Free Radicals (1979 film)
| Free Radicals | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Len Lye |
| Music by | Baguirmi tribe of Africa |
Release date |
|
Running time | 4 minutes |
| Country | United States |
Free Radicals is a black-and-white animated film short by avant-garde filmmaker Len Lye.[1][2][3] Begun in 1958 and revised in 1979, Lye made the film by directly scratching the film stock. The resulting "figures of motion" are set to music by the Baguirmi tribe of Africa.[4]
Production
In Experimental Animation: the origins of a new art, Lye recalled making Free Radicals:
"I made Free Radicals from 16mm black film leader, which you can get from DuPont. I took a graver, various kinds of needles. (My range included arrowheads for romanticism.) You stick down the sides with scotch tape and you get to work with scratching the stuff out. … … You hold your hand at the right height and act is if you were making your signature. It goes on forever. You can carry a pictographic design in your head and make a little design. You can't see what you're doing because your hand is in the way. That's why those things have that kind of spastic look."[5]
Release
Free Radicals screened in 1958 at the second Knokke-Le-Zoute Experimental Film Festival.[6]
Legacy
It was released on DVD as part of Rhythms, a collection of short films by Lye.[7]
In 2008, the film was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and recommended for preservation.[8][9]
See also
References
- ^ "Free radicals | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved November 24, 2025.
- ^ "Free Radicals (1958)". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved November 24, 2025.
- ^ "Free Radicals (1979)". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved November 24, 2025.
- ^ "Free Radicals by Len Lye". The Third Eye. December 20, 2012. Retrieved November 24, 2025.
- ^ Russet, R (1988). Experimental Animation : origins of a new art. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80314-3.
- ^ "Program". Film Culture. Vol. 46. October 1968. p. 12.
- ^ "Re:Voir Vidéo + The Film Gallery" (in French). Retrieved November 24, 2025.
- ^ "2008 Entries to National Film Registry Announced - News Releases (Library of Congress)". www.loc.gov. Archived from the original on August 2, 2016. Retrieved November 24, 2025.
- ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
External links
- Official Website
- Watch Free Radicals at Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
- Free Radicals at IMDb
- Free Radicals at the TCM Movie Database
- Free Radicals on MUBI
- Free Radicals essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 ISBN 0826429777, pages 761-762 [1]