Often described as an art of abstraction and subjective introspection, experimental film is also invested in exploring daily objects and materials and in channeling, in the process, a peculiar perception of the modern everyday that this book calls queer materiality.

Nathaniel Dorsky and Jerome Hiler met in 1964 at the premiere of Dorsky’s first film, Ingreen. This encounter marked the beginning of a shared life and a series of creative exchanges. Covering a span of over forty years, this book brings together interviews, writings, and documents related to the 16mm films made by the two filmmakers in New York, at the country house in New Jersey where they lived in the late 1960s, and in San Francisco, where they moved in 1971 and currently reside.

The Red Thread is the definitive work on Larry Gottheim, a key figure in the history of American experimental film.

Gottheim's reflections on the evolution of his work over the decades provide an extraordinary window onto the development of the art form in America in the late 20th century. His own account of his lifelong exploration of the boundaries of cinematic perception is here combined with the reflections of other major film artists and critics on the importance of his work.

Table of Contents

Part 1: The Red Thread