About

Kirsten Larvick's practice delves into the intricate connections between past and present. By engaging independent filmmakers to consider their previous work, she lends her archival expertise to preserve, curate, and exhibit motion picture history. This endeavor aims to expand and diversify an accessible cinematic catalog. Furthermore, She navigates these temporal relationships through her own documentary making.

As a member of New York Women in Film & Television, Kirsten co-chairs its Women’s Film Preservation Fund and serves on its Grants Selection Committee. The WFPF is the only program in the world that works to preserve the cultural legacy of women in the motion picture industry through film preservation. This experience eventually led Kirsten to found the Al Larvick Fund.

Currently, she is the Director of Special Projects at IndieCollect, and an independent producer of film restorations. IndieCollect was founded to save independent film — to ensure the films remain discoverable and watchable today and in the future. Recent 4K restoration as an autonomous producer include, ONE HAND DON’T CLAP (1988), WILD AT ART (1995), and BUILDING BOMBS (1990).

Documentary credits for new work range from research, producing and editorial roles on features, THE BARISTAS VS THE BILLIONAIRE; LOOK AT US NOW, MOTHER!; BETTIE PAGE REVEALS ALL; SINGERS IN THE BAND; YOUNG LAKOTA among others. Kirsten's own creative ventures are also rooted in nonfiction storytelling. Her projects mine archival materials such as analog film and video, ephemera and memorabilia. Through these mediums, she traverses themes of time, memory, identity, heritage, myth, and mortality.

Curatorial efforts encompass programming at institutions such as Anthology Film Archives; City Reliquary Museum; Metrograph; the Museum of Modern Art; UnionDocs, Center for Documentary Art, New York; Barbican, London, UK. Kirsten has produced film and mixed media exhibitions and preservation events at many regional libraries, museums, archives, historical societies and community centers across the United States. 

Since 2022, she has served on the board of directors for UnionDocs, Center for Documentary Art. UnionDocs presents, produces, publishes, and educates. The organization leads a diverse community on a search for urgent expressions of the human experience, practical perspectives on the world today, and compelling visions for the future.

Additionally, Kirsten has participated as a panelist in the Individual Artist Program in Film, Media & New Technology for New York State Council of the Arts for two three-year terms.

#regionalfilmmaking #womeninfilm #documentaryarts #archivalarts #archives #preservation #handmadecinema #feminism #communicationstudies #culturalstudies #anthropology #archeology #psychology

 

Modern Art Museum (MAM Rio) | Building Bombs Restoration World Premiere, Uranium Film Festival, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

MoMA PS1 | Wild at Art Pacita Abad exhibit & tour, New York, NY, USA

Brooklyn Academy of Music | One Hand Don’t Clap theatrical run, Brooklyn, NY, USA

Metropolitan Archivist | Community Testimony: Gathering Veteran Performer Histories During a Pandemic It’s So Over/We’re So Back Winter 2024 issue

Archival Methods | Home Movies: A Window in Every Frame

Anthology Film Archives | Chronicling & Creating: Home Movies & Hobbyist Filmmaking, New York, NY, USA

The City Reliquary Museum | The Latin Quarter Revue: Behind the Curtain exhibit, Brooklyn, NY, USA.

Cinema Rediscovered | One Hand Don’t Clap UK Restoration Premiere, festival & UK tour

Walker Art Center | Wild at Art Pacita Abad exhibit & tour, US Restoration Premiere, USA

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) | One Hand Don’t Clap World Premiere, To Save & Project Film Festival, New York, NY, USA

Metropolitan Archivist | Home Movies for the Queer Community Participant | Observer Winter 2021 issue

Kino Lorber | Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers box set

Sheila Paige Films | Rescuing Cinema on the Margins film collection study guide

John Hemmer Archive | History of An Era