Ace of Light

A lensless exploration of hair on 35mm film.

A lone passenger is reflected in the windows of a train crawling through layers of textures towards Minsk. During his absence, the city has not changed: all the streets are frozen, long-gone voices can be heard in the empty rooms and around the corner you can find yourself in a video game from your childhood.

A police officer has a fever dream after having too much sugar.

A seashell belonging to a northern moon snail twists and turns 360 degrees in multiple wooden homemade contraptions and through contact sheets at a progressively rapid pace, before finally synthesizing the gnomic growth of the spiral shell and exploring the phenomena of virtual and real space and time. Directed by Al Jarnow.

A children's fable about the power of advertising, the meaning of life and ultimately the test of a mother's love. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2016.

An instructional video that teaches, through stop-motion animation, how to build a bridge over a gorge that can hold heavy military equipment. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2004.

A visual and acoustic reflection about perception, deception, truth and the medium of film itself. Between visibility, irritation, structure and dissolution, a space arises for one’s own vision. An experimental film that wants to be experienced.

Threnody emphasises some of the madness and instability of a year filled with fires, infections and general disarray.

Pictures taken between France and Mexico running at 8 frames per second.

An homage to the influential practice and philosophy of artist Nasreen Mohamedi. The film incorporates Mohamedi’s personal notes and her unique singular vision, drawing upon the aesthetics of the bare line, and its metaphysical journey eliminating physical borders/barriers.

A deer, disillusioned by the consumerism that defines his life. A lizard, ostracized from society, forever wandering. A chance meeting in the middle of a field. Who will survive? And who will transcend existence? Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2009.

An mutoscope motion picture installation commissioned for the 86th anniversary of the Guggenheim museum. Later preserved and turned into a short film. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2000.

A chain reaction as a new Olympic sport.

Possibly the most lucid, vivid, and awesome demonstration of the building up of still images to create moving ones, Pasadena Freeway Stills simply, gracefully and powerfully shows us the process by which we are fooled by the movies. By doing so, Gary Beydler mines a very rich vein of associations and metaphor, without the slightest ostentation. Constructed as a thrilling arc of realization and, in a quite moving way, disappointment, the film is a beautiful articulation of our emotional entanglement with moving images, while simultaneously creating a form in which the illusion of cinema is brought into incredible relief as the film we're watching gradually catches up to the film Gary is holding up to the camera with his hands, one frame at a time. (Mark Toscano) Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2008.

The entire film is divided into four consecutive chosen approaches—the fourth section devoted to a reiteration and extension of the original material. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1999.

A brief journey through the human experience as seen by the eyes of an Artificial Intelligence.

The animation, music, and optical printing of Kitsch in Synch was produced by Beckett and the students in two classes he was teaching at CalArts. Although a group project, it is clear that Beckett was the director. The playful, catchy soundtrack is used to create a cycle of building tension and release. The brightly colored shapes create approximate symmetrical formations and become more densely layered, with glimpses of iconographic objects and even live footage near the end. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in partnership with the iotaCenter, in 2007.

Legacy takes the audience on a rapid-fire journey through the evolution of the world, starting with a cosmic bang, evolving through billions of years of plants, animals and the creation of natural resources, ending with man and his bounty – “sitting on his world contemplating his coconut”. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

Translating and encapsulating the director's personal childhood experiences as well as past lived experiences, You build a home in my mind comprises of playground rides, the everyday scenery outside the window of the artist's studio, and unique, special objects recalled from memories—weaving together a melody that lures the viewers to roam and wander. As the boat navigates between reality and imagination, resembling a journey of constant loss and persistent search, the scenes become slightly different when they reappear, these scenes alluding to the repetitiveness and uncertainty of life.

Appearance, hormone, sex appeal. When we are tired of everything about these, all we want to do is break, demolish, and destroy. With crazy cut-out animation, this film is trying to release us with the strong beat of the song and search for revenge in a chaotic but unique world.