Stan Brakhage is one of the most influential filmmakers in American avant-garde cinema, noted for his unflinching social commentaries and technical innovations. Over his nearly 40-year career, he has made over 200 films of varying length. He made his first film, Interim (1952) at age 18 after dropping out of college. Brakhage films seek to change the way we see. They encourage viewers to eschew traditional narrative structure in favor of pure visual perception that is not reliant on naming what is seen; rather his goal is to create a more visceral visual experience, for he believes that a "stream-of visual-consciousness could be nothing less than the pathway of the soul." To this end, his films are shot in highly sensual colors and utilize minimal soundtracks.
Stan Brakhage is one of the most influential filmmakers in American avant-garde cinema, noted for his unflinching social commentaries and technical innovations. Over his nearly 40-year career, he has made over 200 films of varying length. He made his first film, Interim (1952) at age 18 after dropping out of college. Brakhage films seek to change the way we see. They encourage viewers to eschew traditional narrative structure in favor of pure visual perception that is not reliant on naming what is seen; rather his goal is to create a more visceral visual experience, for he believes that a "stream-of visual-consciousness could be nothing less than the pathway of the soul." To this end, his films are shot in highly sensual colors and utilize minimal soundtracks.
His work can be divided into distinct periods. His first short films explored the properties and possibilities of light. In many of his experimental ventures, Brakhage has forgone traditional cinematography in favor of working directly with the film stock itself. He has occasionally painted, inked, scratched and dyed images onto it; he has also tried pasting organic objects on the film. His most famous example is the 1963 short Mothlight in which he glued moth wings onto the stock. Some of his early films were based on his most intimate experiences that included making love to his new bride--depicted on negative film--in Wedlock House: An Intercourse (1959), and an attempt to bring his dead dog back to life with a camera in Sirius Remembered (1959). During the 1960s, Brakhage's iconoclastic views were celebrated for their poetry, but during the '70s, his focus changed to social issues and he alienated many supporters with such disturbing film series as the "Pittsburgh documents" in which he presented many gruesome views of inner city life with films such as Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (1971) which was shot in a morgue. He also continued with autobiographical material with the "Sincerity/Duplicity series. During the 1980s, Brakhage's focus again changed--this time he became intrigued with creating truly "abstract" films such as Arabics (1982) which consists of brilliant bursts of colored light which he claims, represent "envisioned music." In addition to filmmaking, Brakhage also wrote books about films and filmmaking and also served as a teacher.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0104132
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q698676
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Filmography (Movies)
Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages
Character:
Release Date:21/09/2022
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
Character:Himself
Release Date:24/07/2011
For Stan
Character:Himself
Release Date:07/04/2009
Dinner with Brakhage and Gamow
Character:
Release Date:06/12/2008
Brakhage Crosses Central Park
Character:Self
Release Date:01/11/2006
A Visit to Stan Brakhage
Character:
Release Date:01/11/2006
Notes on Marie Menken
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:20/04/2006
Preserving Cultural Traditions in a Period of Instability
Character:Voice
Release Date:03/02/2004
A Visit to Stan Brakhage
Character:Himself
Release Date:03/05/2003
Sonic Youth: Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui (April 12, 2003)
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:12/04/2003
Keeping an Eye on Stan
Character:
Release Date:03/03/2003
Encomium
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/2003
Life with Stan #4: Stan Painting
Character:
Release Date:12/12/2002
Stan Brakhage Exits the Cinema and Enters the Light of Day
Character:Himself
Release Date:04/04/2002
In the Mirror of Maya Deren
Character:Himself
Release Date:15/03/2002
Vakvagany
Character:Himself
Release Date:05/03/2002
Garden Path
Character:
Release Date:09/08/2001
As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
Character:Self
Release Date:05/11/2000
Looking at Forest of Bliss
Character:Himself
Release Date:13/05/2000
Keepers of the Frame
Character:Himself
Release Date:01/03/1999
Brakhage
Character:Self
Release Date:17/09/1998
I Met Stan Brakhage (At Moma, N.Y.C)
Character:
Release Date:01/01/1998
Birth of a Nation
Character:Self
Release Date:06/08/1997
Stan Brakhage on Gregory Markopoulos
Character:
Release Date:08/07/1997
Stan Brakhage on Jim Davis
Character:
Release Date:01/06/1997
Cannibal! The Musical
Character:Noon Sr.
Release Date:30/08/1996
BRAKHAGE ON BRAKHAGE
Character:self
Release Date:01/01/1996
As Is Was
Character:
Release Date:01/01/1995
Jonas in the Desert
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1994
Abstract Cinema
Character:Himself
Release Date:24/06/1993
Z (Zee Not Zed)
Character:
Release Date:01/01/1993
Joseph Cornell: Worlds in a Box
Character:Self
Release Date:29/11/1991
Watunna
Character:Narrator
Release Date:01/01/1989
I... Dreaming
Character:
Release Date:01/10/1988
Faust's Other: An Idyll
Character:
Release Date:01/01/1988
Doodlin': Impressions Of Len Lye
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1987
Invocation: Maya Deren
Character:Himself
Release Date:24/04/1986
Reflecting Thought: Stan Brakhage
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1985
Tortured Dust
Character:
Release Date:13/04/1984
Stan & Jane Brakhage
Character:Self
Release Date:31/03/1981
Grand Opera: An Historical Romance
Character:Himself (voice)
Release Date:15/03/1979
The Stars Are Beautiful
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:19/11/1974
Notes on the Buffalo Conference: “Autobiography in American Independent Cinema”
Character:
Release Date:26/03/1973
Reality's Invisible
Character:Himself
Release Date:19/04/1972
Filmmakers
Character:Himself
Release Date:01/01/1969
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
Character:Self
Release Date:01/03/1968
The Art of Vision
Character:Man
Release Date:20/05/1965
Dog Star Man
Character:
Release Date:22/02/1965
Dog Star Man: Part IV
Character:
Release Date:17/11/1964
Dog Star Man: Part III
Character:
Release Date:17/11/1964
Song 1
Character:
Release Date:20/03/1964
Dog Star Man: Part I
Character:
Release Date:18/03/1963
Dog Star Man: Part II
Character:
Release Date:01/01/1963
Prelude: Dog Star Man
Character:
Release Date:15/04/1962
Window Water Baby Moving
Character:Self (uncredited)
Release Date:02/08/1959
Wedlock House: An Intercourse
Character:
Release Date:27/04/1959
Cat's Cradle
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1959
Flesh of Morning
Character:
Release Date:06/01/1956
Trumpit
Character:
Release Date:01/01/1956
The One Romantic Venture of Edward
Character:
Release Date:01/01/1956
The Extraordinary Child
Character:
Release Date:12/11/1954
Television Appearances
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