On the Spot
Saul Levine, 1973, 29mins
A diaristic portrait of rural life, filmed over several weeks from a farm in Friendsville, Pennsylvania. Working from a fixed location, Saul Levine captures the changing rhythms of everyday life: people moving through the landscape, livestock, shifting clouds, sunlight and the moon. Through a series of observations assembled in an almost musical rhythm, the film becomes a meditation on time, place and the relationship between stillness and movement.
Saul Levine
Saul Levine is an American experimental filmmaker and a central figure in the independent and avant-garde cinema movement. Since beginning his filmmaking practice in 1965, he has developed an extensive body of work, primarily using 8mm and Super 8 film, exploring the intersections of personal experience, memory, politics and everyday life. Often described as a form of cinematic diary or visual poetry, his films combine spontaneous camerawork, fragmented editing and intimate observations of the world around him. Alongside his filmmaking practice, Levine taught at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design for over three decades and founded the MassArt Film Society, becoming an influential figure in generations of experimental filmmakers.
