Flight Forms

Location:                   https://vimeo.com/26766993         

Year completed:      1976 

Architect:                  Not applicable.

Medium:
                  Film

Dimensions:
           15 minutes and 13 seconds

Price:
                        Unknown

Description:
            A short film made by TVS and award-winning filmmaker Ed Spiegal. It begins in Tom’s studio where he is carving/sanding a wooden sculpture of a bird. Various TVS bird sculptures are shown on screen before the film cuts to kites, flying over mountains and into dunes, where the camera pulls into a red van and trailer driving on the sand. People get out and unload kites and parts for a caterpillar kite, which they construct and fly.

Commissioner:         N/A

Condition:                   Unknown. Flight Forms on film has not been found.

Image Source:           Flight Forms screenshot

Notes:                         Flight Forms screened every day for a week at LA’s Nuart Theater, September 17-23, 1976. The screenings qualified the film for submission to the Academy Awards. It was submitted but not nominated.

1976 was a kite-intense summer for Van Sant. In addition to making Flight Forms, he opened a one-person exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London, UK, which subsequently tours to France, Australia, Hawaii, Holland, and Ireland.