Panorama Ephemera

PANORAMA EPHEMERA (made by Rick Prelinger, 2004, 89:35 min., color and black and white) focuses on familiar and mythical American images (1626-1978). At first resembling a compilation, it soon reveals itself as a journey through American landscape and history, and the story begins to emerge between the sequences. Unlike many films made using archival footage, it’s primarily a combination of sequences rather than a collage of individual shots. While other found-footage or archival films speak as if in words, syllables or even phonemes, PANORAMA EPHEMERA speaks in sentences and paragraphs.