Wednesday, June 17, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Brain Dead Studios, Los Angeles
A treasure chest of narrative fragments, *The Decay of Fiction* lacks the itinerary and “instructions for use” that automatically comes with a linear story. The shards of its many implied plotlines are the fruit of O’Neill’s all-encompassing sense of form, which for better or worse is conceptual rather than technical or material. – Jonathan Rosenbaum, *The Chicago Reader*, May 30, 2003, https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2023/03/ghosts-of-hollywood/ ***Skies*** | 9 min | 35mm transferred to digital |World Premiere We’ll also premiere Pat’s new film, *Skies*, composed of excerpts from his 35mm film timelapse documentation of the skies above the western United States landscape. This minimalist piece is a collaboration with the composers Thollem McDonas and Terry Riley, performing a vocal duet as the soundtrack. “I am interested in exploring the boundaries of believability. The narrative tradition insists that, no matter how fantastic the story, its surface must be seamless. By contrast, I call attention to the artifice, all the staged aspects, and allow the well-worn stories to slip over and through one another. The film’s intention could be described as wanting to take stories off the screen and into the imagination. I like to work within the gaps between reality and story, to look at what is going on around the story, its context, and to make that a part of my conversation with the audience.” – Pat O’Neill **Tickets:** $15 general, $10 students/seniors (purchased at door), free for Filmforum members.