Pine Flat October 14, 2006

Directed by Sharon Lockhart
US 2005, 16mm, color, 135 min.

Sharon Lockhart is internationally recognized for films and photographs that frame quiet moments of everyday life. This program presents her newest project, which focuses on the landscape and children of a small community of three hundred in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of central California. Over a period of three years, Lockhart made numerous extended visits to this community and slowly immersed herself in the people and the place. The film portrays the town’s children as they engage in activities such as playing, reading, hanging out, and hunting in stunningly beautiful natural settings. Sometimes Lockhart directed the children, and at other times they improvised, but there is throughout the film an ease of interaction and an intimacy that the artist achieved in part by simplifying her process: she eliminated her customary film crew, learned to use a movie camera herself, and employed a composer friend as sound technician. This created a space in which the dividing line between artist and subject was softened and interpersonal exchanges were illuminated in new ways. The screening of Pine Flat at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston on November 9 has been cancelled.

Official Website: http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2006fall/lockhart.html#pine_flat