13 minutesRelease: 2012
Copyright: 2010
On March 17, 1930, a crowd assembled outside Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary in hopes of witnessing Al Capone's release from prison. (He in fact had already been released the night before.)
Filmmaker Bill Morrison and composer Vijay Iyer turn a single archival panning shot of that scene-originally filmed in 1930 by Jack Painter-and its accompanying audio track-recorded in 1930 by Addison Tice--into a split-screen surround sound panoramic film that continually doubles back on itself, creating a short cinematic meditation on the nature of spectacle and spectatorship.
RELEASE made its world premiere in a 20-month installation at Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, where it was presented in the cell next to the one once occupied by Al Capone.
Select Accolades
This five-disc set comprises 16 works by filmmaker and multimedia artist Bill Morrison.
Bill Morrison | 2014 | 455 minutes | Color | English
A Library of Congress clerk tries to save early cinematic treasures in Bill Morrison's doc-fiction hybrid. Music by Henryk Gorecki & Bill Frisell.
Bill Morrison | 2012 | 12 minutes | Color
Artist Bill Morrison and musician Bill Frisell evoke the Mississippi River Flood of 1927 and ensuing transformation of American society.
Bill Morrison | 2013 | 80 minutes | Color | English
A trolley traveling over the Brooklyn Bridge in 1899 helped create the footage underlying Bill Morrison's neo-travelogue. Music by Todd Reynolds.
Bill Morrison | 2012 | 9 minutes | Color
