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Canyon Cinema

@canyoncinema

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experimental, avant-garde & artist-made film distribution since 1967; backyard cinema since 1961; virtual cinema since 2020

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Announcing the 2025-26 Friends of Canyon Cinema! This season's new rewards include:

🎞️ 16mm film print of Emily Chao's "100 Years"

📙✍️ Signed copy of Lizzie Olesker and Lynne Sachs's "Hand Book: A Manual on Performance, Process, and the Labor of Laundry"

📚 Canyon Cinema News back issues

💨👊 A members-only, limited-edition Canyon Cinema windbreaker

✨ Additional goodies

*
All Friends members also receive:

💻 Free access to "Canyon-on-Demand" limited-run online screening programs

📕 A complimentary copy of our annual Canyon Cinemazine publication – new issue coming soon!

🏷️ 20% discount on Canyon merchandise and publications

*
Membership levels begin at $3/month or $36/year

📌 For more info: bit.ly/friends-of-canyon

#canyoncinema #friendsofcanyoncinema #letsbefriends #canyonondemand #canyoncinemazine #100years #emilychao #16mm #filmprint #lynnesachs #lizzieolesker #handbook #canyoncinemanews #canyoncinematshirt #canyoncinemawindbreaker #limitededition #specialmerch by @canyoncinema

Canyon Cinema is pleased to announce the addition of seven films by longtime artist member James Otis to the collection.

This new deposit includes five films made between 1990 and 1995 on Super 8, and subsequently transferred to 16mm or digital video, as well as 1979’s No Art of Memory and 2003’s The Last Bite.

Info: canyoncinema.com/2026/10/22/now-available-new-prints-and-digital-files-from-james-otis/

Images: Mount Sopris and the Cattle Creek Anticline (1993, 7 min); Messenger 48 (1994, 3 min); He Waited for Days (1990, 2.5 min); Carter Jackson’s Cottonwood (1995, 4.5 min); O Places, O Trees! (1995, 12 min).

#canyoncinema #jamesotis @james.d.otis #rockymountainformalist #colorado #mountsopris #cattlecreek #roaringforkvalley #mountsoprisandthecattlecreekanticline #messenger48 #hewaitedfordays #carterjacksonscottonwood #oplacesotrees #noartofmemory #thelastbite #super8 #16mm #film #pseudohyperstereoscopy #nowavailable by @canyoncinema

Upcoming Screening!

ROCK ROSS: GO LIKE THIS
... and other “frivolous and socially irresponsible films"

6pm Wednesday, November 11
@roxie_theater, San Francisco

Rock Ross in person!

Canyon at The Roxie is back with a spotlight on local legend Charles Rock Ross! ROCK ROSS: GO LIKE THIS surveys 20 years of the filmmaker’s “frivolous and socially irresponsible films” (The Athens News), bringing together 16mm prints and camera originals from the @theacademy Film Archive and Canyon Cinema collections.

The longtime Bay Area independent filmmaker, musician, and organizer has been crafting wryly exuberant, riotous work since the early-1970s. After receiving his BFA and MFA in Filmmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute, Ross worked as Film Inspector and Shipper for the Canyon Cinema Co-op from 1975 to 1978, Editing Facility Manager for Film Arts Foundation from 1982 to 1986, and in 1988, served as Director of the @aafilmfest. As a founding member and projectionist of the No Nothing Cinema (1982-1997) and New Nothing Cinema (1997-2017), Ross has screened thousands of independent and experimental films and videos. As a title designer, from 1978 to 2013, Ross designed thousands of titles for independent films, shooting directly on film using his own animation stand. He has also scored a number of films with his band, The Goat Family, which formed in 2003.

“Film as art has no bounds… For me its potential is as exciting as pure white noise.” – Rock Ross

With special thanks to @preservationinsanity and the Academy Film Archive

Program info & tickets: roxie.com/film/rock-ross-go-like-this-16mm/

Images:
1-4. Go Like This (1985, 4 min)
5-8. Sosueme (1988, 6.5 min)
9-11. Stupor Mundi (1996, 11 min), courtesy of @walkerartcenter

#canyoncinema #rockross #roxietheater #canyonattheroxie #16mm #film #sosueme #tillmyheadcavesin #baglight #autumnaldiptych #golikethis #vespuccilandthegreatandfree #charcoalnarcissus #justanothergirl #thoughtless #exclaimherlimitlesswisdom #psychoporpoise #stupormundi #michaelrudnick #michaelwalsh #willlewis by @canyoncinema

Now Available from Canyon Cinema: Christopher Harris's b/w (2023)

Shot on a single 100-foot roll of film and edited in-camera, b/w uses close focus cinematography of text from commercial house paint samples to suggest a mythology of light and shadow. The audience is asked to participate during the screening by reading the paint names aloud.

