Hilary Harris - Organism

Organism is Academy Award-winning film maker Hilary Harris' epic vision of New York City, shot over 15 years (1959- 1974) during which time he pioneered and contemporized time-lapse film making techniques to achieve a unique experiential view of the world we inhabit.
-Leo Hurwitz

Hilary is unquestionably one of the most original and talented filmmakers of the American independent cinema... he is in a class by him- self, a master of his craft.
-Amos Vogel

Hilary Harris’ nervy tour of Robert Moses’ New York hearkens back to the classic city symphonies of the 1920s but cut to fit the “go go go” energy of the new era. The film can be enjoyed purely as a riot of graphic forms [...] but it’s finally his simple fascination with the changing shape of the road at speed that makes the screen come alive. Bronze medalist at the Brussels International Experimental Film Festival in 1958, Highway today appears a snappy detour between “On the Road” (published the year before) and the early films of the French New Wave (just around the bend).
-Max Goldberg

Why make films at all? To give a richer vision of surrounding reality. My aim is to lift people out of their preconceptions.
-Hilary Harris

FILMS
Longhorns 1951, 16mm, b/w, mono, 4 min
Highway 1958, 16mm, color, mono, 5 min
Nine Variations on a Dance Theme 1966, 16mm, b/w, mono, 13 min
Organism 1975, 16mm, color, mono, 19 min
Polaris Action 1960, 16mm, b/w, mono, 11 min
The Draft Card Burners 1966, 16mm, b/w, silent, 7 min
BONUS Camera Three: Art of the Filmmaker: Hilary Harris 1964, 16mm, b/w, mono, 27 min

DVD5 PAL Interzone • Mono • Color & B/W • 4:3 • 86 min • French subtitles + Booklet of 44 pages