Nostalgia (Frampton film)



(nostalgia) is a 38-minute 1971 film by artist Hollis Frampton (1936–1984). The film is composed of still black-and-white photographs taken by Frampton during his early artistic explorations which are slowly burned on the element of a hot plate, while the soundtrack offers personal comments on the content of the images, read by fellow artist Michael Snow. Each comment/story is heard in succession before the related photograph appears onscreen, thus causing the viewer to actively engage with the 'past' and 'present' moments as presented within the film.

The Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington described it (along with Film Portrait by Jerome Hill) as "avant-garde classics considered eloquent and evocative explorations of memory and family".

In 2003, (nostalgia) was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It is available on the DVD collection Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film, 1947-1986 (2008), as well as in a Hollis Frampton box set from The Criterion Collection "A Hollis Frampton Odyssey" (2012).