ROCKLAND — Renowned experimental filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky's The Arboretum Cycle (2017, 16mm, 137 min.) will be screened Sunday, April 27, at 5:30 p.m., at the Strand Theatre, in partnership with Points North and Portland’s Kinonik. The film will also be shown at SPACE in Portland on May 4, at 5:30 p.m. The first time Dorsky's work has been shown in this state, these screenings are an historic moment in the Maine experimental film scene, according to Strand, in a news release. 

The Arboretum Cycle is a two-hour silent film experience shot in the San Francisco Arboretum, which sought to capture the "sacred light" of the space over one year's seasons. Spontaneously mimicking the passage of life itself, the series progresses through seven short films shown in succession with only the brief, natural interruptions of changing reels. In order, the films are Elohim, Abaton, Coda, Ode, September, Monody, and Epilogue.  

Nathaniel Dorsky is an experimental filmmaker and film editor who has made over 70 films since 1963. Originally from New York, he has lived and worked in California since the 1970s. He is best known for his polyvalent montage films, which utilize a density and fluidity of imagery to unite view and viewer; for Dorsky, the image is "pure character" rather than a symbolic or narrative representation. The silence of the films allows meaning to emerge between viewer and screen without the guiding hand of music or narration. Dorsky strives for a filmic language, a kind of visual sculpture-poetry inseparable from the medium itself. 

These films must be projected at exactly 18 frames per second, which makes them unsuited for digitization and necessitates specialized projection equipment.

"We've been screening films at silent speed for years," says Skylar Kelly, projectionist for Kinonik. "We're only able to show this work because Dorsky approved our equipment. But we went a step further and commissioned a special modification of one of our best projectors in order to provide the most faithful, transparent presentation possible."

"Dorsky's films are only available to view in-person, on film, in communal theatre settings, making his work less available than other filmmakers' but well worth the effort of seeking out," said the Strand.

Tickets for the Strand screening are $10/General Admission, $7/Strand Members. Find more information on the Strand Theatre’s website at www.rocklandstrand.com. The Strand Theatre is located at 345 Main Street in Rockland. 

Kinonik is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to enlighten and entertain audiences of all ages through projected screenings of celluloid classic films. Their current archive consists of more than 500 16mm films.