In 2004, a friend gave me the heads up that there was a basement full of stuff being thrown out from a vacating business in Rochester, NY. I dug through stacks of moldy boxes, and discovered thousands of beautiful color photographic slides taken around the world in the 1960s. Amongst them, in the bottom of one box, was a Super8mm reel containing the footage you see here. While projecting it the first time, I immediately thought of the work of filmmakers Peter Delpeut and Bill Morrison, whose films have captured the beauty in the organic decay of nitrate motion picture film. However, I had never before seen decomposing acetate footage quite like what was on this reel. The color layers were beautifully effected, and the cyclical nature of the organic decomp nicely complemented the machinic orbits of the carnival rides. The owner of the film and location of the carnival remain unidentified.