Secret History of the Dividing Line, A True Account in Nine Parts: Parts I–IV

In this screening, David Gatten introduces the magnum opus that has dominated his career and been called “one of the most erudite and ambitious undertakings in recent cinema” by Artforum.

The Secret History of the Dividing Line is a cycle of films centered around one of the largest and most famous libraries of colonial America, that of William Byrd II. Gatten produces glimpses into lost worlds through text, images, and biographical writings from Byrd and the melodramatic love life of his daughter Evelyn. (101 mins., 16mm)

Program List
Secret History of the Dividing Line (2002): 20 mins.
The Great Art of Knowing (2004): 37 mins.
Moxon’s Mechanick Exercises, or, The Doctrine of Handy-Works Applied to the Art of Printing (1999): 26 mins.
The Enjoyment of Reading (Lost and Found) (2001): 18 mins.

This series, organized by the Wexner Center, will tour the country throughout 2012, with stops at the National Gallery of Art, Harvard Film Archive, and various venues in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Cosponsored by Ohio State’s Rare Books and Manuscript Library