Movies: JoAnn Elam

Experimental home movie documenting a visit by filmmakers Wayne and Eleanor Boyer and their nine-year-old son Brett to JoAnn Elam's home in Logan Square, Chicago, for a summer barbecue. Later in the film, Chuck Kleinhans and Julia Lesage, co-founders...

Images of a shadow puppet play, intermittent rapid editing, and sweeping shots of a farm, dogs playing outside, plants, kitchens and interiors, provide a naturalistic portrait of peaceful spaces and friends. Date of production unknown....

Abstract images of flames and fire, including wide shots of the fireplace itself. This film appears to be an 8mm test or outtake for JoAnn Elam's 16mm work " Firelight " (F.2011-01-0277). The date of production remains unknown....

This film celebrates the frenzy of light and color found amid exploding fireworks and the speeding headlights of cars on a nighttime road. In the first half of the film, it appears that JoAnn Elam experiments with projecting film of fireworks and fil...

Shot from the inside of a house and through a window's curtains, one can sometimes distinguish the colorful flowers in the yard outside. But, as in much of her other film work, JoAnn Elam is apparently more interested in filming textures, light, and ...

Similar to her "Back Porch" films, JoAnn Elam's "Front Porch" documents the scenes of life in her neighborhood in Chicago. The film pays especial attention to the light flowing through different branches and leaves of plant growth and the rhythm of a...

An affectionate and humorous portrayal of the relationship between a woman and her dog. As the dog explores the world and meets other dogs on their many walks together, the film shakes and mirrors the excitement and chaos of a dog's life. Many of the...

The title of this fast paced experimental film presumably refers to the American counterculture catalog published by Stewart Brand between 1968 and 1972. The film quickly edits and overlaps scenes from various rural and urban landscapes, creating a s...

A series of home move style shots of a mother and her young child crawling outdoors. Scenes include a mother and toddler playing in a Chicago backyard, a young family boating in a small lake, toddlers playing & bathing outdoors, a young girl and her ...

Intimate portrayal of children at home and outsde in a park. At the start, a baby rolls around on the floor of a living room and bounces in a standing jumper. This is followed by two separate bursts of frames in rapid succession, combining shots of c...

"Popcorn" begins with a teenaged boy reading from an unknown text inside a living room. JoAnn Elam is seen knitting, presumably nearby, before entering the kitchen and proceeding to cook popcorn on the stovetop. Each step is filmed in extreme close-u...

The ancient art of Tai Chi transitions seamlessly into the fluid movements of bowling. Exact date of production unknown....

Filmed at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH, "Woman's Place & Dance" features a group of young women and men running around and enjoying themselves on the grass outside. Among their activities are jumping rope, posing in different positions, and ...

“Windows” documents the views of and out from windows around JoAnn Elam’s Logan Square neighborhood in Chicago. The first section begins at an El train stop, capturing the station itself and the views of people playing tennis as seen from the moving ...

8mm. experimental film shot by JoAnn Elam in Sanibel, Florida....

Footage documenting Chicago's famed "Blizzard of '79," including some early examples of parking "dibs," people digging out their cars, and postal carriers delivering mail. Shot in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood....

Experimental film by Chicago filmmaker JoAnn Elam (1949-2009). Altered lyrics to the song "Chains" sit atop animated images of grains. Exact date of production unknown. "Chains" was composed by the Brill Building husband-and-wife songwriting team Ger...

Footage of trees swaying in the sunlight, as seen from a window. A windchime in silhouette periodically obscures the trees....

This footage by JoAnn Elam was probably shot in San Francisco, where Elam spent the “Summer of Love” in 1967 and which she perhaps visited again later. First rapidly edited, the footage then slows down to focus on rows of houses, the street numbers o...

A woman wakes up, gets dressed, makes breakfast and walks down the street. This daily ritual becomes extraordinary seen in a trance-like structure of continuous lap dissolves and continuous spectral color shifts....