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The Cinema Arts Program

Approaching movies as an active viewing experience, staff in the Cinema Arts Program view the projection screen as a portal to investigation. We engage with filmmakers who create works that inspire the imagination and instigate conversation. Animation, documentary, poetic observations, and abstract visuals serve a broad spectrum of curious audiences while blending the methods and aesthetics of artists and scientists. Through our programming, we aim to provide an opportunity for visitors to explore the compelling people, places, and ideas that extend through the museum and beyond. Our collection of films and events offer a rich resource for public audiences, and also provide an important research collection for both our teaching programs and exhibit development teams.

Upcoming Events

Images in vibrant and negative colors repeat like many rolls of film.
Cinema Arts: Motion Picture Play

Saturday, June 18–Monday, September 5, 2022

Celebrate the spirit of playfulness in moviemaking. These shorts explore creative uses of familiar materials, revealing imaginative landscapes, humorous inventions, and curious surprises. 

Jul
9
Still image from the animated short film Dot.
Saturday Cinema: The Art of Tinkering

Saturday, July 9, 2022 • 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. PT

An array of animated and kinetic short films explore the inventive ways that amateurs, artists, and tinkerers manipulate the moving image in surprising and/or captivating ways.

Jul
16
Team Spain stands above a table of Lego robots at the World Robot Olympiad in the documentary short Me and My Robot.
Saturday Cinema: Me & My Robot
With Filmmaker Mark Decena

Saturday, July 16, 2022 • 1:00 p.m. PT

In celebration of our summer exhibition The Art of Tinkering, we are pleased to be joined by filmmaker Mark Decena for the Bay Area theatrical premiere Me & My Robot, which documents the 2018 World Robot Olympiad in Thailand.

Past Events
Saturday Cinema: Seeing Sounds

Saturday, July 19, 2014 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.

Treat your eyes to an earful with these synaesthetic shorts. Translating sound into responsive and harmonized imagery, these works of visual music revolve around innovative and memorable soundtracks
Off the Screen: Madison Brookshire—Selected Works

Thursday, July 17, 2014 • 7:00 p.m.

Los Angeles–based artist Madison Brookshire presents a two-part program of his cinematic works concluding with his ambitious, cameraless Color Series. Exploring the tactile elements of the cinematic experience, Brookshire’s films produce complex, unexpected physical reactions.
Saturday Cinema: One Click at a Time

Saturday, July 12, 2014 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.

A playful, do-it-yourself spirit pervades this collection of handcrafted shorts featuring paper sets, inventive uses of familiar objects, and astonishing patterns.
Saturday Cinema: Lasers With Ron Hipschman

Saturday, June 28, 2014 • 2:00 p.m.

In this entertaining program, Exploratorium scientist Ron Hipschman merges a cinematic laser show with the science behind their development. The program concludes with a selection of laser show-related films.
Off the Screen: John Sanborn’s PICO (reMix)

Thursday, June 19, 2014 • 7:00 p.m.

In this innovative and singular video memoir, local artist John Sanborn explores the seismic artistic upheaval wrought by three great artists: John Cage, Marcel Duchamp, and Nam June Paik.
Saturday Cinema: Sun Celebrations

Saturday, June 14, 2014 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.

This program celebrates the sun and the lure of summer. From films that literally look at the sun to joyful works creating that summertime state of mind, these pieces encourage us to bask in the screen’s glow and let the warmth of cinema wash over.
Saturday Cinema: The Natural World

Saturday, June 7, 2014 • 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00 p.m.

Natural surroundings trigger narrative drama in these quietly hilarious films. Stunning microphotography reveals surprising interspecies interactions in Catherine Chalmers’ Safari, while Anna Frances Ewart’s Into the Middle of Nowhere documents the often invisible, inner world of children at play.
Off the Screen: The Films of Mike Henderson

Wednesday, June 4, 2014 • 7:00 p.m.

Join artist Mike Henderson for a screening of his award-winning experimental films from the 1970s and ’80s, and stay for a performance by the Mike Henderson Blues Band.
San Francisco Silent Film Festival: The Navigator

Sunday, June 1, 2014 • 9:00 p.m.

Join us for a co-presentation of The Navigator, one of Buster Keaton’s most successful films, as well as one of his personal favorites.
San Francisco Silent Film Festival: Serge Bromberg’s Treasure Trove

Saturday, May 31, 2014 • 12:00 p.m.

World-famous preservationist and entertainer Serge Bromberg will present rare footage from his treasure trove and accompany on piano.
Off the Screen: Doors of Perception

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • 8:00 p.m.

These new and newly preserved experimental shorts craft visual illusions and allusions that flicker in your mind’s eye long after appearing on screen.
Off the Screen: The Best of KLIK!: Contemporary European Animations

Wednesday, May 28, 2014 • 7:00 p.m.

Enjoy archivist favorites, unexpected gems, and rarely seen treats curated by staff from the Bay Area Video Coalition’s preservation program.

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