Friday, April 17, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Avant-garde cinema represents films that are experimental or innovative, typically rejecting traditional narrative structures while exploring abstract concepts and emphasizing visual and aural elements. Avant-garde animation often utilizes techniques that abstract form, defy continuity and emphasize musicality. *Programmed by Molly Regan. Notes written by Clare Britton and Molly Regan.* Created during his time at the UCLA Animation Workshop, Robert Abel’s *Freight Yard **Symphony *presents a sensorial impression of a commercial rail yard, in which the destruction of semiotics makes way for a new language of rhythm, where alphabetical and numerical language indicators become purely textural amongst the frenzied jazz score. Using photo collage and paper craft, Abel’s early modernist work showcases the immense talent of this future pioneer of visual effects. Director: Robert Abel. In Chel White’s *Choreography for the Copy Machine (Photocopy Cha Cha), *machine and human attempt to understand each other’s dissonant identities through the glass-plate barrier of a photocopy machine. This barrier, reminiscent of zoo or aquarium glass windows, distorts and abstracts to create a half-truth. Chel White straddles the line between sensual and grotesque representations of the human body, juxtaposed with the mundane artifacts that scaffold daily life, such as keys, currency, tools and playing cards. Director: Chel White. *Print courtesy of the Sundance Collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.* Michel Gondry’s *The Science of Sleep *synthesizes live action and animation to emphasize dissatisfaction with reality, and the lure of imagination. Made in the age of CGI pipelines overwhelmingly contributing to special effects in the future film industry, Gondry’s trademark whimsical style prioritizes practical effects, taking a minimal approach to visual effects. Blurring the lines between real life and fantasy, this film invites us to experience the impossible. Director: Michel Gondry. Screenwriter: Michel Gondry. With: Gael García Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Mioux-Mioux. *Print courtesy of the Sundance Collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive. *