Every Contact Leaves a Trace (with Grazing on Images)
On Sunday, June 14, 2026, the National Gallery of Art presents a special double feature of experimental essay films: Lynne Sachs’s *Every Contact Leaves a Trace* (83 minutes) preceded by the North American premiere of Mark Street’s *Grazing on Images* (17 minutes). In *Every Contact Leaves a Trace*, Sachs selects seven business cards from the hundreds she has saved over a lifetime and sets out to reunite with the people behind them, blending personal memory with broader geopolitical histories. The diaristic short *Grazing on Images*, shot on 35mm still film and Super 8, travels from Dublin to Brooklyn and reflects on the rhapsodic quality of everyday images. Both screenings are followed by an in-person discussion with filmmakers Lynne Sachs and Mark Street. The program is presented in partnership with the DC/DOX 2026 film festival.
When: Sunday, June 14, 2026, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Venue: National Gallery of Art, East Building, East Building Large Auditorium, 6th and Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC 20565
Admission: Free, but registration is required. Register in advance on the National Gallery of Art website.
Films and Run Times: *Every Contact Leaves a Trace* (Lynne Sachs, 2025, DCP, 83 minutes) and *Grazing on Images* (Mark Street, 2025, DCP, 17 minutes). Total program run time approximately 100 minutes.
Discussion: Followed by an in-person conversation with filmmakers Lynne Sachs and Mark Street.
About the Filmmakers – Lynne Sachs: Filmmaker and poet based in Brooklyn, author of *Year By Year Poems* (2019) and coauthor of *Hand Book: A Manual on Performance, Process, and the Labor of Laundry* (2025). She has produced over 50 short and feature-length films, drawing on essay film, collage, performance, documentary, and poetry. Her work has screened at MoMA, Wexner Center, New York Film Festival, Sundance, Punto de Vista, and DocLisboa. In 2026 she received the Persistence of Vision Award from the San Francisco International Film Festival.
About the Filmmakers – Mark Street: Filmmaker and artist with over 35 years of experience creating films, videos, and installations. His work has exhibited at MoMA, the National Gallery of Art, Anthology Film Archives, Millennium Film Workshop, and San Francisco Cinematheque, and has screened at Tribeca, Sundance, Rotterdam, New York, London, Sarajevo, Viennale, Mill Valley, and SXSW. He holds a BA from Bard College and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute.
Age Restriction: Adults (the listed audience is "Adults," but no explicit age minimum is provided; children are welcome at the discretion of guardians). The program is presented in English.
Note: The event is part of the DC/DOX 2026 film festival partnership. All screenings are in-person in the East Building Large Auditorium. Admission to the National Gallery of Art is always free; the Sculpture Garden is open late until 8:00 p.m. on select nights through September 5.