Images (courtesy of the artist):
b/w (Christopher Harris, 2023, 3 min, b&w, silent with audience participation for sound, 16mm or digital file)

Info: canyoncinema.com/2026/10/20/now-available-christopher-harriss-b-w/

#canyoncinema #christopherharris @reckless_3yes #bw #16mm #film #mythologies #audienceparticipation #newacquisition #nowavailable by @canyoncinema

Canyon Cinema is pleased to announce that digital exhibition files of Jane (1977/2025) and Pattern Impulse (1979), by the Chicago-based artist @jeansousaart, are now available.

Along with these two titles that are new to the catalog, we’ve added new digital files of Sousa’s The Circus (1977), What Am I Doing Here (1978), Swish (1982), and Today is Sunday (1987), previously available on 16mm film, to the collection.

In addition, we’re delighted to relay the news that @chicagofilmsociety has embarked on a new project to restore five of Sousa’s films on their original 16mm format, including Summer Medley (1977), Ellen on the Rope (1978), Pattern Impulse, What Am I Doing Here, and Swish, with support from @filmpreservation

Info: canyoncinema.com/2026/10/15/now-available-jean-sousas-jane-and-pattern-impulse-additional-digital-files/

Images (courtesy of the artist): Jane (1977/2025, 3 min); Pattern Impulse (1979, 3 min); Today is Sunday (1987, 20 min); What Am I Doing Here (1978, 15 min); The Circus (1977, 6 min); Swish (1982, 3 min).

#canyoncinema #jeansousa @jeansousaart #jane #patternimpulse #todayissunday #thecircus #whatamidoinghere #16mm #film #performance #newdigitalfiles #nowavailable by @canyoncinema

A sweet little notecard from Peter Hutton

#peterhutton #landscape #formanon #hudsonrivervalley #canyoncinema #fromthearchives by @canyoncinema

Cinema faculty Denah Johnston's bookshelf (study) is screening at the Studio 8 Film Festival 2026! Juried Show: Personal Visions, Saturday, November 7, 2PM, 4-Star Theater, 2200 Clement St, San Francisco. Tickets and info: sfaa.art

The festival kicks off Sunday October 18th (FREE with RSVP) at MOMA with a program highlighting No Nothing Cinema & George Kuchar!

@sfartistsalumni #S8FF2026 #Studio8FilmFestival by @canyoncinema

Now Available from Canyon Cinema: Tommy Becker's De-escalation Tactics (2026)

We are a species at war with our own narratives. The stories and structures we inherit - political, cultural and ecological have become traps, cycling us through conflict rather than carrying us forward. De-Escalation Tactics is a thematic-visual-song-cycle that sits inside this tension, contemplating alternative pathways.

Original soundtrack and visuals by Tommy Becker with spoken contributions from Reverend Billy (Church of Stop Shopping) and author Yuval Noah Harari.

Info: canyoncinema.com/2026/10/02/now-available-tommy-beckers-de-escalation-tactics/

Images: De-escalation Tactics (Tommy Becker, 2026, 11.5 min, digital file). Courtesy of the artist.

#canyoncinema #tommybecker @tommybecker #deescalationtactics #visualsongcyle #reverendbilly #churchofstopshopping @revbillytalen
#yuvalnoahharari #newacquisition #nowavailable by @canyoncinema

Canyon Cinema is delighted to announce that Lynn Marie Kirby‘s 16mm installation C to C: Several Centuries After the Double Slit Experiment (1995) and new digital files of 24 of Kirby’s film and video works, spanning the years 1976 to 2025, are now available.

This major deposit by the longtime Canyon artist member includes 14 titles that are new to the collection, as well as recent digitizations of nine 16mm films, and new digital files of Kirby’s Translation Series (1997-2003) and Latent Light Excavations Series (2003-2007).

