Robert Fulton

A documentary about a legendary American film maker/aviator Robert Fulton who was contracted by the BBC to film aerial cinematography throughout South America.

Fluidity of stone. Subatomic motion asserting a surface. Mind loop wandering. Visitation of sound matrix. Liquid solid. Nature transforms a planetary cycle. Relations of a timeless void.

Fulton made the film during his brief time at Harvard, where he had been invited to teach by Robert Gardner, his friend and collaborator (Fulton would later serve as a cinematographer on Gardner’s 1981 documentary Deep Hearts, among others). Reality’s Invisible could be described as a portrait of the Carpenter Center, yet it is a portrait of an extremely idiosyncratic and distinctive sort. Fulton moves us through the concrete space of the Center’s Le Corbusier-designed building—the only structure by the architect in North America—but, more centrally, presents us footage of students making and discussing their work alongside figures like Gardner, theorist Rudolf Arnheim, artist Stan Vanderbeek, filmmaker Stan Brakhage, and graphic designer Toshi Katayama.

Rapidly changing images of natural objects, scenery, animals, plants, and people flicker, flash, tumble, and cascade across the screen.

"I traveled to Albany, NY, and called Robert Fulton and stated that I wanted to come and visit him in Newtown, CT. 'You can’t get here from there, look out the window and tell me what the clouds look like,' he said. I described them the best I could and he said, 'Meet me at Butler Aviation at the Albany airport, I will fly there in my plane and pick you up.' This film is a short homage to Bob and his family during the weekend I stayed at the Fulton Estate in Newtown." — DA

Robert Fulton asked me to join him to do aerial photography in the Southern Chilean Andes. We rigged microphones to record what we were saying to each other as we flew among these extraordinary formations.

An unfinished examination of life by Robert Gardner

Deep Hearts is a film about the Bororo Fulani, a nomadic society located in central Niger Republic and the title is a reference to an important aspect of these people’s thought and demeanor.

Fulton made the film during his brief time at Harvard, where he had been invited to teach by Robert Gardner, his friend and collaborator (Fulton would later serve as a cinematographer on Gardner’s 1981 documentary Deep Hearts, among others). Reality’s Invisible could be described as a portrait of the Carpenter Center, yet it is a portrait of an extremely idiosyncratic and distinctive sort. Fulton moves us through the concrete space of the Center’s Le Corbusier-designed building—the only structure by the architect in North America—but, more centrally, presents us footage of students making and discussing their work alongside figures like Gardner, theorist Rudolf Arnheim, artist Stan Vanderbeek, filmmaker Stan Brakhage, and graphic designer Toshi Katayama.

Rapidly changing images of natural objects, scenery, animals, plants, and people flicker, flash, tumble, and cascade across the screen.

In PATH OF CESSATION the image that is communicated to us by Fulton is a highly mystifying one. Rather than analyze, or enter into a dialogue with the Tibetan culture that he photographs, Fulton has succumbed to it, and through the process has presented us a work of great surface, as well as formal, beauty.

Challenges; mental, physical, both? How far can you go? How fast? What’s it like to go three days without food and companionship? To run 15 miles, to climb a 14,000 foot mountain, to navigate in dense forest or open ocean, to rappel down a vertical cliff, or sleep in the snow? Teenagers find out in Outward Bound Schools throughout the country. The result is a positive sense of self and the natural environment. The film is fast paced with intentional disregard for time and space continuity. The students tell the story.

Rapidly changing images of natural objects, scenery, animals, plants, and people flicker, flash, tumble, and cascade across the screen. Running Shadow is Fulton’s most dizzying and vertiginous film, in full demonstration of the gyrating flight simulating body-weight balance camera arm as eye he perfected. The landscape where he fully indulges in twists and turns becomes alien, with crashing waves on the soundtrack letting us know that nature always comes out on top.

Filmed during the months of June and August 1984 in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Mesa Verde National Park and the Navajo Nation. This program reveals scenes of the lushness of California's summer accompanied by the music of Windham Hill artists, William Ackerman, Alex de Grassi, Mark Isham, Shadowfax, and Liz Story.

Nature, gymnastic movements, a cat...

Glen Denny observed: "This film is not ocean, it is panther stalking jungle." Camera flows because it is free to move through space.

Fluidity of stone. Subatomic motion asserting a surface. Mind loop wandering. Visitation of sound matrix. Liquid solid. Nature transforms a planetary cycle. Relations of a timeless void.

Robert Gardner visits the great American painter Mark Tobey in Basel, Switzerland, where he lived for the last years of his life. With remarkable candor and objectivity, Tobey discusses his work and that of fellow artists including Picasso.

Deep Hearts is a film about the Bororo Fulani, a nomadic society located in central Niger Republic and the title is a reference to an important aspect of these people’s thought and demeanor.

