We are thrilled to present the Ottawa premiere of this kinetic, kaleidoscopic collection of recently restored films by legendary artist, surrealist, and ground-breaking photographer, Man Ray, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his jaw-dropping filmmaking debut in 1923, Return to Reason. His astonishing work both explodes and reconstructs cinema as a medium of abstract expression. “What emerges from this program—which combines Return to Reason with several other kindred and newly restored early films by Ray, set to haunting and hypnotic new music by SQÜRL [consisting of American indie filmmaking legend, Jim Jarmusch, and Carter Logan]—is the sense of Ray as perhaps the modern artist par excellence, a determined experimentalist absolutely committed to delving ever deeper into the space between consciousness and unconsciousness, sense and nonsense, wakefulness and dreaming.” (Janus Films). 

- Tom McSorley

The restoration process was led by Womanray and Cinenovo sourcing original prints from various parts of the world, in partnership with La Cinémathèque française, the Centre Pompidou, the Library of Congress, the CNC (France), and the Cineteca di Bologna.