RPM Festival and the Brattle Theatre Co-Present Saul Levine: A Mini-Retrospective of an Avant-Garde Cinema Icon

Post-screening discussion with Saul Levine & Brett Melican

RPM Festival, in collaboration with the Brattle Theatre, is proud to present a special retrospective of the work of Saul Levine, a passionate and uncompromising voice and a pioneering and influential figure in American experimental cinema. Levine, who has been living and working in Boston for over five decades, is known for his unconventional approach to filmmaking, combining personal expression with political urgency. His films, which often incorporate elements of diary filmmaking, are celebrated for their raw emotional depth and distinctive, highly subjective style.

Levine’s work offers a powerful and intimate vision of his experience, often characterized by its chaotic energy, political activism, and an unflinching dedication to exploring complex themes such as identity, sexuality, and love. Film theorist P. Adams Sitney has referred to him as “one of the most underrated filmmakers in the American avant-garde cinema,” yet also praised him as “the foremost dissenting filmmaker in America.” Sitney described Levine’s works as “high-energy messages of friendship, records of sexual love and political activism, radiated by humor, prophetic anger, loneliness, and even, though rarely, repose.”

Levine’s films are deeply personal, often fragmented, and imbued with a sense of urgency—qualities that resonate with the spirit of personal cinema. His “note(s)” series, in particular, exemplifies his approach to moving-image diaries, offering a compelling and intimate look at his life and times. As a champion of small-gauge film—particularly 8mm and Super 8mm sound formats—some of Levine’s works have often been seen only in informal settings due to the limitations of screening technology. This program marks the first time many of these films will be presented to the public outside of private salon viewing parties.

The program offers a rare opportunity for both longtime admirers and newcomers to experience the full range of Levine’s recent work, including films that have never before been shown in a public venue.

NOTES OF AN EARLY FALL (33:30, Sound, 1978, 2019)

LIGHT LICK AMEN (4:56, Color, Silent)

LIGHT LICK PARDES COUNTING FLOWERS ON THE WALL (12:47, Color, Silent)

LIGHT LICK LOVE STAIN (3:27, color, Silent)

ENTRY NOTE (2:22, B/W, Silent)

PHOTO NOTE (1:15, Silent, B/W)

ON ANOTHER NOTE. (4:41, 2019)

NOTE TO TETSUA (1:04, B/W, Silent)

CAWS NOTE (3:33, Color, Silent)

SUN DRUM MOON NOTE (6:42, Color, Silent)

Total: 75 Mins

Brett Melican is a filmmaker, writer, and curator based in Boston, MA. He assists with programming for RPM Festival and IFFBoston, works on the production staff of the Telluride Film Festival, and is a member of the AgX Film Collective.

Please visit revolutionsperminutefest.org for more information.

Revolutions per Minute Festival (RPM Fest) is dedicated to short-form poetic, personal, experimental film, essay film, animation, documentary, video and audiovisual performance, and is co-hosted by Art and Art History Department and Cinema Studies at UMass-Boston, Brattle Theatre in Cambridge & Harvard FAS CAMLab.

Brattle Passes Not Accepted