Amy Halpern (1953–2022) is cherished not only for her memorable and beautiful films, but also for her inexhaustible engagement and enthusiasm as a devoted presence in the Los Angeles film and arts community. She had a profound curiosity about nearly everything and everyone she encountered, and her extensive body of film work reflects this passion for the sights, sounds, textures, and complex connections to be found and explored in the world around us. 

This eclectic program includes an intricate sampling of Amy Halpern’s films spanning multiple decades, including several LA premieres drawn from the final batch of new 16mm films she released in June 2022. The title, Unowned Luxuries, not only derives from a small series of short films she authored (two of which are featured in this program), but could be understood as defining a larger philosophical approach Halpern took to her filmmaking practice. Many of her films take the form of loving and attentive appreciations of people, animals, places, things, and experiences that she related to as “luxuries” for her to hold, treasure, and share, and yet which retain their essential autonomous qualities to resist complete capture, remaining “unowned” despite also being Halpern’s (and ours) to behold and delight in. 

Two additional programs of her films will also be presented at LA Filmforum (April 2) and the UCLA Film & Television Archive (April 16).