Vibrations for a New People
Curated by researcher Jon Davies, the four programs in this series highlight a vibrant chapter of San Francisco’s history, at the crossroads of experimental cinema, the sexual revolution, and queer counterculture. Whether through avant-garde works, educational films, or independent pornography, sexuality emerged in this specific context as a fertile ground for exploration and openness — in life as in creation — breaking down norms and asserting a freedom that has influenced countless artists.
Presented by guest programmer Jon Davies
The first program of the series focuses on the holistic, even utopian, vision of sexuality that predominated in the late 1960s before coming under pressure from increasing commercialization and commodification over the 1970s. All these filmmakers had work distributed by the Multi-Media Resource Center, a revolutionary project by the Rev. Ted McIlvenna – who believed that the body and sex were holy – to get modern sex education to diverse audiences. In addition to shooting their own films, they distributed avant-garde artists’ films as sex ed, useful for teaching people about their bodies and sexualities. (Jon Davies)
The Bed, James Broughton
[É.-U., 1968, 19 min, 16 mm, SD]
Preserved in our collections
Free, Laird Sutton
[É.-U., 1971, 12 min, num., SD]
Women I Love, Barbara Hammer
[É.-U., 1976, 23 min, num., SD]
The Place Between Our Bodies, Michael Wallin
[É.-U., 1975, 33 min, num., VOA]
