First Person Cinema

First Person Cinema is the longest running university program in the world screening avant-garde film and video work. It was started in 1955 by Carla Selby and Gladney Oakley under the name "The Experimental Cinema Group", and was later carried forward by Bruce Conner and Stan Brakhage. Now called First Person Cinema, the program invites film/video artists to Boulder to present their work in person with the intention of bringing an awareness of the personal cinema. First Person Cinema has become a highly respected international showcase and was programmed by Don Yannacito from 1965 to 2021. It is now programmed by Professor Jeanne Liotta and Moving Image Arts faculty.

All screenings are in the Visual Arts Complex 1B20 at 7 PM unless otherwise noted. Admission is free.

Fall 2025 Schedule

Carl Elsaesser is an experimental filmmaker whose work blends genres and materials to critically investigate the overarching presence of history without losing sight of individual experiences of human connection. He is interested in framing a film practice through ritualistic and slow processes—thinking with a project as something akin to skin or clothing, worn throughout his day as he teaches class, walks through the city or countryside late at night, or calls a friend across the world.

His films have screened widely at festivals and institutions including the Berlinale, New York Film Festival, Cinema du Réel, European Media Art Festival, the National Gallery of Art, and the Criterion Channel.

He has been honored with grants and residencies including a 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship, the Minnesota State Arts Board grant, a MacDowell Fellowship, and residencies at the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation, Hewnoaks, and Squeaky Wheel Media Center. His work has been featured in publications such as LA Review of Books, Millennium Film Journal, and FilmExplorer.

Ahwesh will also be accepting the 2025 Brakhage Vision Award from the Denver Film Fest on 11/2

Peggy Ahwesh is a Brooklyn based media artist whose work spans a variety of technologies and styles in an inquiry into feminism, cultural identity and genre.Ìý Ahwesh came of age in the 1970s with S8 filmmaking, feminism and the punk underground in Pittsburgh. Ìý

A survey exhibition Vision Machines, was presented at Spike Island, Bristol (2021) and traveled to Kunsthall Stavanger, Norway (2022). Recent gallery exhibitions include: Slow Drift(s): Peggy Ahwesh, The Balcony, The Hague, Netherlands (2024); Undesirables, San Telmo Museum, Spain (2022) and Heart_Land, JOAN, Los Angeles (2020).Ìý Film retrospectives include: Master in Focus: Peggy’s Playhouse, Women Make Waves Intl Festival, Taipei, Taiwan (2024); Someone to Watch Over Me, Cinematek, Brussels, Belgium (2023); Art of the Motor, Yebisu Intl Festival, Japan (2023), among others.Ìý At the Whitney Museum, Ahwesh was featured in the Biennial Exhibition (1991, 1995, 2002).

Ahwesh is represented by Microscope Gallery, New York.Ìý In 2022, she received The Acker Award that honors contributions to the downtown NYC art community.Ìý Ahwesh is Professor Emeritus of Film and Electronic Arts at Bard College.Ìý Find her on the web at Senses of Cinema’s Great Directors Critical Database, World Picture Journal #4 and the Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth Sackler Center for Feminist Art.

