Film is intended to be the most “efficient” of editioned art forms. Thousands of “identical copies” are made available across multiple platforms, all of which are meant to re-present the same experience with the artwork. Of course, the reality is more complicated. Filmmakers create their films in a deliberate way, for a particular environment, and to affect an audience in a highly-determined manner. The rise of direct-to-consumer streaming platforms and the ubiquity of mobile devices drastically varies the current experience of watching films. In this multimedia lecture with film clips, former SFFILM Executive Director Noah Cowan breezes through the history of cinema with an eye to authors’ intents and how the medium’s “editioning” process has supported and thwarted their desires.

This event is presented in conjunction with MFA’s summer exhibition What is an edition, anyway? which explores the traditions, conditions, and inventive expressions of the contemporary artist’s multiple.

Pictured: Gordon Parks, Ingrid Bergman at Stromboli, Stromboli, Italy, 1949 (contact sheet). Courtesy of The Gordon Parks Foundation / © Gordon Parks and The Gordon Parks Foundation.

Location and Directions

MFA is located at 1150 25th Street, Building B in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood. Enter the gated parking lot on 25th at the corner of Minnesota Street and continue to the Building B entrance at the end of the lot. We are nestled between two neighbor galleries — Adrian Rosenfeld and Altman Siegel.

MFA is a short walk from the T/Third Street Muni light rail line, the #48 and #22 Muni bus lines, and the 22nd Street CalTrain Station. Limited parking is available on the street and adjoining lot, and a paid lot is available at 901 Illinois Street. A bike rack is also available in the 1150 25th Street lot. For more information, visit mcevoyarts.org/visit.

Box Office

The Box Office opens 60 minutes prior to the event’s published start time for Will Call and walk-up sales. Doors open for seating 30 minutes prior to start time. The box office remains open for 15 minutes after the event has started.

All seats are general admission and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Ticket holders should arrive 10 minutes prior to showtime to be guaranteed a seat.

In the case of sold-out events, a standby line will form for those without advance tickets. Standby tickets will be released on a first-come basis depending on how many seats are available after ticket holders are admitted.

All programs are subject to change without notice. Refunds and exchanges will be issued in the rare case of program cancellations.