A Retrospective of David Lebrun films, made from the 1960s through 2024, will be presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive at the Hammer Museum (Billy Wilder Theater) on Nov 23-24. The weekend of screenings includes the premiere of the Academy Film Archive’s new restoration of Sanctus (1966) and a special selection of works from Lebrun’s latest museum installation project Transfigurations: Reanimating the Past, which employs innovative digital animation techniques to explore the evolution of fundamental artistic forms and symbols from the Paleolithic through the late Middle Ages.

Recent events include an exhibition, a workshop and an outdoor screening! In August, the Transfigurations: Tlatilco Figurines animation was installed in the
Echoes of Eternity, Mastery of Meosamerican Art exhibition at the University of Texas Permian Basin. On Sept 24th, David Lebrun gave a workshop on animation tools and techniques as part of the NFTuesdays, Digital Artist series in Los Angeles. And on Sept. 28th, the Transfigurations: Hoysalasvera Temple animation was projected 20 feet tall in an outdoor screening at the Ladies of Courage Film Festival in West Hollywood.

In June 2024, we traveled to Armenia to photograph over 200 khachkars (cross-stones), at 25 locations across the country. David Lebrun and Alex Hager, seen here lighting and photographing khachkars in Hovhannavank, are now working with these photographs to create an animation for the Transfigurations: Reanimating the Past immersive exhibition project. Transfigurations animations give viewers new ways of experiencing ancient art. Through installations of glowing and changing forms, viewers explore representations of our bodies, of the visible world around us, and of the invisible worlds of belief and cosmology.

The Museum of the Moving Image in New York presents a 3-program screening event titled David Lebrun: Looking Back, Moving Forward, a retrospective of his work featuring films from 1966 – 2024. The final program is a selection of films from David’s current Transfigurations exhibition project, and includes a Q&A with critic and author Lawrence Weschler. This screening series is April 19-20, 2024.

Shiva Nataraja and Vishnu sculptures come to life in Transfigurations animations at the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, September 2022 – May 2023. Presented on large 4K screens, and with a score by Yuval Ron, viewers can immerse themselves in the power of these objects. Visitors explore the meaning of these objects through interactive kiosks, a related dance performance, and public programs.

45 Paleolithic Handaxes, an animation from the immersive exhibition project Transfigurations: Reanimating the Past, premieres at the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, September 2021 – July 2022. Presented on a large 4K screen, and with a score by Yuval Ron, the installation allows visitors to experience these ancient artifacts in a unique and powerful way.

Ann Magnuson and Adam Dugas “Dueling Harps” at CalArts REDCAT

REDCAT Theatre at Disney Hall is hosting an evening of David Lebrun short films on Friday, December 13, 2019. Most of the films are world premieres, including from David’s new immersive exhibition project Transfigurations. Here’s a link for info and tickets:

https://www.redcat.org/events/reanimating-ancient-worlds-short-films-david-lebrun

The Hog Farm Movie, filmed by David Lebrun in 1968 is finally released on iTunes! Check out the review in High Times magazine: “An assemblage of nonlinear storytelling, the film is equal parts historical record, home movie, and surrealist fantasy…”

Originally filmed on 16mm, it has been fully restored in digital HD.

The Riverside Art Museum hosts the premiere of our Tlatilco figurines animation in conjunction with their exhibition Uncovering Ancient Mexico. The animation, juxtaposed with actual ceramic objects on loan from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, will be on display from February to December 2018.

Out of the Maya Tombs is now available from Documentary Educational Resources. This institutionally licensed 2-DVD package includes the 96 min. director’s cut and an abridged 54 min. version. Also exclusively in this set are 9 bonus short films including a look at the remarkable and often dangerous career of explorer Ian Graham, the story from smuggler Lee Moore of looting a temple facade, and the complexities faced by curators in addressing UNESCO accords.