Curator's Notes:

El Doctor (2006, 23 min., 35mm)

This animated visual poem travels between desperation and dark comedy. El Doctor takes place at the turn of the century in a crumbling Mexican hospital inhabited by surreal characters, including a man shot with 100 holes, a girl who has sprouted morning glories and a woman who thinks she is a horse. Meanwhile, the doctor in charge prefers to drink. The Saint of Holes and a mysterious Gargoyle rearrange the Doctor's fated demise and send him on a journey of altered perspective.

Five years in the making, the film is entirely hand-painted by a small group of artists in Los Angeles and Mexico. Directed and designed by Suzan Pitt, El Doctor is based on a script by Blue Kraning (Fear Itself.) It includes animation by Maria Vasilkovsky, Rinat Gazinov, Gérard Goulet (The Triplets of Belleville), sand animation by Ben Zelkowicz and direct paint-on-film animation by Naomi Uman. Sound design is by David Slusser (PIXAR studios). It also features historic Mexican music recordings from the Arhoolie collection.

Mexican radio host Jose Luis Avalos is the voice of the Doctor, and Belgian-born Los Angeles-based actor Patrick Bauchau lends his to the Gargoyle. The other voices were recorded by non-professionals in Morelia, Mexico.

"Visually compelling… punchy and often shocking… in images borrowed from Mexican folk art, it tells the story of an elderly doctor’s nightmarish final day on earth." The New York Times

"A lavishly surreal parable about an aging Mexican doctor, painted in lurid, Crumb-like caricatures." Village Voice

"Tinged with elements of magic realism and Mexican culture, and told using vivid oil colors, El Doctor is a dazzling, haunting and poignant evocation of a man's final moments." – Chris Robinson, Animation World Magazine

Joy Street (1995, 24 min., 35mm)

An ambitious, astonishing story of a woman's journey from suicidal despair to personal renewal, with the help of an unlikely spirit guide.

"Inventive, astonishing, and visually lush." – The New York Times

Asparagus (1979, 20 min., 35mm)

This candy-colored nightmare rocked audiences upon its release and catapulted Pitt to the front ranks of indie animation. Stunning cel animation propels its blank-faced protagonist into the world of the phallus, rendered here as a field of asparagus, which she deep throats, excretes and flushes away... The film's stunning set piece occurs before a claymation audience who gape as the artist opens her Medusa's box to release rare wonders. A moving meditation on art and the cost of reproduction, Asparagus remains, 25 years after its release, a benchmark of single frame intensity.

"...the extraordinary Asparagus, one of the most lavish and wondrous animated shorts ever made, an overwhelming visual experience." – John Cannemaker

Suzan Pitt: Persistence of Vision
World Premiere, (2006, 28 min., DigiBeta) by Blue Kraning and Laura Kraning.

Pitt's films, which have been called "visual poems," have stunned audiences with their rich beauty and surreal storytelling. This documentary explores the inspirations, journeys, and creative expression from which her films have evolved throughout her career. Suzan Pitt: Persistence of Vision depicts the visionary world of an independent artist. It explores Pitt's synthesis of hand-painted images with other experimental techniques such as scratch-on-film, cut-out and sand animation, which infuse her work with visceral qualities unique in the world of animation. For more: www.artillerypictures.com.

Pitt's paintings and animated films have won numerous prizes worldwide. Her film Asparagus showed with David Lynch's Eraserhead for two years on the Midnight Movie circuit. Shown in more than 20 film festivals worldwide, it won first prize at the Atlanta Film Festival and the Oberhausen Short Film Festival along with the International Critic's Prize. Joy Street premiered at the New York Film Festival and was in competition at the Sundance Film Festival, and won Best Short Film at the Naples Film Festival and the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival.

Pitt's works have pushed the boundaries of the animated film form, thriving in the art world as well as television, theatrical and festival venues. She has had major exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of Art, the Holly Solomon Gallery in New York, and the Stedlijk Museum in Amsterdam. In Germany, she designed the first two operas to include animated images for the stage (Damnation of Faust, and The Magic Flute). In addition, Pitt has created two large multi-media shows at the Venice Biennale and Harvard University.

Pitt is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholar Award, three National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and a Rockefeller Fellowship. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Walker Art Center, The Museum of Modern Art and the Filmmuseum in Amsterdam. Her films have been broadcast on PBS, The Sundance Channel, Showtime, Channel Four in England, and PayTV in Germany. Pitt teaches in the School of Film/Video at the California Institute of the Arts. Website: home.earthlink.net/~suzanpitt/

Filmography (as director/producer only):
El Doctor (2006); Troubles The Cat (1996, TV); Joy Street (1995); Colors/Colores (1995, TV); Bam Video (1990); The Damnation Of Faust (1988, opera film); Surf Or Die (1987, MTV); Asparagus (1979); Jefferson Circus Songs (1973); Whitney Commercial (1973); Cels (1972); A City Trip (1972); Crocus (1971); Bowl, Theatre, Garden, Marble (1970)