16mm Film Collection, Bulk 1949-1991

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Summary

Creators:
Abstract:
Extent:
270 reels; 36 linear feet
Language:
Preferred citation:

16mm Film Collection. San Francisco Art Institute Archive

Background

Scope and content:

This 16mm film collection was the teaching film library of the San Francisco Art Institute, used primarily in film classes and periodically in campus-wide screenings. It features works by SFAI alumni, faculty members and others, with a particular strength in Bay Area experimental filmmakers from the 1960s and 1970s. The collection includes films by Stan Brakhage, Bruce Conner, Sidney Peterson, Maya Deren, Lawrence Jordan, Gunvor Nelson, Janis Crystal Lipzen, James Broughton, Marie Menken, George Kuchar, John Whitney, Ernie Gehr, Peter Kubelka, Carolee Schneeman and Hollis Frampton, among others. A selection of graduate student films from the early 1970s through 1980s were acquired for this collection with support from the Louis B. Mayer Foundation. Additionally, the collection contains a set of films deaccessioned from the Association of Independent Colleges of Art (AICA) circulating film collection, a shared resource among a consortium of art colleges that was disbanded and dispersed in the early 1990s.

Biographical / historical:

The San Francisco Art Institute (1871–2022) was a small, fine arts-focused college with a deep and lasting influence on experimental filmmaking. In 1947, Sidney Peterson launched a program of noncommercial film classes at the school (then known as the California School of Fine Arts), establishing it as a hub for avant-garde filmmaking. The Film Department was formally founded in 1969, with Robert Nelson as its first full-time faculty member, setting the tone for a program rooted in self-expression and experimentation. During the 1970s, SFAI became a major center for independent, experimental filmmaking, maintaining strong ties to local community-based avant-garde film distributor Canyon Cinema and the broader avant-garde film scene. Influential faculty members included James Broughton, Ernie Gehr, Lawrence Jordan, George Kuchar, Al Wong, and Gunvor Nelson. While experimental film remained at the core of the program, SFAI’s Film Department also embraced narrative and documentary approaches, building a legacy of innovation in independent cinema. For an extensive history of the SFAI Film Department see Radical Light: Alternative Film and Video in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945-2000 edited by Steve Anker, Kathy Geritz and Steve Seid. (Berkeley: UC Press, 2010).

Acquisition information:
Material in this collection was originally accessioned by the San Francisco Art Institute Library, and later integrated into the SFAI Archival Collections.

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research use.

Terms of access:

Contact the San Francisco Art Institute Legacy Foundation + Archive for questions or requests regarding use of these materials

Preferred citation:

16mm Film Collection. San Francisco Art Institute Archive

Location of this collection:
20 Hawthorne St.
San Francisco, CA 94105, US