The Reptile Under the Flowers, 2009
Performance
GEISER'S 1994 EXPERIMENTAL FILM THE RED BOOK WAS RECENTLY SELECTED FOR THE 2009 NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY.
FILMS INCLUDED IN THE REGISTRY ARE INCLUDED IN THEIR COLLECITON IN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS , TO BE PRESERVED AS CULTURAL, ARTISTIC, AND/OR HISTORICAL TREASURES FOR GENERATIONS TO COME.
Geiser's film The Fourth Watch was selected by Film Comment as one of the top 10 experimental films of the past Decade.
Janie Geiser is an internationally recognized experimental filmmaker and object performance/installation artist, whose work is known for its evocation of emotional states, its sense of mystery, and its strength of design. “Geiser shares with filmmakers such as Jan Svankmajer the rare ability to make children’s toys and seemingly innocent objects … resonate with the most unsettling, arcane, and adult fears. Better still, Geiser gives voice to the reaches of the unconscious, pointing to the abandoned splendor that exists prior to the rules of society and language.” (Holly Willis, Res, 2004)
One of the pioneers of the renaissance of American avant-garde puppet theater, Geiser creates innovative, hypnotic works that integrate puppets and performing objects with live performers and film. Geiser’s performance works have toured nationally and internationally, and her films have been screened at museums and festivals around the globe. Geiser was recognized in the LA Weekly’s 2006 State of the Arts as one of 100 significant Los Angeles Artists.
Geiser has been recognized with an an Obie, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and funding from the NEA, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Henson Foundation, MapFund, Creative Capital, Jerome Foundation, the Center for Cultural Innovation, and others. Geiser’s films have been screened at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, Pacific Film Archives, the San Francisco Cinematheque, and at numerous festivals, including 5 New York Film Festivals, the Rotterdam International Film Festival, the Toronto Film Festival, San Francisco Film Festival, and the Hong Kong International Film Festival. She designed puppets for Jessica Yu's documentary film Protagonist, and is currently creating a puppet segment for a Jessica's upcoming short documentary about the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique.
Recent screenings of Geiser's films include the 2010 New York Film Festival, 2010 London International Film Festival, 2011 Ann Arbor Film Festival, and the 2011 Hong Kong International Film Festival. Her diorama performance will have it's full premiere , as a project of Automata, in June 2011 in Los Angeles.
Geiser is Co-Director of Automata, a Los Angeles nonprofit dedicated to the creation, presentation, and preservation of puppet and object theater, experimental film, pre-cinematic attractions, and other lost and neglected forms.