Previous Visiting Artists

  • Ahwesh, Peggy ’90, ’13
  • Alsharif,ÌýBasma ’17
  • Andersen, Thom ’11
  • Anger, Kenneth ’81
  • Angerame, Dominic ’97
  • Anker, Steve ’06
  • Antin, Eleanor ’06
  • Archer, Ina ’22
  • Asili, Ephraim ’17
  • Aurand, Ute ’12
  • Avikunthak, Ashish ’11
  • Baillie, Bruce ’85, ’12
  • Baldwin, Craig ’10
  • Barber, Stephanie ’00, ’16
  • Barlow, Melinda ’97, ’98, ’99
  • Baron, Rebecca ’15
  • Battle, Christina ’09
  • Beavers, Robert ’12, ’17
  • Beckman, Ericka ’85, ’12
  • Beloff, Zoe ’08
  • Benning, James ’06, ’09, ’22,
  • Berliner, Alan ’86, ’87, ’92, ’99
  • Blanchard, Jenny ’89
  • Blank, Les ’88
  • Biermann, Gregg ’16
  • Boord, Dan ’04
  • Boultenhouse, Charles ’82
  • Brakhage, Marilyn ’97, ’98
  • Brakhage, Stan ’76 - ’00
  • Breer, Emily ’93
  • Breer, Robert ’78, ’86, ’05
  • Bridgers, Lee ’91, ’93
  • Brodsky & Treadway ’82
  • Bromberg, Betsy ’98, ’07
  • Broughton, James ’77, ’81
  • Bruck, Patti ’90
  • Burr, Peter ’20, ’23
  • Cameron, Donna ’97
  • Camper, Fred ’01
  • Caplan, Elliot ’08
  • Chase, Doris ’86, ’87, ’92
  • Child, Abigail ’90, ’98, ’11
  • Christman, Sarah ’20
  • Cokes, Tony ’07
  • Columbus, John ’89, ’00, ’01 ’11
  • Condit, Cecelia '24
  • Conner, Bruce ’77, ’85
  • Conrad, Tony ’83
  • Creely, Robert ’78
  • Criss Cross ’78
  • Crosthwaite, Hugo ’22
  • Cuthand, TJ ’22
  • Davis, Sandra ’86
  • Delanda, Manuel ’83
  • Dinell, David ’12
  • Dobermann, Gary ’ 78
  • Dorsky, Nathaniel ’89, ’99, ’03, ’06, ’07, ’15
  • Downey, Juan ’88
  • Duke and Battersby ’19
  • Dunferd, Mike ’77
  • Eisenberg, Dan ’98
  • Elder, Bruce ’88, ’93, ’99, ’01
  • Emshwiller, Ed ’84
  • Espelie, Erin ’16
  • Export, Valie ’88
  • Farrel, Christian ’95
  • Felker, Lori ’16
  • Fenz, Robert ’04
  • Fischinger, Elfriede ’80
  • Fitzgerald, Kit ’85
  • Fleming, Shellie ’95
  • Fonoroff, Nina ’94, ’04
  • Frampton, Hollis ’81
  • Freidrich, Su ’97
  • Fuerman, Carol ’04
  • Fulton, Robert ’76
  • Gallagher, Kelly '25
  • Gardner, Robert ’91
  • Gatten, David ’03, ’17
  • Gault, Tony ’03
  • Gaylor, Bob ’79
  • Gehr, Ernie ’77, ’78, ’79, ’05, ’09
  • Geiser, Janie ’99, ’06
  • George, Amir ’18
  • Gianvito, John ’10
  • Gibson + Recoder ’19
  • Gibson, Sandra ’07
  • Gidal, Peter ’76
  • Gilooly, Jane ’15
  • Gluckstern, Jay ’89
  • Godmilow, Jill ’78, ’00
  • Gorin, J.P. ’06
  • Goss, Jackie ’08
  • Green, Vanalyne ’91
  • Greenfield, Amy ’79
  • Grenier, Vincent ’79, ’89, ’94, ’01, ’14, ’19
  • Gusella, Ernest ’85
  • Guttnplan, Howard ’77
  • Haller, Eve ’03
  • Halter, Ed ’09
  • Hammer, Barbara ’89, ’99, ’18
  • Heit, Laura ’07
  • Heller, Eve ’00
  • Herbert, Jim ’99
  • Hills, Henry ’82, ’95
  • Hindle, Will ’77, ’84
  • Hock, Louis ’04
  • Holdt, Jacob ’85
  • Hopinka, Sky ’18
  • Hoskins, Courtney ’03
  • Hutton, Peter ’88, ’96, ’07
  • Im, Hyun ’95
  • Iris, Denise ’13
  • Jacobs, Ken ’78,- ’04
  • Jennings, Jim ’98
  • Jordan, Larry ’82, ’84, ’94, ’14
  • Jost, John ’86, ’07
  • Kaul, Shambhavi ’15
  • Keller, Marjorie ’83
  • Kitchen, Diane ’02
  • Klahr, Lewis ’92, ’01, ’05, ’13
  • Klosky, Linda ’91
  • Knecht, John ’10
  • Kraning, Laura ’17
  • Kren, Kurt ’78, ’82, ’94
