AFW+NFSA #75: Films by Gunvor Nelson,
Dorothy Wiley, Bruce Baillie and Chick Strand

Gunvor Nelson was born in Sweden in 1931, and moved to California in the early 1950s. She and her husband Robert Nelson were a key part of the 1960s Bay Area cultural community and the artist film co-operative Canyon Cinema, founded by Bruce Baillie and Chick Strand. Schemerguntz was her first film, and one of several she made with Dorothy Wiley. The title comes from Nelson's father's nonsense word for sandwich; fun and play animate Nelson’s films. She returned to Sweden in the early 1990s, continuing her filmmaking, and died last January at the age of 94. 

Films:

Schmeerguntz (1966), 15min, sound, B&W
Gunvor Nelson and Dorothy Wiley

An experimental film in which pop life, beauty queens and skating rinks are collaged with images of pregnancy, birth and more routine or unpleasant sides of motherhood and housework. A reflection of changing moods amidst television dialogue and pop music.

My Name Is Oona (1969), 10min, sound, B&W
Gunvor Nelson

A lyrical personal film by American film-maker Gunvor Nelson "about the dawn of self knowledge". The soundtrack is devised by Steve Reich from endless repetitions and dictations of the film's spoken title.

Mosori Monika (1970), 20min, sound, colour
Chick Strand

A documentary about two contrasting cultures. Spanish Franciscan Missionaries went to Venezuela in 1945 to civilize the Warrau Indians, who live on the Orinoco River Delta in relative isolation. On the surface the relationship between the Indians and the missionaries is simple, however the lifestyle of the Warrau Indians has been permanently altered.

Valentin de Las Sierras (1968), 10min, sound, colour
Bruce Baillie

A structural film, made in Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico, in which the eye of the filmmaker quiets his mind with images of reconciliation.

Film notes from NFSA