FREE RADICALS: A HISTORY OF EXPERIMENTAL FILM

A personal window into the history of experimental cinema, Pip Chodorov’s film begins with a simple and inviting phrase: “I’d like you to meet some of my friends and see their films.” Without aspiring to be comprehensive, Chodorov presents an array of short works by the experimental directors he quite literally grew up with, as well as excerpts from the interviews and conversations conducted with the aforementioned filmmakers throughout his lifetime. Featured here are the likes of Hans Richter, Robert Breer, Michael Snow, Peter Kubelka, and Stan Brakhage, just a handful of the personalities that make up the canon of experimental film. Chodorov also does something unique to the documentary form: he allows intervals within his film wherein he plays short experimental works in their entirety, blissfully presented without commentary. FREE RADICALS is a beautiful essay from a film community insider: a love letter to experimental cinema and its makers. (Sam Prime)