About

LIGHT CONE is a nonprofit organization whose aim is the distribution, promotion and preservation of experimental cinema in France and around the world. LIGHT CONE's primary mission is the distribution of the works in its collection, in their original format whenever possible, to cultural organizations such as nonprofits, cinemas, museums, universities, galleries and festivals. To fulfill this mission, LIGHT CONE operates as a filmmakers' cooperative, guaranteeing to the authors (or the rights-holders) the ownership of both the physical copies and the moral rights of the distributed works. Each year, LIGHT CONE organizes the Preview Show -- a series of screenings intended to present newly acquired works to an audience of professional curators. LIGHT CONE also promotes experimental cinema through the programming of regular screenings in Paris (notably as part of the SCRATCH series), as well as through publications and curatorial collaborations, both in France and abroad. Programmers regularly consult its holdings, and many partnerships with cinema and arts institutions are thus secured. These partnerships result in periodic co-publications. LIGHT CONE's Documentation Center offers a unique collection of written and audiovisual documents for consultation by researchers and programmers. With the addition, in 1999, of the Experimental Film Archive of Avignon (AFEA), the Documentation Center includes over 6,000 print documents (books, periodicals, catalogues), more than 15,000 audiovisual documents (digital files, DVDs, Blu-Rays, audio and video tapes...) and 1250 thematic records (biographical and institutional files). Since 2015, LIGHT CONE Editions publishes ebooks on certain filmmakers in the collection. Currently available are Rose by Rose Lowder, Robert Breer: A to Z, What is cinéma? by Germaine Dulac and L'Émulsion fantastique : Le cinéma selon Cécile Fontaine by yann beauvais. Print publications of Robert Breer, A to Z, What is cinéma? by Germaine Dulac and L'Émulsion fantastique : Le cinéma selon Cécile Fontaine by yann beauvais, Nous sommes d'accord avec tout ce qui a lutté et lutte encore depuis le début du monde by Nicole Brenez, Expanded Nature - Écologies du cinéma expérimental (ed. Elio Della Noce et Lucas Murari), Scrapbook - 40 ans de Light Cone (ed. Federico Rossin), Snaturamenti by Flatform (dir. Giuliana Prucca, co-edition with AVARIE) are also available. LIGHT CONE also undertakes actions to preserve film works through numerous digitization projects (having been in charge of the large digitization project for the 24/25 web portal in 2011), as well as a digitization program financed by a grant from the National Center of Cinematography (for the films of Patrick Bokanowski, Germaine Dulac, Maurice Lemaître and Rose Lowder). LIGHT CONE has taken the initiative to propose an agreement with the Cinémathèque Française regarding the preservation of original negatives. In 2014, LIGHT CONE received the support of the region Ile-de-France as part of the program Fabrique de Cultures to create a residency program for the post-production of experimental video-based works. The Atelier 105 is open to all experimental filmmakers, whether or not they are members of the organization. A specially equipped workspace in LIGHT CONE's premises, including an editing station, sound mixing software, a color-correction monitor and computers dedicated to file encoding and DCP creation, is made available to the artists.

Films

Phytophonics (2026)

DISTRIBUTION