UCF film professor sees success with experimental film

UCF film professor Christopher Harris is enjoying some hard-earned success.

His film "28.IV.81 (Bedouin Spark)" has been selected to screen at the 39th International Film Festival Rotterdam, which runs Jan. 27 through Feb. 7 in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Harris has been working at UCF since 2001, mainly teaching cinema studies classes but occasionally teaching film history and theory classes.

Harris was a student at Northwestern University, where he took some film classes and became interested in film. He went on to graduate school at the Art Institute of Chicago, one of the top art schools in the country.

Harris' work explores some experimental topics, such as post-industrial urban landscapes, black outlaws, the cosmic consequences of the sun's collapse and a child's night-light.

His films have been screened at festivals, museums and cinemas in the U.S. and Europe, including the Leeds International Film Festival.

Thomas Hurter, the marketing and communication relations specialist within the UCF film department, said it is an honor to work with Harris.

"Students really respond well to Chris," Hurter said. "He has introduced students to experimental film, and now students are working with this new genre before they graduate."

This will be Harris' third screening at the festival. His other appearances were "Reckless Eyeballing" in 2005 and "Sunshine State (Extended Forecast)" in 2008.

During the festival, many filmmakers and other artists will present their work to audiences in 24 screening venues.

"This is one of the larger festivals in Europe," Harris said. "It is an important venue for experimental films, which is nice for me."

Harris newest film is the first in a series called "The Angle of Dust." The series is dedicated to poet Nathaniel Mackey, who was born in Miami.

Harris said he was influenced by Mackey's "Bedouin Hornbook," a composition that uses poetic imagery to describe how musicians express themselves and culture in a larger sense. Mackey's novel was written in a form of letters, and each chapter is titled with a date of a letter.

Harris' film is based on the "April 28th 1981" chapter, the inspiration behind Harris' title. Each film title of the series will be based on a chapter, without going in any particular order.

"Light is used as part of the imagery to describe music in the novel, and as a parallel to that, my film experiments with the use of light," Harris said. Harris said Bedouin Spark refers to something that "is seen but never caught."

Harris hopes "28.IV.81 (Bedouin Spark)" will be meaningful to viewers.

"I hope it causes someone to give something to the world, not take from it," he said.