RPM FEST
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Revolutions per Minute festival (RPM) is dedicated to short-form poetic, personal, experimental
Q&A with
05/09/2026
AMERICA
FILMS BY BRIAN L. FRYE
SUNDAY, MAY 17TH · 2PM
THE BRATTLE THEATRE
Kaddish
16mm, color and b/w, sound 11 min, 2002
“Here is my covenant with you, says the Lord: My spirit that is upon you, and the words I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth or the mouths of your children or the mouths of your children’s children – the Lord says – from now through all eternity.” – Isaiah 59:21. A fragment of tinted nitrate. An acetate recording of a wedding ceremony. Echoes of the bitter sweetness of the Spirit on the tongue of Man. As Frampton tipped his hat to Gloria, so might I.
Oona’s veil
16 mm, b/w, sound, 9 min, 2002
It explores the only existing screen test of Oona O’Neill Chaplin, which Frye re-photographed, treated with chemicals, and damaged to examine the fleeting nature of her film career. The film is in the Whitney Museum of American Art permanent collection.
05/08/2026
America
Films by Brian L. Frye
Sunday, May 17th · 2PM
Across the Rappahannock
16mm, color, silent, 9mins
On December 12, 1863, General Ambrose Burnside’s Army of the Potomac engaged General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia in the town of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Before Burnside’s army could enter the town, Union engineers were forced to lay pontoon bridges across the Rappahannock River under withering fire. Close combat through the streets of Fredericksburg and multiple assaults on the Confederate army entrenched in the heights behind the town resulted in heavy Federal casualties, which forced an eventual withdrawal. In November, 2001, I attended a small and relatively informal reenactment of the battle of Fredericksburg. About a hundred men and women did their best to illustrate the actions of the thousands of young men who offered their lives a century earlier. An air of absurd theater suffused the entire event, which provided the ground for its peculiar truth. Everyone played their part exceedingly honestly and well, and left something on the film I was myself surprised to find there. - BF
America
Films by Brian L. Frye
Sunday, May 17th · 2PM
The RPM Festival presents “America,” a program featuring seven short films by Brian L. Frye on May 17th 2PM at The Brattle Theater, Cambridge, MA. The entire program will be screened on 16mm prints, showcasing films created between 1999 and 2002.
Brian L. Frye is a filmmaker, writer, and law professor whose work explores the relationships between history, society, and cinema through archival and amateur images. His films have been exhibited at prestigious venues including the Whitney Biennial, the New York Film Festival’s “Views from the Avant-Garde,” and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. His short films are held in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum and distributed by the Filmmaker’s Coop.
In addition to his filmmaking, Brian is an accomplished writer whose work has appeared in publications such as October, Film Comment, and the Village Voice. He holds a J.D. from NYU School of Law, an M.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute, and a B.A. from UC Berkeley. His current research focuses on intellectual property and charity law, with a particular emphasis on artists and arts organizations.
Brian L. Frye
Across the Rappahannock 16mm, color, silent, 9 min, 2002
The War is Beautiful in Springtime 16mm, Color, 6 min, 2002
Kaddish 16mm, color and b/w, sound, 11 min, 2002
Lachrymae 16mm, color, silent, 3min, 2000
Oona’s veil 16 mm, b/w, sound, 9 min, 2002
Robert Beck is Alive & Well 16mm, b/w. sound, 3min, 2002
The Anatomy of Melancholy 16mm, b/w, sound, 10min, 1999
The Letter 16mm, b/w, sound, 11min, 2001
Total Runtime: 65 min
Post-Screening Q&A Brian L. Frye with Brett Melican
Brattle Tickets: https://brattlefilm.org/special_events/rpm-presents-america-films-by-brian-l-frye/
05/01/2026
We would like to express our gratitude to Sarah Keller for her recent writing on the circulation of experimental films, which includes a review of the latest edition of the RPM Festival. For more details, her article can be found in the newest issue of the Millennium Film Journal (MFJ 83: Round and Round).
Additionally, please note that the regular submission deadline for RPM 27 is tonight at midnight. We look forward to receiving your work.
04/19/2026
Snapshots from the screening “for all audiences” 16mm films by Josh Weissbach
We will return to the Brattle Theatre on Sunday May 17th 2PM with
04/17/2026
Don’t miss out the screening on Sunday 2pm,
For All Audiences
16mm Films by Josh Weissbach
Sunday, April 19th · 2PM
The program handouts are available 🙌
Tickets: https://brattlefilm.org/special_events/rpm-presents-for-all-audiences-films-by-josh-weissbach/
04/14/2026
For All Audiences
Films by Josh Weissbach
Sunday, April 19th · 2PM
The Brattle Theatre
40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Post-Screening Q&A with RPM Emerging Curator: Michael Joseph
Here are some quotes from their pre-screening interview on experimental cinema, ethics and a necessity to create.
04/09/2026
For All Audiences
Films by Josh Weissbach
Sunday, April 19th · 2PM
The Brattle Theatre and RPM Festival are proud to announce a screening of 16mm films by experimental filmmaker Josh Weissbach on April 19th at 2:00 PM.
Josh’s cinematic practice explores the relationship between the intimate and the uncanny within domestic spaces, investigating the visual agency of the (un)built form and its connection to familial trauma. His work also examines natural spaces and the transfer of force within matter.
A graduate of the MFA Filmmaking program at UMW and a frequent contributor to the RPM Festival, Josh has had his work featured in the festival three times over the last decade. His films have been screened worldwide at prestigious venues including the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the Museum of the Moving Image, and the European Media Art Festival. His numerous accolades include jury prizes from Montreal Underground and Onion City, as well as grants from the LEF Foundation and the Connecticut Office of the Arts.
Josh Weissbach
For All Audiences (2018)
3 min, 16mm
106 River Road (2011)
6 min, 16mm
TAKE A PICTURE (2019)
3 min, 16mm
38 River Road (2016)
7 min, 16mm
explant / implant (2025)
3 min, 16 mm
601 Revir Drive (2017)
9 min, 16mm
summer school (2025)
3 min, 16mm
Zero Woods of the Wild Place (2023)
13 min, 16mm
Frank Stares at Celestials (2024)
1 min, 16mm
Eighteen Mill Street (2024)
14 min, 16 mm
theoria(2014)
6 min, 16 mm
Total Runtime: 68 min
Post-Screening Q&A with RPM Emerging Curator: Michael Joseph
Tickets: https://brattlefilm.org/special_events/rpm-presents-for-all-audiences-films-by-josh-weissbach/
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