EYE FOR AN EYE by DAVID RIMMER and JACOB CINO / THIRD EYE TRIBE

'Synaesthetic Cinema' -- FILM - VIDEO - LIGHTSHOW PROJECTION HYBRID

10 min. color sound 2003 -- co-editor Sarah Butterfield

Watch An Eye for an Eye on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/xIZpO9mT9wM

"An experimental film by David Rimmer (2003) which was influenced by or done to be performed at 'Rave' concerts which Rimmer was fond of attending in the 2000's. The relationship / resemblance of this film to 'light shows' (live projections) of the 1960's is unmistakable as an influence." (A.R.)

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GATHERING STORM by DAVID RIMMER

'Synaesthetic Cinema' -- FILM - VIDEO - LIGHTSHOW PROJECTION HYBRID

6 min. color sound 2003 -- Producer: Svend-Erik Ericksen, NFB, Vancouver

"A hauntingly beautiful film about the world's flight into chaos.

Technique:   "Rimmer has taken (Norman) McLaren's camera-less technique to new heights. He paints directly on clear 35mm leader, using odd materials such as household cleaners, varnish, inks and sometimes fish scales and ferns. He feeds the loops through a film editing machine, overlays them with music and records the result with a mini DV camera."

Production:   National Film Board of Canada (www.nfb.ca)   --   Producer:   Svend-Erik Eriksen

Watch Gathering Storm on VIMEO at: https://vimeo.com/32645959

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More on early experimental films by David Rimmer can be found in the article 'Recovering Lost History - Vancouver Avant-Garde Cinema 1960-69' by Al Razutis at the url:   https://www.alchemists.com/visual_alchemy/writings/recovering_lost_history.html#davidrimmer

An 'extended interview' with David Rimmer done by director - filmmaker Richard Martin for his Backbone documentary film project is here:   https://vimeo.com/channels/966891/114388039

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Historical texts as reference:

'Recovering Lost History: Vancouver Avant-Garde Cinema 1960-1969' (Al Razutis)

     

Al Razutis personal chronologies:

'Three Decades of Rage' .PDF (Mike Hoolboom)

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