Crashing waves, the cry of a gull, silence.

A Tibetan Lama. His disciple. The disciple's wife, young boy and terrier. An old tugboat crossing the Mississippi River. A man in his seventh month of solitude. His hermitage built by his own hands. The man's bloodhound; his cat. Clouds crossing the Continental Divide. A mountain stream. A girl. The sun.

Time-lapse imagery, an Omega watch, a cigarette, single frames, the human hand, personal writings, a soprano saxophone in images and sound, a mirrored self-portrait in motion with the camera, Street Film Part 17 feels like a summary of everything Fulton in three minutes.

Time-lapse imagery, an Omega watch, a cigarette, single frames, the human hand, personal writings, a soprano saxophone in images and sound, a mirrored self-portrait in motion with the camera, Street Film Part 17 feels like a summary of everything Fulton in three minutes.

Time-lapse imagery, an Omega watch, a cigarette, single frames, the human hand, personal writings, a soprano saxophone in images and sound, a mirrored self-portrait in motion with the camera, Street Film Part 17 feels like a summary of everything Fulton in three minutes.

Creates a reorientation of vision in a union of sights and sounds which suggest a different way of appreciating and understanding the fundamental integrity of experience.

Omniscient perspectives shoot vibratory gleams through human projectors statically displaced across the screen. Superimpositions at fever pitch falling apart and compressing into new molecular lattices. Peripheral fantasies imagine forth collusioned destinies. A yin/yang interchange makes light's transparency into density, while the darkness metamorphoses into thin lucidity. Hands in peristaltic motion grasp and release, conjuring interstitial embroideries. Landscapes yield their own maps in topographical patterns.

Acid rain, economic development, and a century of mining pollute Rocky Mountain waters.

A documentary about a legendary American film maker/aviator Robert Fulton who was contracted by the BBC to film aerial cinematography throughout South America.

An impressionistic film shot in Cuzco, Machu Picchu, and outlying villages of the Andean center of Peru's Inca Empire. Inca Light captures in a fast fluid motion impressions of life today that refer us to the past society that has also dwelled here.

Nature is our common impressional and biological ancestor. Its history is now, an open book of essences which we have largely, through the intervention of the industrial state, forgotten how to read. This film is a return to immanence, a restorative immersion, and does what film is best at: inducing a mood of informative ecstasy.

Challenges; mental, physical, both? How far can you go? How fast? What’s it like to go three days without food and companionship? To run 15 miles, to climb a 14,000 foot mountain, to navigate in dense forest or open ocean, to rappel down a vertical cliff, or sleep in the snow? Teenagers find out in Outward Bound Schools throughout the country. The result is a positive sense of self and the natural environment. The film is fast paced with intentional disregard for time and space continuity. The students tell the story.

Nature is our common impressional and biological ancestor. Its history is now, an open book of essences which we have largely, through the intervention of the industrial state, forgotten how to read. This film is a return to immanence, a restorative immersion, and does what film is best at: inducing a mood of informative ecstasy.

Nature is our common impressional and biological ancestor. Its history is now, an open book of essences which we have largely, through the intervention of the industrial state, forgotten how to read. This film is a return to immanence, a restorative immersion, and does what film is best at: inducing a mood of informative ecstasy.

Explores the creative world of Paul Soldner, a potter working in Aspen, Colorado.

Scenes of the Lesser Antilles.

A cascading tapestry of sight and sound, rejecting nothing, clinging to nothing, saturating and ultimately defeating the discriminating mind, until unstructured primary space begins to unfold within the viewer.

"Like STREET FILM PART ZERO, PARIS BIRTH manifests with the employment of four projectors running simultaneously with image overlap. The film opens with one projector showing the film-maker's wife walking down a Paris Street. Short bursts of film, flash frames, jumps, and the gentle flow of motion and subtle color highlights the scene. When the other projectors are switched on, shown are isolated events leading up to the birth of a child. The mystical beauty of the film cannot be ignored and the pacing of the four images afford a kind of universal intimacy into the human condition of constant flux. Ordinary events, such as walking down streets, pouring coffee, talking on the telephone become extraordinary on the level of recognition of the regenerative process going on inside and outside the viewer."—Susan Headley

Filmed in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Beginning with Genesis, the film follows the progress of civilization through to modern day Nairobi. Biblical themes combine with pulsating African music, wild animal sounds, and vivid imagery. Unusual juxtapositions of Bob Fulton's quick cuts and Brown's big lens shots of mega fauna and tribal dances mesmerize viewers.

A visually stunning aerial journey throughout the American Southwest with Robert Fulton, filmmaker/pilot extraordinaire accompanied with a mystical soundtrack by Joakin Bello. Never has there been such a diverse and highly original view of an America that is mysterious and spiritual. Visit the high desert plateaus, the river canyons and Rocky Mountain wind-swept peaks with Fulton as he takes your breath away and renews your sense of timelessness.

