Nathaniel Dorsky
Encyclopedia
Nathaniel Dorsky is an experimental filmmaker and film editor who has been making films since 1964. He intends that his 16mm silent films "create a state of prayer" not by treating Buddhism
as a subject but by expressing "the view that comes from Buddhism".
Dorsky was born in New York City, attended Antioch College and New York University, and has lived in San Francisco since 1971.
In his book Devotional Cinema (2003), Dorsky writes of the long-standing link between art and health as well as the transformative potential of watching film. He also writes of the limitations of film when it is subservient to theme or dependent on "the ornament of language", which can describe a world but not see it. According to critic and historian Richard Suchenski, in Dorsky's films objects are “decontextualized and sometimes unmoored from their surroundings, allowing connections to develop which resonate not only between shots but also across the films as a whole, encouraging more active forms of awareness.”
Dorsky was a visiting instructor at Princeton University in 2008 and he has been the recipient of many awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship and grants from the National Endowment of the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the LEF Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the California Arts Council. He has presented films at the Museum of Modern Art
, the Centre Pompidou, the Pacific Film Archive, the Harvard Film Archive, and Yale University, and he frequently exhibits new work at the New York Film Festival
's Views from the Avant-Garde and the Wavelengths program of the Toronto International Film Festival
.
His films are distributed by Canyon Cinema
in San Francisco and Light Cone in Paris.
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
as a subject but by expressing "the view that comes from Buddhism".
Dorsky was born in New York City, attended Antioch College and New York University, and has lived in San Francisco since 1971.
In his book Devotional Cinema (2003), Dorsky writes of the long-standing link between art and health as well as the transformative potential of watching film. He also writes of the limitations of film when it is subservient to theme or dependent on "the ornament of language", which can describe a world but not see it. According to critic and historian Richard Suchenski, in Dorsky's films objects are “decontextualized and sometimes unmoored from their surroundings, allowing connections to develop which resonate not only between shots but also across the films as a whole, encouraging more active forms of awareness.”
Dorsky was a visiting instructor at Princeton University in 2008 and he has been the recipient of many awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship and grants from the National Endowment of the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the LEF Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the California Arts Council. He has presented films at the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
, the Centre Pompidou, the Pacific Film Archive, the Harvard Film Archive, and Yale University, and he frequently exhibits new work at the New York Film Festival
New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...
's Views from the Avant-Garde and the Wavelengths program of the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
.
His films are distributed by Canyon Cinema
Canyon Cinema
Canyon Cinema is a San Francisco based filmmakers' cooperative specializing in the distribution of avant-garde and experimental film. The organization was instigated in about 1960 by Bruce Baillie as an exhibition outlet for independent film, and was formally established as a non-profit...
in San Francisco and Light Cone in Paris.
Filmography
- Ingreen (1964)
- A Fall Trip Home (1964)
- Summerwind (1965)
- Hours for Jerome Part 1&2 (1980–82)
- Pneuma (1977–83)
- Ariel (1983)
- Alaya (1976–87)
- 17 Reasons Why (1985–87)
- Triste (1974–96)
- Variations (1992–98)
- Arbor Vitae (1999-00)
- Love's Refrain (2000–01)
- The Visitation (2002)
- Threnody (2004)
- Song and Solitude (2005–06)
- Winter (2007)
- Sarabande (2008)
- Compline (2009)
- Aubade (2010)
- Pastourelle (2010)
External links
- Canyon Cinema
- Light Cone
- Ed Halter Interview with Dorsky and Stan Brakhage
- Link to information on Devotional Cinema, reflections on film written by Nathaniel Dorsky
- Link to ART FORUM: "Tone Poems" by P. ADAMS SITNEY Article on the films of Nathaniel Dorsky, November 2007, PDF
- Interview with Dorsky by Scott MacDonald
- Nathaniel Dorsky at IMDB
- "about Nathaniel Dorsky" collected online articles, documents, comments and news, about and by filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky