still from Bondage Boy trailer (1973)

Chris Langdon was born in 1952 and attended Cal Arts from 1971-76, receiving both a BFA and MFA.  Chris also worked for artists Jack Goldstein and John Baldessari in the production of a number of their films. From the late sixties to the early nineties she created a large and eclectic corpus of work in painting, graphics, sculpture, lithography, assemblage, photography, and other media.  Her impressive number of films – about forty 16mm and 35mm shorts – were produced over a period of less than five years.  In 1997, she graduated from Chinese medicine school and has worked as an acupuncturist and herbal doctor, living and working in China for several years.

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As part of an ongoing effort to uncover and preserve films from the Los Angeles avant-garde, Academy Film Archive preservationist Mark Toscano found out about the amazing Chris Langdon.  This discovery and the ensuing archival work perfectly embodies Mark's feeling that the unearthing and archiving of the L.A. avant-garde really amounts to a massive, regional, cinematic archeological expedition.  Mark will talk a bit about this and show a handful of Chris Langdon's films, which are irreverent, energetic, hilarious, thoughtful, very cinematic, and truly wonderful.

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CHRIS LANGDON:  PARTIAL FILMOGRAPHY

All films are 16mm unless noted

Go Oh Wow (1972, color, sound, 6min.)

My Girdle My God (ca.1972, color, sound, 15min., never shown)

Bondage Boy (1973, color, sound, 5.5min.)

Bondage Girl (1973, color, sound, 6min.) (aka Immaculate Gate)

Now, You Can Do Anything (made with Fred Worden, 1973, color, sound, 5.5min.)

Picasso (April 8, 1973, b/w, sound, 3min.)

The Gypsy Cried (1973, b/w, sound, 3min.)

This is the Brain of Otis Crawfield (1973, b/w, sound, 4min.)

Two Faces Have I (1973, b/w, sound, 3min.)

Venusville (made with Fred Worden, 1973, color, sound, 10min.)

Intermittent Transposition (ca.1973-4, color, sound, 6min.)

Fun (ca.1974, b/w, sound, ca.18min., currently lost)

999 BOY (1974, b/w, sound, 10min.) (aka Express Implication)

My Laser (ca.1974, color, sound, 5min.)

The Surf Caster’s Story (ca.1974, b/w, sound, 4min.)

Thin Premises (1974, color, sound, 5min.) (aka I’ve Seen Hundreds of Movies 2, 5, 10, 20 Times or More as Long as This, Based on Thinner Premises)

Swimming Pool (ca.1974, ca.30min., currently lost)

Choppers (ca. 1975, 35mm, color)

Go Cart (1975, b/w, sound, 3min.)

Interview With an Artist (ca.1975, b/w, sound, 14min.) (aka Mitch Speaks)

The Last Interview With P. Passolini (1975, b/w, sound, 6min.)

Love Hospital Trailer (ca.1975, color, sound, 3min.)

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A January 25, 2010 screening of Chris Langdon's films at REDCAT in Los Angeles:

http://www.redcat.org/event/chris-langdon

An L.A. Times article about Chris Langdon, the films, and the REDCAT show:

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