ISAAC   SHERMAN


News
Music
Film + Video
Info
a shifting pattern 

               

16mm, 6 min, 2024


A collected geography of local flowers; appearing, disappearing, reappearing. Afterimage becomes before-image, physiology and pathology at play. An ode to the neighborhood, an entrapment that offers small moments for escape. The will to walk aimlessly is rejuvenated as stasis turns to movement and back again.


Music credits:
Nicole McCabe ..... saxophone
Alex Babbitt .......... flute
Isaac Sherman ...... synthesizers, composition


Please note: This film contains strobing images. The afterimage effect in this film is drastically improved when viewed in a very dark room. 


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


“Across the first minute of Isaac Sherman's “a shifting pattern”, brief filmic phrases - close views of flowers and buds. each between 1 and 5 frames - appear at irregular intervals, generally in the range of every two seconds, as the soundtrack hums with outdoor ambience. A single, quick synth tone signals a turn: the montage accelerates, drawing the Markopoulos-style opening into outright flicker (Sherman continues to make precise use of black frames. creating a dense composition of afterimages, layered and fugal), as saxophone and flute join the synthesizer and field recordings in a similarly accumulative arc that moves from sparse 3-note phrases into a full arrangement which sounds like the record Laurie Spiegel never released on Mego. The botanical world is among the more common subjects for the flicker film, but when matched with the witty sense of fleeting pleasure imbued by the soundtrack, Sherman's sumptuous and extravagant floral still lives - with their deft handling of light and shadow, of contrasts in color and scale - feel appropriately fresh.” 

-Phil Coldiron (Prismatic Ground 2024)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SCREENINGS

2025
  • Zumzeig - Barcelona [Light Matter touring program] 
  • Xanadu - Berlin [Light Matter touring program]
  • Cinemateca Nacional - Quito, Ecuador [Light Matter touring program]
  • Whammy - Los Angeles, CA [Light Matter touring program]
  • Light Field - San Francisco, CA
  • Wide Open Experimental Film Festival - Oklahoma     City, OK
  • Ann Arbor Film Festival - Ann Arbor, MI

2024
  • Light Matter Film Festival - Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Flat Earth Film Festival - Seyðisfjörður, Iceland
  • non-syntax - Taipei, Taiwan 
  • Transient Visions - Binghamton, NY
  • Engauge FF  - Seattle, WA
  • Chicago Underground Film Festival - Chicago, IL
  • Peripheries Film Festival - Chicago, IL
  • Bogotá Experimental Film Festival - Bogotá, Colombia
  • Moviate Film Festival - Harrisburg, PA
  • Prismatic Ground - NYC




AWARDS

2025
  • Ann Arbor Film Festival - Leon Speakers Award for Best Sound Design 





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~