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Film is called a medium, but mainstream filmmakers don’t employ it in the manner of other artistic media like oils or clay. That’s been left to art-film craftsmen like Stan Brakhage, who’s well represented in “Spirit Stream Storm: Artists’ Handmade Films,” a program of non-narrative short films. Though such entries as Bruce Posner’s Sappho and Jerry and Kurt Kren’s Falter use well-established avant-garde techniques like montage and fast-motion, many of these films are hand-worked and abstract. Sometimes zipping by at don’t-blink lengths of less than a minute, most of these works suggest Matisse or Frankenthaler more than Spielberg. At 6 p.m. at the National Gallery of Art’s East Building Auditorium, 4th & Constitution Ave. NW. FREE. (202) 737-4215. (MJ)