A Film By Dave Davidson

He was like a father standing on the side. He represented the past and the avant-garde of the 1920s and ‘30s. He was an inspiration to all of us.
-Jonas Mekas
Founder – The New American Cinema Movement

Dadaist, radical provocateur, surrealist painter, pioneering filmmaker and visionary educator – Hans Richter was a major force in redefining art in the 20th Century. Yet he remains largely unknown compared to his more illustrious peers. Richter is often  misunderstood and undervalued for his contributions to making a new social art that forever changed the act of self–expression. The documentary film HANS RICHTER: Everything Turns–Everything Revolves will explore this enigma while charting Hans Richter’s epic journey through the century as he struggles to establish film as a unique art form.

Everything Turns– Everything Revolves is at the center of a larger multi-platform project.  The documentary reveals the influence of Hans Richter and his work in Europe during the most turbulent period in the history of art and, after he was driven from Europe by the Nazis, the transference of that influence to the United States, where he was the godfather to The New American Cinema Movement and director of the first film production school. Orbiting  around the core documentary are media projects demonstrating that Richter’s inspiration not only transcended geography and culture but also time.

Rescoring Richter  pairs contemporary composers and sound artists with Richter’s avant-garde films of the 1920s.  Inspired by Richter’s Dada imagery and montage, they rescore eight of his films on instruments ranging from hubcaps found on the street to the Baschet Brothers’ sound sculptures at Yale University. These re-imagined Richter films are accompanied by short documentaries showing the process the artists followed to create their new scores. To date participants include Alloy Orchestra, Bruce Odland, Annea Lockwood, Rob Morsberger and Lin Esser. These video pieces will be ideal web and/or classroom companions to Everything Turns – Everything Revolves.