"STREET FILM PART IV is an odyssey. In its search for the greater meaning of things, the camera portrays (rather than reports) essential human handiwork. Corn is pressed from the cob by worn thumbs, practiced hands spin twine. Doors open. Cattle are branded. A small sparkling plane takes us through the clouds and into the mountains. Everything and nothing is within our grasp. Simple acts are either full of meaning or devoid of meaning. The longest scene in this rarefied look at simple pastimes is of a native woman patting and baking tortillas." - Barbara Kossy

The video is an aerial view of Colorado from a Cessna 180 flying over the cities to the mountain peaks, over rivers, farms, canyons and deserts.

"Street Film: Part One" is a metaphor for modern post-industrial life.

Robert Edison Fulton does some incredible things with time-lapse photography in "Street Film Part V," which imparts surreal staccato movement to mostly moonlit beach scenes in Brazil. Wind-blown palms, wet pavements and sewer grates, surf and sand (some seen from an airplane) create fantastic abstract patterns as they flicker across the screen.

Fulton combines cultures and impressions in both black and white and colour. An intriguing sound track with sounds of nature, improvised jazz and Fulton improvising on his saxophone, highlights and deepens impressions of juxtapositions of intense images in Chicago, Haiti, and the Southwestern United States. The aerial film of patterns of light and darkness often through the cockpit windows of his Cessna 180 aircraft are an early precursor to his intense focus on his acclaimed aerial cinematography.

Filmed in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Beginning with Genesis, the film follows the progress of civilization through to modern day Nairobi. Biblical themes combine with pulsating African music, wild animal sounds, and vivid imagery. Unusual juxtapositions of Bob Fulton's quick cuts and Brown's big lens shots of mega fauna and tribal dances mesmerize viewers.

This program has been hailed as a natural moment so perfectly described that it will never be forgotten. Scenes captured in Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California during the months of December 1984 and January 1985 accompanied by the music of 12 Windham Hill artists. Includes an original composition by Mark Isham created and scored for this video.

This dreamvideo was filmed primarily in California during the months of June and August of 1984. Featuring the music of Windham Hill artists William Ackerman, Scott Cossu, Daniel Hecht, Michael Hedges, Bill Quist, Shadowfax, Ira Stein and George Winston.

A hilarious updated version of Hannes Schneider's classic chase film of the 30's. The villain and ski thief, Fred Iselin, is pursued through Vail, Jackson Hole, and Chamonix in France.

Features the beauty of colors and lights of Autumn in New England.

The opening of China to the West has produced images that focus on the more obvious: the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the tombs of Sian. But there is another much larger part of China which we have not seen. It's the China of people, its rhythms, its patterns, its colors. This video brings us to the large and timeless world of life in China, as it is lived now and has been for centuries - vast, unchanging, and slightly mysterious. Here is but a glimpse of this other world. This dreamvideo was filmed during the months of October and November of 1986 in and around the following cities and locations: Beijing, Chengdu, Guiyang, Guilin, Yangshuo, Xingping, Yangai, Nanjing, Huangshan Mountain and Hefei.

Tibet – Mere mention of the word Tibet evokes images of a rich and magical country, its culture shrouded by a remote and inaccessible location. The music on this recording was composed and arranged by Mark Isham for the Windham Hill video, Tibet. It provides a look at the place called the “Roof of the World,” where the heavens and the earth meet, and where centuries old rhythms continue. It is a brief glimpse of vast stretches of empty, high plains and snowcapped peaks. The monasteries and the monks who live there are the last of an ever diminishing religious culture which has no parallel in the West.

Featuring selections from the Windham Hill videos Water's Path, Western Light, Autumn Portrait, and Winter.

David Attenborough sets out on an intrepid quest across seven continents to create a unique television event to celebrate the wealth of natural features that makes Planet Earth so varied, so distinctive and so spectacularly beautiful.

A documentary film about the exploits of the 10th Mountain Division, an elite group of mountain climbers who fought decisive battles against the Nazis in the Italian Alps during the final days of World War II. From the intensive training atop the Colorado Rockies to the spectacular night climb of Italy's Riva Ridge.

In the highlands of Northern Columbia the Ika live a strenuous and isolated life, economically dependent on small gardens and a handful of domestic animals. They are thought to be descendants of the Maya who fled from the turmoil of Central American High Civilization’s warring states to the remote valleys of Colombia’s Sierra Nevadas. The Ika still inhabit a spectacular but demanding terrain extending between five and fifteen thousand feet, an almost vertical geography through which they move with prodigious ease.

