3 Underground Films of Vision

Filmforum presents tonight at 8 at the Hollywood Moguls, 1650 N. Hudson, Barbara Rubin’s 29-minute “Christmas on Earth” (1963), Carolee Schneeman’s 22-minute “Fuses” (1967) and Storm De Hirsch’s 10-minute “Third Eye Butterfly” (1968). The first two are landmark experimental films by women filmmakers in a candid yet lyrical depiction of lovemaking. Both attest to how durable the best of ‘60s underground filmmaking really is.

Schneeman’s film, strongly reminiscent of Stan Brakhage’s work of the same era, looks better than ever, a sensuous, fragmented, layered evocation of physical passion and tenderness that is at one with nature and the universe itself; participating in the film are Schneeman and her lover of a decade, James Tenney. Not as well-known, at least in Southern California, Rubin’s “Christmas on Earth” is similar to Schneeman’s film but is more graphic and less complex.

“Third Eye Butterfly” makes terrific use of the split screen, inviting us to combine richly colored abstract images--the butterfly is a repeated motif--into one vibrant unified vision.

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