Ed Emshwiller

Ed Emshwiller

Born in 1925, Ed Emshwiller studied graphic design at the University of Michigan and L'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. By the late '60s Emshwiller was working as a science fiction illustrator, and had established his place in the American avant-garde cinema with such works as Relativity (1966) and Image, Flesh and Voice (1969). His early films featured collaborations with dancers and choreographers—a theme he carried over into his videoworks. As both an artist and a teacher, Emshwiller’s pioneering efforts to develop an alternative technological language in video were enormously influential. His early experiments with synthesizers and computers included the electronic rendering of three-dimensional space, the interplay of illusion and reality, and manipulations of time, movement, and scale that explore the relationship between "external reality and subjective feelings." Emshwiller was among the first artists-in-residence at the TV Lab at WNET, where he produced the groundbreaking Scape-mates (1972). Sunstone (1979) was made over a period of eight months at the New York Institute of Technology. Emshwiller passed away in 1990 and an extensive collection of his work is housed by Anthology Film Archives.

  • Title: Ed Emshwiller
  • Popularity: 0.0453
  • Known For: Directing
  • Birthday: 1925-02-16
  • Place of Birth: Lansing, Michigan
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As:
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Ed Emshwiller Movies

  • 1985
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    Home Movies 1971-81

    Home Movies 1971-81

    1 1985 HD

    Home movies shot on Super 8mm by W+B Hein over 10 years.

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  • 1966
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    Galaxie

    Galaxie

    1 1966 HD

    In March and April of 1966, Markopoulos created this filmic portrait of writers and artists from his New York circle, including Parker Tyler, W. H....

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  • 1963
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    Hallelujah the Hills

    Hallelujah the Hills

    6.1 1963 HD

    Jack and Leo vie for the affections of Vera – who appears a little differently to each man – over the course of a series of energetic...

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  • 1976
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    Family Focus

    Family Focus

    1 1976 HD

    Emshwiller terms Family Focus a "family self-portrait, a stylized autobiography," which takes the form of an intimate collage of home movies,...

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  • 2013
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    Diaries, Notes, and Sketches

    Diaries, Notes, and Sketches

    7.5 2013 HD

    An epic portrait of the New York avant-garde art scene of the 60s.

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  • 1976
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    Lost, Lost, Lost

    Lost, Lost, Lost

    7 1976 HD

    Jonas Mekas adjusts to a life in exile in New York in his autobiographical film, shot between 1949 and 1963.

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  • 1973
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    Painters Painting

    Painters Painting

    6.5 1973 HD

    Painters Painting: The New York Art Scene 1940-1970 is a 1972 documentary directed by Emile de Antonio. It covers American art movements from...

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  • 1997
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    Birth of a Nation

    Birth of a Nation

    6.3 1997 HD

    Filmmaker Jonas Mekas films 160 underground film people over four decades.

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  • 1975
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    Solstice and Solyanka

    Solstice and Solyanka

    1 1975 HD

    Super 8 film. Observations of the Institute on Film, Video & Photography, Amherst, MA, summer 1975. Among the cast of characters, in order of...

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  • 1974
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    Suite 212

    Suite 212

    1 1974 HD

    Suite 212 is Paik's "personal New York sketchbook," an electronic collage that presents multiple perspectives of New York's media landscape as a...

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  • 1963
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    Thanatopsis

    Thanatopsis

    6.2 1963 HD

    Power saws and a heartbeat score this experimental light-and-color shot by Ed Emshwiller.

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  • 1965
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    George Dumpson's Place

    George Dumpson's Place

    6 1965 HD

    Employing experimental techniques, Emshwiller magically moved through a collection of objects and artifacts in order to capture the spirit of George...

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  • 1959
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    Dance Chromatic

    Dance Chromatic

    1 1959 HD

    Dance Chromatic (1959), integrates film and painting. Dance Chromatic reveals that the contradiction between the desire to convey the organic growth...

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  • 1967
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    Dont Look Back

    Dont Look Back

    7.4 1967 HD

    In this wildly entertaining vision of one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists, Bob Dylan is surrounded by teen fans, gets into heated...

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  • 1979
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    Sunstone

    Sunstone

    6.8 1979 HD

    Experimental computer animation from pioneering artist Ed Emshwiller.

