This event was initially scheduled for November 21.

Join us Thursday, December 5, at 6 pm, for a screening of Deborah Stratman’s Last Things (2022, US/Portugal/France, 50 min., digital) and Emilio Vavarella’s Animal Cinema (2017, US/Italy, 12 min., digital), which screens as part of our Nature’s Underworld Film Series, featuring nine films inspired by the exhibition Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman: Journey to Nature’s Underworld, and our Whole Grain: Experiments in Film and Video program.

Last Things looks at evolution and extinction from the perspective of the rocks and minerals that came before humanity and will outlast us. With scientists and thinkers like Lynn Margulis and Marcia Bjørnerud as guides and quoting from the proto-Sci-fi texts of J.H. Rosny, artist Deborah Stratman offers a stunning array of images, from microscopic forms to vast landscapes, and seeks a picture of evolution without humans at the center.

“An entrancing blend of hard science and ephemeral existentialism.” – Michael Fox, KQED

“Stratman’s haunting, iridescent work of science-nonfiction actively decenters the human perspective, narrating the history and the speculative future of the universe with rocks as its protagonists.” – Devika Girish, Film Comment

Questioning the established hierarchies of anthropocentrism, Emilio Vavarella’s Animal Cinema comprises video fragments of animals operating cameras, centering animalistic autonomy and agency. Moving between spaces both familiar and strange to the human viewer, the film’s non-human cinematographers bring us through forests, savannahs, national parks, and underwater spaces.

About Nature’s Underworld Film Series

Nature’s Underworld Film Series features both popular Hollywood cinema and experimental works that examine humankind’s strained relationship with the environment. The series is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman: Journey to Nature’s Underworld. Dion and Rockman, both film lovers, have cited many of these films as sources of inspiration. The series includes a special screening of Life of Pi (2012) on September 30, at which Alexis Rockman will introduce the film and talk about his experience working on it.

Nature’s Underworld Film Series Screenings

– Thursday, September 12, 6 pm: The Birds (1963)

– Tuesday, September 17, 6 pm: A Zed & Two Noughts (1985)

– Monday, September 30, 6 pm: Life of Pi (2012)

– Thursday, October 17, 6 pm: Night of the Hunter (1955)

– Thursday, October 24, 6 pm: La Jetée (1962) and Weekend (1967)

– Thursday, November 21, 6 pm: Silent Running (1972)

– Thursday, December 5, 6 pm: Last Things (2022) and Animal Cinema (2017)

All screenings are free and open to the public.

About Whole Grain

The Tang Teaching Museum’s Whole Grain series explores classic and contemporary work in experimental film and video. Whole Grain is programmed by Assistant Director for Engagement Tom Yoshikami.