2025, digital video, color/sound, 14 mins.

Stereo photos of 1950s-era cocktail parties are transformed into an intense visual playland.

Films

Review

Having conceived and directed more than 85 films over the past 45 years, Scott Stark is easily one of my favorite filmmakers working in the world today. The Bay Area premiere of his latest 15-minute masterpiece employs a batch of 1950s “stereo photos” transforming suburban cocktail parties and tourist trips into a hypnotic “visual playland.” Stereo cameras emerged in the 1940s and 50s, utilizing two different lenses that took twin shots of scenes, which then were supposed to be viewed in dedicated image viewers. What makes Stark’s movies so fascinating for me is how they’re able to transcend their initially unique techniques by entrancing the viewer with a peaceful repetition into a kind of Stendhal syndrome stasis. Absolutely my highest recommendation.

--Jesse Hawthorne Ficks, 48hills