Standard Gauge, Dir. Morgan Fisher, 1984, USA, 35 mins

WHO

Morgan Fisher, a subtle, wry and inventive questioner of mainstream cinema and our expectations and ways of thinking about it.

PROPOSAL

What can be achieved by a simple structural method of commenting on scraps of 35mm film, re-shot on 16mm film?

WHY

This simple proposal is the starting point for an incredibly accessible but critical discussion on: the unthanked but crucial labour of film industry workers (the editors, graders, lab technicians…), the male gaze of cinema and the objectification of women, the worlds made possible by different film formats, the paradox of using experimental film (shot on 16mm) to comment on mainstream cinema (shot on 35mm)…

(), Dir. Morgan Fisher, 1984, USA, 35 mins

PROPOSAL

What happens to meaning (if anything) when ‘insert shots’ are relieved of their original duty of providing crucial plot development for a variety of other movies?

WHY

“By obeying a difficult but arbitrary rule, Morgan Fisher has invented a world, neither fictional nor documentary, without recourse to montage, and without a conventional locus of meaning. He approaches the ideal of a film void. It expresses nothing.”¹

– William E Jones

Morgan Fisher was present to introduce the films.