Canyon Cinema and the Bay Area Film Community mourn the passing of John Carlson (1951-2021), former Vice President of Monaco Lab, and teacher of cinematography, lighting, and experimental film at City College of San Francisco and Academy of Art University.
Through his hands-on lab work with countless Bay Area filmmakers and decades of teaching, John's memory lives on in the legacy of the local experimental film community and the students and colleagues with whom he worked. A lifelong experimental film enthusiast, John regularly rented films from Canyon Cinema to screen and discuss in his classes and took students on field trips to local independent film resources and exhibition spaces such as Little Giant, Monaco Lab, Canyon Cinema Salons at New Nothing, SFMOMA film screenings, and other events to celebrate and explore the diverse local scene. John also worked closely with Bruce Baillie to digitally restore, color correct, and master his first collection of works released on DVD in three volumes via Canyon Cinema in 2008. The DVDs were re-issued twice.
Examples of John's work in color correction can be seen in the Bay Area Television Archive. Documentation of an in-class demo in John's Cinematography & Lighting class at City College of San Francisco, Spring 2018, can be found here.
At the behest of John Carlson's family, Canyon Cinema is currently accepting donations in his memory. All donations are fully tax-deductible.
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