Info: canyoncinema.com/2026/10/06/now-available-lynn-marie-kirbys-c-to-c-plus-24-new-digital-files/

Images (courtesy of the artist): C to C: Several Centuries After the Double Slit Experiment (1995, 45 min); C.C. Beam Goes for a Walk (1978, 7.5 min); Love, Lynn (1982, 1 min); It Gets Bumpy (1976, 6 min); Sincerely (1980, 14 min); Across the Street (1982, 3 min); Three Voices (1983, 5 min); Three Domestic Interiors (1993, 37 min); Photons in Paris (1997-2000, 9.5 min); Frottage (1998/2025, 2 min); Out of Step (2001, 5 min); Requiescat (2006, 4 min); Latent Light Excavations (2003-2007, 76 min); Golden Gate Bridge Exposure: poised for parabolas (2004, 5 min); reflects sur les oliviers (2012/2025, 6 min)

#canyoncinema #lynnmariekirby #16mm #film #filminstallation #expandedcinema #digitalvideo #ctoc #ccbeamgoesforawalk #lovelynn #itgetsbumpy #sincerely #acrossthestreet #threevoices #threedomesticinteriors #photonsinparis #frottage #outofstep #requiescat #latentlightexcavation #goldengatebridgeexposure #poisedforparabolas #reflectssurlesoliviers #nowavailable by @canyoncinema

📣 We’re thrilled to announce that Canyon Cinema is the recipient of a @sf_arts_commission Arts Impact Endowment grant for FY26 as well as a @sf.gfta General Operating Support grant for FY27! 🎉

The Arts Commission and Grants for the Arts recently announced a combined investment in the arts totaling over $25 million, supporting nearly 400 local artists and arts organizations.

This investment will directly support Canyon Cinema’s programs and operations over the next year, as we continue creating, connecting and contributing to San Francisco’s vibrant arts community. Learn more about our work at: canyoncinema.com

We’re grateful for this investment in our organization and in the city’s vibrant arts and cultural ecosystem. Thank you, @sf_arts_commission and @sf.gfta!

View the full list of FY26-27 grantees at: sf.gov/artscommission

Graphic courtesy of SFAC

#canyoncinema #sfac #sanfranciscoartscommission #artsimpactendowment #gfta #grantsforthearts #sanfrancisco by @canyoncinema

I STILL AM: A WOMAN, PISSED-OFF AND CURIOUS, a new travel memoir by longtime Canyon artist member Su Friedrich, is now available!

Published by @7storiespress, and featuring 175+ b&w photographs, drawings, and archival images, I STILL AM takes us on an intimate and visually rich autobiographical journey through Friedrich's personal journals and letters, showing her artistic influences, sense of humor, and flair for adventure as she describes a trip she took through West Africa in 1976 at the age of 21.

“This book is for/about every woman on every continent who still wants, or who still fights, to be free from the bullshit proffered by the patriarchy, and to all the women who have wandered the world to find the world.” — Su Friedrich

“A young lesbian feminist’s casually daring, low-budget trip through Africa in the mid 1970s—that set an impressive filmmaking career on its path—has given birth decades later to a unique book, an eccentric collage of stunning photographs and detailed accounts of places, friends, encounters, and challenges. I STILL AM is honest, unembellished, empathetic, and impossible to summarize.” — Lucy R. Lippard

Info: sevenstories.com/books/4793-i-still-am

#sufriedrich @sufried2025 #istillam #awomanpisseoffandcurious #sevenstoriespress #travelmemoir #autobiography #northafrica #westafrica by @canyoncinema

Upcoming Screening!

49 Square Miles Surrounded by Reality:
The City Envisioned by Canyon Cinema

6pm Wednesday, October 14
@roxie_theater, San Francisco

Part of The Roxie’s Arthouse 50 series

Featuring work by: @dominicangerame2, @abigail.child, @zacharyepcar, Toney W. Merritt, @lindaizcaliscobie, @david.sherman.560, and Charles Wright

In celebration of The Roxie Theater’s 50th year as an Arthouse, this program assembles films made by former and current Canyon staffers, offering manifold views of our shared Bay Area home. Urban landscapes familiar and defamiliarized; flipped upside down, reversed, layered, blurred, shrouded, screwed and glued, but unmistakably SF. Together, these irreverent depictions evince the city’s charm, complexity, and transformation across five decades.

Program info & tickets: roxie.com/film/arthouse-50-49-square-miles-surrounded-by-reality-the-city-envisioned-by-canyon-cinema/

Images: Cable Car Melody (Charles Wright, 1986); Premonition (Dominic Angerame, 1995); By the Sea (Toney W. Merritt, 1982); Decked Out (Linda Izcali Scobie, 2014); Return to Forms (Zachary Epcar, 2016)

#49squaremilessurroundedbyreality #canyoncinema #roxietheater #arthouse50 #urbanlandscapefilms #16mm #sanfrancisco #bayarea #dominicangerame #premonition #abigailchild #pacificfareastline #zacharyepcar #returntoforms #toneywmerritt #bythesea #lindaizcaliscobie #deckedout #davidsherman #revolver #charleswright #cablecarmelody by @canyoncinema