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  • 1979
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    Sunstone

    Sunstone

    6.8 1979 HD

    Experimental computer animation from pioneering artist Ed Emshwiller.

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  • 1970
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    Carol

    Carol

    5.857 1970 HD

    Ed Emshwiller’s tender portrait of his wife, avant-garde science fiction writer Carol Emshwiller.

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  • 1960
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    Lifelines

    Lifelines

    5 1960 HD

    A combination of animated line drawings with live photography of a nude model. A play on the title (living lines, life model, procreation and hand...

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  • 1956
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    The Thing from Back Issues

    The Thing from Back Issues

    1 1956 HD

    A film by Ed Emshwiller made with writers from the Original Milford Science Fiction Writers Conference. Silent film. Mid 1950s.

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  • 1970
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    Report

    Report

    1 1970 HD

    Shot during the 1968/69 school year at University of California Berkeley, Report was created as part of Norman Jacobson’s experimental...

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  • 1966
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    Relativity

    Relativity

    4.7 1966 HD

    Emshwiller made this film on a Ford Foundation grant, and in his original proposal to the Ford Foundation, he outlined the film as "something that...

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  • 1971
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    Film with Three Dancers

    Film with Three Dancers

    4.333 1971 HD

    In this spin-off from his original plan for Relativity (1966), Emshwiller continued with his desire to penetrate “space in a kind of flying...

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  • 1963
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    The Existentialist

    The Existentialist

    7 1963 HD

    A delightful short film shot in reverse in which the main protagonist enjoys a day on the town.

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  • 1962
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    The American Way

    The American Way

    5.1 1962 HD

    A comedy short which pokes merry anarchistic fun at such quintessential American institutions as mom, baseball, and apple pie. It features an early...

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  • 1979
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    Eclipse

    Eclipse

    1 1979 HD

    Really gorgeous visuals from Emshwiller made for Roger Reynolds's Voicescapes performance, containing elements from his previous Sunstone.

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  • 1970
    imgMovies

    Carol

    Carol

    5.857 1970 HD

    Ed Emshwiller’s tender portrait of his wife, avant-garde science fiction writer Carol Emshwiller.

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  • 1970
    imgMovies

    Carol

    Carol

    5.857 1970 HD

    Ed Emshwiller’s tender portrait of his wife, avant-garde science fiction writer Carol Emshwiller.

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  • 1972
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    Scape-Mates

    Scape-Mates

    6 1972 HD

    In one of his first experiments in video, Emshwiller creates an electronic landscape of both abstract and figurative elements, where colorized...

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  • 1964
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    Scrambles

    Scrambles

    1 1964 HD

    This biker documentary was selected for screening at the 1964 Flaherty Film Seminar. Emshwiller described it as "a roaring picture of motorcyclists...

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  • 1963
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    Hallelujah the Hills

    Hallelujah the Hills

    6.1 1963 HD

    Jack and Leo vie for the affections of Vera – who appears a little differently to each man – over the course of a series of energetic...

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  • 1969
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    Image, Flesh and Voice

    Image, Flesh and Voice

    6 1969 HD

    This independent underground feature films two dancers (Carolyn Carlson and Emery Hermans) in silhouettes and shadows. Other couples discuss their...

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  • 1966
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    Oysters Are in Season

    Oysters Are in Season

    1 1966 HD

    Oysters Are in Season feautures the improvised humor of Swede Sorenson, Dean Preece and Molly Parkin as they play out sharply satiric situations....

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  • 1959
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    Transformation

    Transformation

    1 1959 HD

    The pointillist score accompanies changing line, form, and color to create an animated film painting, achieved through the exploration of spontaneous...

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  • 1963
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    Totem

    Totem

    1 1963 HD

    A filmic interpretation of a modern dance ballet by Alvin Nikolais. Earth, fire, water and primordial mysteries in a cine-dance.

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  • 1963
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    Totem

    Totem

    1 1963 HD

    A filmic interpretation of a modern dance ballet by Alvin Nikolais. Earth, fire, water and primordial mysteries in a cine-dance.

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  • 1963
    imgMovies

    Totem

    Totem

    1 1963 HD

    A filmic interpretation of a modern dance ballet by Alvin Nikolais. Earth, fire, water and primordial mysteries in a cine-dance.

