The Red Thread: Larry Gottheim’s Films

This retrospective celebrates Larry Gottheim’s career-spanning filmography from his first film ALA (1969) to his latest A Private Room (2024). Celebrated for his 1970 film Fog Line, Gottheim’s cinema encourages deep meditation, challenging the notion of what it is to truly see and be present when viewing moving images. The retrospective begins with his silent works, which comprise continuous shots of minimalist landscapes in upstate New York, and goes on to focus on his subsequent sound films, marked by further developments in thought and consciousness in cinema. This includes the “Elective Affinities,” a series of four feature-length films titled Horizons (1973), Mouches Volantes (1976), Four Shadows (1978), and Tree of Knowledge (1981). Gottheim’s contemporary film works explore themes of philosophy and family, driven by complex editing and sonic designs that exemplify musicality in the visual experience. 

In 1965, Gottheim founded the cinema department at Binghamton University in New York with a curriculum focused on personal experimental film, one of the first such departments to come into being. This revived the academic and professional practice of avant-garde film in the country, serving as an incubation space for filmmakers such as Gottheim, Ken Jacobs, Ernie Gehr, Nicholas Ray, and Saul Levine, among others. The work begun by Gottheim at Binghamton shaped the experimental film scene for decades to come and continues to leave an indelible impact on avant-garde cinema. This series coincides with the recently released The Red Thread: Larry Gottheim and His Films, where the filmmaker discusses his explorations of cinematic perception along with reflections of other artists and critics on the importance of his work.

Organized by Malkah Manouel, guest curator; Ron Magliozzi, Curator; and Francisco Valente, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Film, MoMA. Thanks to The Film-Makers’ Cooperative and University of Chicago.

Film at MoMA is made possible by CHANEL.

Additional support is provided by the Annual Film Fund. Leadership support for the Annual Film Fund is provided by Debra and Leon D. Black, with major funding from The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art, The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), and The Young Patrons Council of The Museum of Modern Art.