Spotlight: ‘Decasia’ to be shown Wednesday

More than a decade ago, New York filmmaker Michael Morrison took footage from old, decaying silent movies, edited them together, and added a new score by composer Michael Gordon. The resulting film, 2002’s “Decasia: The State of Decay” will be screened in Spokane this week as part of the Create Spokane arts celebration.

The film contains images from at least two identifiable movies, “The Last Egyptian” (1914), based on an L. Frank Baum novel and directed by J. Farrell MacDonald, and “Truthful Tulliver” (1916), directed by and starring William S. Hart.

As the New York Times noted in a 2012 article about the film’s DVD release, “Some images seem to flake away; some blossom into glowing effects that suggest the solarization that was a popular technique for evoking the psychedelic experience of the ’60s; others suffer distortions like those of a fun-house mirror; still others seem to be invaded by swelling masses of bacteria, like something you would observe in a petri dish.”

The film was the first produced in the 21st century to be earmarked for preservation by the National Film Registry. It will be shown beginning at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Big Dipper, 171 S. Washington St. Admission is a suggested donation of $5, with proceeds to benefit the Spokane International Film Festival The event is presented by SpIFF, Icarus Films and the Spokane Film Project. For more information, check out the “Decasia” event page on Facebook.

Arts month wrap up

Speaking of Create Spokane, the monthlong arts celebration will conclude on Oct. 30 with a costume ball/arts awards ceremony.

Awards will be given in the categories of leadership, collaboration, imagination and inclusion. Nominees include writers Sharma Shields and Sam Ligon, musicians Marshall McLean and Zuill Bailey, artists Melissa Cole and Melinda Melvin, and the arts organizations First Night Spokane and Ink Art Space.

Ticket are $25 and available through the Create Spokane website, www.createspokane.com. The fun will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Davenport Hotel’s Marie Antoinette Ballroom, 10 S. Post St.