Effecting Repair:
A Canyon Cinema Report on the “Rediscovery” of Toney W. Merritt
by Brett Kashmere (Fall 2022)
A Canyon Cinema Report on the “Rediscovery” of Toney W. Merritt
by Brett Kashmere (Fall 2022)
SELECTED SOLO AND GROUP SHOWS
November 2022 - Camera Obscura Eighth Annual Report - Hotel Petaluma- Petaluma, CA
The Shadow Line
October 2022 - Canyon Cinema Discovered-Insurgent Articulations-Roxie Theater-SF
"B.L.M."
"The brief yet powerful B.L.M. (Toney W. Merritt, 2020) focuses on the occupation of the putatively public sphere by police while simultaneously constructing a new platform of resistance." - Curated by Ekin Pinar for Canyon Cinema Discovered
October 2022 - Canyon Cinema Discovered-Trajectories of Self-Determination: Experimental Cinema's Embrace of Jazz-Roxie Theater-SF
"Not A Music Video"
"In Not a Music Video (1987), whose title sends up the then fledging genre being popularized on MTV, Merritt presents a charmingly intimate portrait of tenor saxophonist Glenn Spearman, a powerful player in the Northern California avant-garde jazz community. With the informal energy of a home movie, this film humbly presents a genial study of a musician at work and play. It begins and ends with shots of the filmmaker's smiling collaborators holding clapboards for the camera and laughingly scatting jazz phrases. Between these sync-sound bookends of loose interaction is the centerpiece of the work, a commanding solo performance by Spearman, filmed by an expressive camera that responds understandingly to the dynamic shifts in the tenor saxophonist's lines. The playing incarnates a virtuosic display of post-Coltrane lyricism that leaps from written melodies to a controlled guttural roar evoking the fiery howl of Frank Wright, the saxophonist's mentor and link to the first generation of free jazz players. Along with Michael Snow and Phil Niblock, Merritt was one of only a handful of avant-garde filmmakers who turned their cameras towards the core performers of what Archie Shepp called "Fire Music." - Curated by Juan Carlos Kase for Canyon Cinema Discovered
October 2022 - Canyon Cinema Discovered-Playing in the Dark: Watery Experiments-Roxie Theater-SF
"By The Sea".
Toney Merritt's By the Sea (1982) offers a "portrait of sorts" of the San Francisco Bay, filmed by the Bay Area artist from his apartment. Filled with enigmatic humor, the film reports on a ship lost in the wild Atlantic Ocean. Yet, a massive, slow moving vessel occupies the frame, so large that it even exceeds it in length, never fully captured by it."- Curated by Chrystel Oloukoi for Canyon Cinema Discovered.
2022 An Evening with Christopher Harris at MOMA, Museum of Modern Art, New York City
“Masked Incident”
2022 This Gradient World: Disarticulations: Dances, Sketches and Gestures, Film Studies Center, The University of Chicago
“Lonesome Cowboy”, “Three Masked Pieces”, “EF”
2021 Thousand Suns Cinema, Media City Film Festival, Ontario, Canada
“Revolution”, “EF”
2021 Grass Hopper film-projectr.edu
Streaming: “EF”, “ASIAM”, “Masked Incident”, “The Shadow Line”, “Not A Music Video”, “Welcome to the House of Raven”, “A Dreadful Day”
2021 An Evening with Toney Merritt at the Light Box Film Center, Philadelphia, PA
“Game”, “A Kiss of Death”, “Lonesome Cowboy”, “EF”, “Notes”, “Masked Incident”, “Revolution”, “ASIAM”, “The Shadow Line”, “Not A Music Video”, "Welcome to the House of Raven”, “A Dreadful Day”, “B.L.M.”
