Pat O'Neill is an independent experimental filmmaker and artist who has also worked in the special effects industry. Although his work embraces an extremely wide technical and aesthetic scope, he is perhaps best known for his startling, surrealistic, and humorous film compositions achieved through a mastery of the optical printer

Optical printer

An optical printer is a device consisting of one or more film projectors mechanically linked to a movie camera. It allows filmmakers to re-photograph one or more strips of film...

. His films and other artworks often reveal a complex and mysterious interest in the connections and clashes between the natural world and human civilization. O'Neill has also produced a prodigious body of work in drawing, collage, sculpture, installation, and many other media.

His early 16mm films include Runs Good (1970), Easyout (1971), and Down Wind (1973). His later 35mm films include Water and Power (1989), Trouble In The Image (1996), and The Decay of Fiction (2002). On December 30, 2008, Water and Power was added to the National Film Registry

National Film Registry

The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...

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Prints of O'Neill's films are held in numerous archives and museums around the world, and his complete collection resides at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Film Archive

Academy Film Archive

The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of motion picture history...

, where several of his short works have been preserved. In 2009, Water and Power was preserved by the Academy in collaboration with O'Neill.


He has also taught at the California Institute of the Arts

California Institute of the Arts

The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...

. He influenced a generation of CalArts students, who include Adam Beckett

Adam Beckett

Adam Beckett was an animator, special effects artist and teacher, most notable for his work on Star Wars.-Work:...

, Robert Blalack, Chris Casady, and Larry Cuba

Larry Cuba

Larry Cuba is a computer-animation artist who became active in the late 1970s and early 80s.Born in 1950 in Atlanta, Georgia, he received A.B. from Washington University in St. Louis in 1972 and his Master's Degree from California Institute of the Arts which includes parallel schools of Dance,...

, who all later went on to work on the special effects of the original Star Wars

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...

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Filmography

• By the Sea (with Robert Abel) (1963)
• Bump City (1964)
• 7362 (1965–67)
• Coming Down (aka Heresy) (1968) (promo film for The United States of America
  The United States of America (band)
  The United States of America was an American experimental rock and psychedelic band whose works are an example of early electronic music in rock and roll.-History:...
  
  )
• Screen (1969)
• Runs Good (1970)
• Easyout (1972)
• The Last of the Persimmons (1972)
• Down Wind (1973)
• Saugus Series (1974)
• Sidewinder's Delta (1976)
• Foregrounds (1978)
• Sleeping Dogs (Never Lie) (1978)
• Two Sweeps (1979)
• Let's Make a Sandwich (1978-82)
• Water and Power (1989)
• Trouble in the Image (1996)
• Coreopsis (1998)
• Squirtgun Step Print (1998)
• The Decay of Fiction (2002)
• Horizontal Boundaries (2008)
• I Put Out my Hands (2009)
• I Open the Window (2009)
• Starting to go Bad (2009)

External links

• Official website
• http://canyoncinema.com/catalog/filmmaker/?i=231
• http://www.rosamundfelsen.com/oneill/index.php