  • Kubelka, Peter ’77
  • Kuchar, George ’82, ’83, ’88, ’06
  • Laitala, Kerry ’09
  • Landow, George ’76, ’79
  • LaPore, Mark ’97, ’05
  • Larcher, David ’77
  • Lawder, Standish ’80, ’90
  • Le Grice, Vi Malcolm ’76
  • Leacock, Richard ’80, ’84, ’85
  • Leaf, Caroline ’93
  • Lee, Francis ’77
  • Legget, Mike ’76
  • Leiser, Eric '23
  • Lertxundi, Ladia ’14
  • Leventhal, Dani ’11
  • Levine, Saul ’92, ’08, ’16
  • Liotta, Jeanne ’07
  • Lipman, Ross ’18
  • Lowder, Rose ’87, ’12
  • Lowe, Pelle ’96
  • Lucier, Mary ’86
  • Lusztig, Irene ’19
  • Luther, John ’77, ’79
  • Mack, Jodie ’14
  • Madsen Minex, Angelo ’22
  • Mann, Kathleen ’02
  • Marslett, Geoff ’15
  • Matreyek, Miwa ’08
  • Maxy, Fox ’21
  • Maysel, Albert ’77
  • Mclean, Jesse ’15
  • Morrison, Bill ’00
  • Moulton, Shana ’11
  • Mouris, Frank ’78
  • Muller, Matthias ’94, ’00
  • Murray, Julie ’01, ’06
  • Myers, Richard ’78
  • Myers, Skinner ’21
  • Nelson, Gunvor ’79, -’92
  • Nelson, Robert ’79
  • Nishikawa, Tomonari ’10
  • Noren, Andrew ’81
  • O’Neill, Pat ’82, ’10
  • Ondine ’82
  • Otis, James ’84, ’99
  • Owusu, Akosua Adoma ’17
  • Oxygen, Anna ’08
  • Palazzolo, Tom ’77, ’87
  • Peterson, Sidney ’76, ’80
  • Phuntsog, Tenzin '24
  • Pierce, Leighton ’97, ’02
  • Piller, Madi ’18
  • Plays, Dana ’05
  • Plumb, Shannon ’12
  • Price, Luther ’00
  • Pryce, Charlotte ’23
  • Rappmund, Peter Bo ’11
  • Ravett, Abraham ’04
  • Recoder, Luis ’00, ’07
  • Reed, Mary Beth ’01
  • Reeder, Jennifer ’05
  • Reeves, Dan ’97
  • Reeves, Jennifer ’96, ’03, ’16
  • Renwick, Vanessa ’09
  • Rey, Nicholas ’13
  • Reynolds, Reynold ’02
  • Rimmer, David ’99
  • Rivera, Alex ’21
  • Robenson, Michael ’08
  • Rose, Peter ’90, ’98, ’08
  • Rowe, Phil ’02
  • Rubin, Jon ’77, ’78
  • Rumsby, Martin ’85
  • Russell, Ben ’10
  • Sachs, Lynne ’14
  • Saks, Lynn ’96
  • Samarasinghe, Rajee ’22
  • Sanders, Talena ’14
  • Saxs, Erin ’94
  • Schaller, Robert ’98, ’03
  • Scheuren, Zach ’01
  • Schilling, Alphonse ’80
  • Schneemann, Carolee ’78, ’85
  • Sears, Kelly, ’14
  • Seid, Steve ’06, ’11
  • Seno, Shireen '25
  • Sharits, Paul ’79, ’81
  • Sherman, David ’03
  • Silva, Fern ’15
  • Sitney, P. Adams ’79, ’10, ’17
  • Smith, Jack ’80
  • Snider, Dean ’86
  • Snow, Michael ’90
  • Solomon, Phil ’91 - ’04, ’11
  • Sonbert, Warren ’84
  • Stamets, Bill ’86
  • Stark, Scott ’93, ’13
  • Steers, Stacey ’90, ’07, ’12
  • Steiner, Konrad ’00
  • Stephens, Courtney ’23
  • Sternberg, Barbara ’08
  • Stiglicz, Zach ’95
  • Strand, Chick ’80
  • Stratman, Deborah ’09
  • Street, Mark ’96, ’14
  • Sullivan, Chris ’01
  • Szlam, Malena ’19
  • Thornton, Leslie ’88
  • Torosian, Garine ’01, ’02
  • Trainer, James ’06
  • Valdovino, Luis ’96, ’99, ’04
  • Vanderbeek, Stan ’83
  • Vasulka, Steina ’84, ’95, ’12
  • Vasulka, Woody ’89, ’12
  • Velez, Edin ’91
  • Vesulka, Woody & Steina ’79
  • Vigil, Carmen ’76, ’80
  • Viola, Bill ’83
  • Voorhuis, Nelly ’89
  • Wenhua Shi ’15
  • West, Jennifer ’13
  • Wilkins, Tim ’95, ’99, ’04
  • Wojtaski, Pawel ’13
  • Worden, Fred ’87, ’93
  • Yasinsky, Karen, ’14
  • Youngblood, Gene ’83, ’87, ’05, ’16
  • Zdravic, Andrej ’80, ’92