2017 Hippie Modernism: Cinema & Counter Culture 1964-1974, BAM Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley, CA
“What’s This”
2016 Canyon Cinema Salon with Toney W. Merritt, New Nothing Cinema, San Francisco, CA
2012 We Like ‘Em Short Festival, Eltrym Theater, Baker City, Oregon
“Calling Down The Shaman”
2011 Radical Light/Alternative Film/Video in SF Bay Area 1945- 2000, ATA/PFA, San Francisco/Berkeley, CA
“By The Sea”
2001 Film Arts Foundation Silver Anniversary Show, Yerba Buena Center, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, S.F., CA
“Lonesome Cowboy”
2000 Rooftop Screening at S.F.A.I., San Francisco Cinematheque, S.F., CA
“Welcome to the House of Raven”
1999 Sonoma Sampler Film Cafe - Sonoma County Museum of Visual Arts, Santa Rosa, CA - Curator
“Sarah From Roberts", "Welcome to the House of Raven”
1995 Facing Eden - 100 Years of Bay Area Landscape Art, De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
“By the Sea”
1994 Odun de, Odun de, San Francisco Cinematheque
“Asiam”
1992 Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley, CA
“Conquest Piece”
1992 Selected Works: Black Visions at the Center Arts, Humboldt State University Arcata, CA
1986 Selected Works, San Francisco Cinematheque, San Francisco, CA
Independent Cinema Series - Black Filmmaker’s Hall of Fame: Retrospective of Work: Oakland, CA
Film Arts Foundation Festival - Roxie Theatre, S.F., CA
“The Shadow Line”
1983 21st Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, Michigan
“Conquest Piece” - Prize winner/tour
Emergency Filmmaker’s Show, Roxie Theatre, San Francisco, CA
Black Experiments in Film - Curator for San Francisco Cinematheque, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Filmmakers at Chicago Filmmakers, Chicago, IL
Canyon Co-op Show at the Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley, CA
1981 The Paris Cinematheque, Paris, France
“EF”, “Lonesome Cowboy”, “Conquest Piece”
London Co-op, London, England
“EF”, “Lonesome Cowboy”, “Conquest Piece”
Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY
“Lonesome Cowboy”
Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley, CA
“By The Sea”
Alumni Show: San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Ethnic Arts Festival, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
1980 Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, Michigan
1980 St. Carmen’s Choice, LA Independent Film, (OASIS): Los Angeles, CA
Lonesome Cowboy & Other Films by Toney Merritt, (one-person show), The San Francisco Cinematheque, San Francisco, CA
1980 Selections from The Cinematheque, Rocky Mountain Center, Boulder, CO
1979 Frontal Exposure - KQED 32, San Francisco, CA
Group Show, The San Francisco Cinematheque - San Francisco, CA
New San Francisco Filmmakers, The S.F. Cinematheque, S.F., CA
1978 New San Francisco Filmmakers, The S.F. Cinematheque, S.F., CA
1975 Ultra Films, Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
“A Kiss of Death”
1975 Ann Arbor International Film Festival, Ann Arbor, Michigan
“A Kiss of Death”
November 2022 - Camera Obscura Eighth Annual Report - Hotel Petaluma- Petaluma, CA
The Shadow Line
October 2022 - Canyon Cinema Discovered-Insurgent Articulations-Roxie Theater-SF
"B.L.M."
"The brief yet powerful B.L.M. (Toney W. Merritt, 2020) focuses on the occupation of the putatively public sphere by police while simultaneously constructing a new platform of resistance." - Curated by Ekin Pinar for Canyon Cinema Discovered
October 2022 - Canyon Cinema Discovered-Trajectories of Self-Determination: Experimental Cinema's Embrace of Jazz-Roxie Theater-SF
"Not A Music Video"
"In Not a Music Video (1987), whose title sends up the then fledging genre being popularized on MTV, Merritt presents a charmingly intimate portrait of tenor saxophonist Glenn Spearman, a powerful player in the Northern California avant-garde jazz community. With the informal energy of a home movie, this film humbly presents a genial study of a musician at work and play. It begins and ends with shots of the filmmaker's smiling collaborators holding clapboards for the camera and laughingly scatting jazz phrases. Between these sync-sound bookends of loose interaction is the centerpiece of the work, a commanding solo performance by Spearman, filmed by an expressive camera that responds understandingly to the dynamic shifts in the tenor saxophonist's lines. The playing incarnates a virtuosic display of post-Coltrane lyricism that leaps from written melodies to a controlled guttural roar evoking the fiery howl of Frank Wright, the saxophonist's mentor and link to the first generation of free jazz players. Along with Michael Snow and Phil Niblock, Merritt was one of only a handful of avant-garde filmmakers who turned their cameras towards the core performers of what Archie Shepp called "Fire Music." - Curated by Juan Carlos Kase for Canyon Cinema Discovered
October 2022 - Canyon Cinema Discovered-Playing in the Dark: Watery Experiments-Roxie Theater-SF
"By The Sea".