In the highlands of Northern Columbia the Ika live a strenuous and isolated life, economically dependent on small gardens and a handful of domestic animals. They are thought to be descendants of the Maya who fled from the turmoil of Central American High Civilization’s warring states to the remote valleys of Colombia’s Sierra Nevadas. The Ika still inhabit a spectacular but demanding terrain extending between five and fifteen thousand feet, an almost vertical geography through which they move with prodigious ease.

Deep Hearts is a film about the Bororo Fulani, a nomadic society located in central Niger Republic and the title is a reference to an important aspect of these people’s thought and demeanor.

A science fiction fantasy on skis with spectacular glacier skiing, extraordinary acrobatics, unique optical effects, and an original score. The world's polarity is mysteriously reversed, requiring the skiers to regain the realm of normal perception by performing maneuvers inspired by the ambiguous nature of the "Moebius Strip."

After two years of filming, director Howard Brookner brought inventor and photographer Robert E. Fulton III a trunkful of William S. Burroughs footage to see if Fulton could edit his film. The result was a decidedly experimental 23-minute cut. The director was looking for a more narrative approach, so Fulton’s edit was never used.

Moonchild is one of Fulton’s very earliest ethnographic projects. Filming in East Africa while on another production, he shoots with single frame bursts from his Bolex camera with an Angenieux 5.9 lens. He could shoot inconspicuously from the hip, an approach he learned from his father, filmmaker Robert Fulton Jr. In Moonchild, he shares his first impressions of Africa.

Hunter S. Thompson went to the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago as a journalist and returned home disgusted, yet motivated by what he’d just seen: violently suppressed protests, riots, corrupt politicians, and abusive cops. Back in Aspen, he finds more of the same. The local police and sheriff’s departments are targeting young people, harassing and charging them with absurd crimes and trying to push them out of town. Hunter decides he has to do something to change the police brutality that has become the norm.

The final part in the core Street Film series.

A hilarious updated version of Hannes Schneider's classic chase film of the 30's. The villain and ski thief, Fred Iselin, is pursued through Vail, Jackson Hole, and Chamonix in France.

Part 14 in the Street Film series.

Short film by Robert Fulton.

Short film By Robert Fulton.

Short film by Robert Fulton

After a decade of honing his visual techniques with still photography, Fulton began experimenting with filmmaking using a 16mm Bolex camera. In developing a visual style which would become the bedrock of his work for decades to come, Fulton focused on one, two, and three minute explorations in twisting camera motions, multiple exposures, and capturing shots in quick bursts or in single frame increments, temporally challenging viewers in the process. These films were captured around New England, Fulton's home at the time.

Short film By Robert Fulton.

Short film By Robert Fulton.

A black and white landscape film

A home movie with Fulton behind the camera.

While commissioned to create a promotional film for Outward Bound, an organization dedicated to connecting young people with outdoor experiences, Fulton used extra time and footage to edit together a collection of three films, closer to his style of personal filmmaking.

While commissioned to create a promotional film for Outward Bound, an organization dedicated to connecting young people with outdoor experiences, Fulton used extra time and footage to edit together a collection of three films, closer to his style of personal filmmaking.

11 minutes, 16mm, Color, Silent

7 minutes, 16mm, B&W, Sound

1 minute, 16mm, Color, Sound

9 minutes, 16mm, Color, Silent

5 minutes, 16mm, Color, Silent

A mix of Fulton's projects depicting the places he lived (Aspen, CO and Paris, France) and those closest to him. ALICE FILM, BICYCLE FRANCE, PARIS NON-DENUMERABLY and FERRET FILM are experimental, single-frame captured films in the style of Fulton's Earlier work. STRUCTURE SPACE and BETA STRUCTURE SPACE offer considerably slower takes. BOB SAX and ALICE FALL '69 are simple unedited vignettes into the filmmaker's life.

Movement of the body in all forms: dance, discipline, freedom, exploration, and the environment that surrounds it.

1 minute, 16mm, B&W, Silent

In Geshe Reading, Fulton captured an unedited conversation on spirituality with Geshe Ngawang Wangyal, the lama credited with leading the first buddhist community in the United States. Geshe Wangyal is featured in Path of Cessation, Starlight, as well as a number of Fulton works.

A collection of one minute television spots created by Fulton, exploring a variety of tonal styles by weaving together poetic narration, serene natural visuals, and human beings. Potentially used as a tonal demo reel given to prospective clients for commercial work.

From the Movement of the Body Collection (1975-1978)

Robert Fulton short film.

Movement of the body in all forms: dance, discipline, freedom, exploration, and the environment that surrounds it.

A portrait of Carlos Vilaro.

A portrait of Francoise Gilot.

Behind the scenes documentary.

While commissioned to create a promotional film for Outward Bound, an organization dedicated to connecting young people with outdoor experiences, Fulton used extra time and footage to edit together a collection of three films, closer to his style of personal filmmaking.

Robert Fulton short film.

Part 10 of Robert Fulton's street films.

11th street film installation.