Directed by Ernie Gehr
I was very fortunate to see Serene Velocity in the theater many years ago (on a double bill with Michael Snow’s La Région Centrale!). The 23-minute film remains unreleased on home video. There are ten-minute and fifteen-minute excerpts on YouTube. A 16mm print can be rented from Canyon Cinema.
October 6, 2023 Update: Mr. Benjamin Wilson has found a 23-minute version of Serene Velocity on YouTube.
Apparently Mr. Gehr shot the film on 16mm at 24 frames per second, but wanted it projected at 16 fps. The slower projection speed results in the 23-minute length. In America’s Film Legacy, Daniel Eagan confirms a running time of 23 minutes at 16 fps and 15 minutes at 24 fps (p. 670). This suggests that the 15-minute version on YouTube is not an excerpt after all, but the complete film, projected at 24 fps. Multiple sources point out that, by the film’s conclusion, sunlight can be seen through the doors at the end of the hallway. This is true in each of the three versions available online, supporting the idea that the 15-minute version is the complete film. (The 10-minute version does seem to be missing much of the beginning of the film.)
According to the uploader of the version Mr. Wilson discovered online, it is the same as the 15-minute version, just slowed down to the official, 23-minute running time. My deepest thanks to Mr. Wilson for his relentless sleuthing.
Mr. Gehr’s films are sadly unavailable on any home video formats. So many great experimental filmmakers’ work has been released in definitive home video versions. Let’s hope Gehr’s output joins that distinguished list soon and settles this thorny question.