William Moritz

While at university, William Moritz discovered the work of the painter and filmmaker Oskar Fischinger, to whom he devoted 34 years of research, culminating in the publication of the book Optical Poetry: The Life and Work of Oskar Fischinger (2004). Moritz’s main speciality as a historian was visual music and experimental animation, about which he wrote over 100 articles.

Moritz taught Film History and Humanities at Occidental College, the Otis Art Institute, Pitzer College, UCLA and CalArts. He programmed screenings at the Theatre Vanguard, Los Angeles Film-Makers’ Cooperative and Los Angeles Film Oasis, and was a member of the Visual Music Alliance, President of the Society for Animation Studies and founder of the Center for Visual Music.

As a filmmaker, Moritz made 34 films between 1961 and 1999, addressing such varied themes, ideas and elements as the materiality of film, environmental artworks, audiovisual means of persuasion and the formation of sexually dissident affective communities.