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  • 1974
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    Crossings and Meetings

    Crossings and Meetings

    1 1974 HD

    A lone man walking across the video screen is the starting point for this dynamic formal exercise. This image and its accompanying sound are...

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  • 1973
    imgMovies

    Painters Painting

    Painters Painting

    6.5 1973 HD

    Painters Painting: The New York Art Scene 1940-1970 is a 1972 documentary directed by Emile de Antonio. It covers American art movements from...

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  • 1971
    imgMovies

    Millhouse

    Millhouse

    6.571 1971 HD

    Emile de Antonio's film decimates Richard Nixon and exposes him as a paranoid, power mad lunatic... de Antonio compiles (via video and film) what...

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  • 1967
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    Fusion

    Fusion

    1 1967 HD

    A kaleidoscopic collage of colours and dehumanised modern dancers, making subtle use of double exposure and electronic music. Shapes move and grow to...

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  • 1976
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    Family Focus

    Family Focus

    1 1976 HD

    Emshwiller terms Family Focus a "family self-portrait, a stylized autobiography," which takes the form of an intimate collage of home movies,...

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  • 1958
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    Paintings by Ed Emshwiller

    Paintings by Ed Emshwiller

    8 1958 HD

    The first film by Ed Emswhiller

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  • 1978
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    Dubs

    Dubs

    1 1978 HD

    Dubs is a somewhat abstract, experimental video without a clearly defined plot. It focusses mostly on the relationships between men and women and the...

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  • 1987
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    Hungers

    Hungers

    1 1987 HD

    Emshwiller introduces this work as a "tapestry of images and sounds suggestive of the hungers that human beings all share for food, love, sex, power,...

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  • 1962
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    The Streets of Greenwood

    The Streets of Greenwood

    1 1962 HD

    THE STREETS OF GREENWOOD (1962), looks at voter registration efforts by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)and a concert in a...

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  • 1972
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    Thermogenesis

    Thermogenesis

    1 1972 HD

    "A film version of a videotape. In it my drawings are animated and colorized by using computers. Walter Wright and Richard Froeman were on the...

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  • 1973
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    Chrysalis

    Chrysalis

    1 1973 HD

    Made in collaboration with Alvin Nikolais, featuring the Nikolais dance company. CHRYSALIS is the result of structuring a series of cinematic and...

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  • 1973
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    Chrysalis

    Chrysalis

    1 1973 HD

    Made in collaboration with Alvin Nikolais, featuring the Nikolais dance company. CHRYSALIS is the result of structuring a series of cinematic and...

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  • 1984
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    Skin Matrix

    Skin Matrix

    1 1984 HD

    Emshwiller writes that the visually complex and densely textured Skin Matrix is a "video tapestry... a layering of different manifestations of...

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  • 1973
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    Pilobolus and Joan

    Pilobolus and Joan

    1 1973 HD

    Pilobolus and Joan is a dance/narrative journey of transformation, a theatrical search for self and love based on Carol Emshwiller's story...

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  • 1970
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    Branches

    Branches

    1 1970 HD

    Featuring Bill Weidner and Connie Brady, BRANCHES was made in a filmmaking workshop at Cornell University during the summer of 1970. The film was...

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  • 1973
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    Chrysalis

    Chrysalis

    1 1973 HD

    Made in collaboration with Alvin Nikolais, featuring the Nikolais dance company. CHRYSALIS is the result of structuring a series of cinematic and...

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  • 1977
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    Sur Faces

    Sur Faces

    1 1977 HD

    Emshwiller writes that Sur Faces is a "stylized collaborative videotape in which actors working with (the artist) explore sexual politics as...

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  • 1962
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    Time of the Heathen

    Time of the Heathen

    7 1962 HD

    In New York four years after the bombing of Hiroshima, a bible-carrying drifter who witnesses the rape and murder of a black woman is framed and...

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  • 1962
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    Time of the Heathen

    Time of the Heathen

    7 1962 HD

    In New York four years after the bombing of Hiroshima, a bible-carrying drifter who witnesses the rape and murder of a black woman is framed and...

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  • 1971
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    Choice Chance Woman Dance

    Choice Chance Woman Dance

    1 1971 HD

    A subjective film song of awareness; woman alone, woman with child, woman as scientist, woman as artist, woman with woman, woman with man. Paradox...