Toney Merritt's By the Sea (1982) offers a "portrait of sorts" of the San Francisco Bay, filmed by the Bay Area artist from his apartment. Filled with enigmatic humor, the film reports on a ship lost in the wild Atlantic Ocean. Yet, a massive, slow moving vessel occupies the frame, so large that it even exceeds it in length, never fully captured by it."- Curated by Chrystel Oloukoi for Canyon Cinema Discovered.
2022 An Evening with Christopher Harris at MOMA, Museum of Modern Art, New York City
“Masked Incident”
2022 This Gradient World: Disarticulations: Dances, Sketches and Gestures, Film Studies Center, The University of Chicago
“Lonesome Cowboy”, “Three Masked Pieces”, “EF”
2021 Thousand Suns Cinema, Media City Film Festival, Ontario, Canada
“Revolution”, “EF”
2021 Grass Hopper film-projectr.edu
Streaming: “EF”, “ASIAM”, “Masked Incident”, “The Shadow Line”, “Not A Music Video”, “Welcome to the House of Raven”, “A Dreadful Day”
2021 An Evening with Toney Merritt at the Light Box Film Center, Philadelphia, PA
“Game”, “A Kiss of Death”, “Lonesome Cowboy”, “EF”, “Notes”, “Masked Incident”, “Revolution”, “ASIAM”, “The Shadow Line”, “Not A Music Video”, "Welcome to the House of Raven”, “A Dreadful Day”, “B.L.M.”
2017 Hippie Modernism: Cinema & Counter Culture 1964-1974, BAM Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley, CA
“What’s This”
2016 Canyon Cinema Salon with Toney W. Merritt, New Nothing Cinema, San Francisco, CA
2012 We Like ‘Em Short Festival, Eltrym Theater, Baker City, Oregon
“Calling Down The Shaman”
2011 Radical Light/Alternative Film/Video in SF Bay Area 1945- 2000, ATA/PFA, San Francisco/Berkeley, CA
“By The Sea”
2001 Film Arts Foundation Silver Anniversary Show, Yerba Buena Center, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, S.F., CA
“Lonesome Cowboy”
2000 Rooftop Screening at S.F.A.I., San Francisco Cinematheque, S.F., CA
“Welcome to the House of Raven”
1999 Sonoma Sampler Film Cafe - Sonoma County Museum of Visual Arts, Santa Rosa, CA - Curator
“Sarah From Roberts", "Welcome to the House of Raven”
1995 Facing Eden - 100 Years of Bay Area Landscape Art, De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
“By the Sea”
1994 Odun de, Odun de, San Francisco Cinematheque
“Asiam”
1992 Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley, CA
“Conquest Piece”
1992 Selected Works: Black Visions at the Center Arts, Humboldt State University Arcata, CA
1986 Selected Works, San Francisco Cinematheque, San Francisco, CA
Independent Cinema Series - Black Filmmaker’s Hall of Fame: Retrospective of Work: Oakland, CA
Film Arts Foundation Festival - Roxie Theatre, S.F., CA
“The Shadow Line”
1983 21st Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, Michigan
“Conquest Piece” - Prize winner/tour
Emergency Filmmaker’s Show, Roxie Theatre, San Francisco, CA
Black Experiments in Film - Curator for San Francisco Cinematheque, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Filmmakers at Chicago Filmmakers, Chicago, IL
Canyon Co-op Show at the Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley, CA
1981 The Paris Cinematheque, Paris, France
“EF”, “Lonesome Cowboy”, “Conquest Piece”
London Co-op, London, England
“EF”, “Lonesome Cowboy”, “Conquest Piece”
Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY
“Lonesome Cowboy”
Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley, CA
“By The Sea”
Alumni Show: San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Ethnic Arts Festival, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
1980 Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, Michigan
1980 St. Carmen’s Choice, LA Independent Film, (OASIS): Los Angeles, CA
Lonesome Cowboy & Other Films by Toney Merritt, (one-person show), The San Francisco Cinematheque, San Francisco, CA
1980 Selections from The Cinematheque, Rocky Mountain Center, Boulder, CO
1979 Frontal Exposure - KQED 32, San Francisco, CA
Group Show, The San Francisco Cinematheque - San Francisco, CA
New San Francisco Filmmakers, The S.F. Cinematheque, S.F., CA
1978 New San Francisco Filmmakers, The S.F. Cinematheque, S.F., CA
1975 Ultra Films, Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
“A Kiss of Death”
1975 Ann Arbor International Film Festival, Ann Arbor, Michigan
“A Kiss of Death”