De Artificiali Perspective or AnamorphosisIn this film, animation techniques elucidate anamorphosis, a method of depiction that uses the rules of perspective to systematiccally distort an image. When looked at from a different angleor in a curved mirror, the distorted image appears normal. Using animation of three-dimensional objects, the filmmakers demonstrate the basic effects of anamorphosis and reveal the hidden meanings that lurk within selected works of art. Architecture of Transcendence This film celebrates the Gothic cathedral in Beauvais, France, without spoken narration. The camera is constantlyy in motion, shaping perception through movement as it explores the interior and exterior and the imagery of the stained glass windows. The visual images are presented in a sequence that parallels that of the cathedra;'s construction. Aerial cinematography reveals the structural details of Beauvais' flying buttresses and situates it in the landscape. Painted Earth: The Art of the Mimbres Indians The film concentrates on an examinatino of the aesthetic aspects of the painted pottery bowls of the mimbres, a Native American people who lived in the isolated mountain valleys and deserts of southwestern New Mexico a thousand years ago. The filmmakers enlisted camera crews trained in the production of food commercials, who used special camera rigging, motorized prop tables and other tools of commercial "table-top" photography to film the pottery. A portion of the narration is provided by cultural historian Rina Swentzell, a member of the Santa Clara Pueblo tribe.