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  • 1962
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    Time of the Heathen

    Time of the Heathen

    7 1962 HD

    In New York four years after the bombing of Hiroshima, a bible-carrying drifter who witnesses the rape and murder of a black woman is framed and...

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  • 1976
    imgMovies

    Family Focus

    Family Focus

    1 1976 HD

    Emshwiller terms Family Focus a "family self-portrait, a stylized autobiography," which takes the form of an intimate collage of home movies,...

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  • 1966
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    Art Scene USA

    Art Scene USA

    1 1966 HD

    A look at painting, sculpture and the dance in the United States today, as represented by works of many of its best-known artists - Andrew Wyeth,...

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  • 1984
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    Skin Matrix S

    Skin Matrix S

    1 1984 HD

    Skin Matrix S is a short version of the piece Skin Matrix.

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  • 1966
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    In Three Zones

    In Three Zones

    1 1966 HD

    A film based on play by Wilford Leach

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  • 1968
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    Project Apollo

    Project Apollo

    1 1968 HD

    A film by Ed Emshwiller that surveys, without narration, the vast human and material resources committed to the U.S. space program. Uses recurring...

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  • 1970
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    Images

    Images

    1 1970 HD

    A video piece by Ed Emshwiller

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  • 1975
    imgMovies

    Inside Edges

    Inside Edges

    1 1975 HD

    A video work by Ed Emshwiller

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  • 1976
    imgMovies

    Self-Trio

    Self-Trio

    1 1976 HD

    Choreographic dance video created in 1976 by Ed Emshwiller.

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  • 1958
    imgMovies

    Big Vacation

    Big Vacation

    1 1958 HD

    The third film by Ed Emshwiller

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  • 1976
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    New England Visions Past and Future

    New England Visions Past and Future

    1 1976 HD

    A collaboration between Ed Emshwiller and William Irwin Thompson

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  • 1976
    imgMovies

    Family Focus

    Family Focus

    1 1976 HD

    Emshwiller terms Family Focus a "family self-portrait, a stylized autobiography," which takes the form of an intimate collage of home movies,...

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  • 1972
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    Woe Oh Ho No

    Woe Oh Ho No

    1 1972 HD

    A video film by Ed Emshwiller

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  • 1972
    imgMovies

    Computer Graphics #1

    Computer Graphics #1

    1 1972 HD

    The long version of the film titled in the short version "THERMOGENESIS"

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  • 1958
    imgMovies

    Monsters

    Monsters

    1 1958 HD

    The Second film by Ed Emshwiller

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  • 1965
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    Faces of America

    Faces of America

    1 1965 HD

    An impressionistic portrait of America's diversity

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  • 1973
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    Positive Negative Electronic Faces

    Positive Negative Electronic Faces

    1 1973 HD

    A collaboration between Ed Emshwiller and Anthony Bannon funded by a New York State Council on the Arts grant.

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  • 1965
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    Film Magazine of the Arts

    Film Magazine of the Arts

    1 1965 HD

    "In Spring, 1963 Show Magazine called me and asked that I make a film on arts in New York. I told them, why did they want me to make it - didn't they...

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  • 1972
    imgMovies

    Scape-Mates

    Scape-Mates

    6 1972 HD

    In one of his first experiments in video, Emshwiller creates an electronic landscape of both abstract and figurative elements, where colorized...

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  • 1963
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    Freedom March

    Freedom March

    1 1963 HD

    A short documentary by Ed Emshwiller of the March on Washington.

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  • 1973
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    Identities

    Identities

    1 1973 HD

    A film made by Ed Emshwiller and Wantagh, New York high school students.

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  • 1970
    imgMovies

    Report

    Report

    1 1970 HD

    Shot during the 1968/69 school year at University of California Berkeley, Report was created as part of Norman Jacobson’s experimental...

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  • 1969
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    Jr. Star Trek

    Jr. Star Trek

    1 1969 HD

    The ten-year-old filmmaker (and star) pays homage to the Star Trek series.

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  • 1980
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    The Lathe of Heaven

    The Lathe of Heaven

    6.724 1980 HD

    George Orr, a man whose dreams can change waking reality, tries to suppress this unpredictable gift with drugs. Dr. Haber, an assigned psychiatrist,...

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