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 ...
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.
Movies (Cast)
Sonic Youth: Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui (April 12, 2003)
Dog Star Man: Part II
Song 1
Tortured Dust
Dog Star Man
Cannibal! The Musical
Garden Path
Dog Star Man: Part III
Prelude: Dog Star Man
The One Romantic Venture of Edward
Dog Star Man: Part IV
Cat's Cradle
Dog Star Man: Part I
Flesh of Morning
Faust's Other: An Idyll
Stan & Jane Brakhage
Trumpit
The Extraordinary Child
I... Dreaming
Wedlock House: An Intercourse
Series (Cast)
Directed
Dog Star Man: Part I
Glaze of Cathexis
Cat's Cradle
Mothlight
Eye Myth
The Wold-Shadow
Faust's Other: An Idyll
Study in Color and Black and White
Scenes from Under Childhood, Section One
Desistfilm
Wedlock House: An Intercourse
The Garden of Earthly Delights
Kindering
I... Dreaming
The Dante Quartet
Night Music
Rage Net
Untitled (For Marilyn)
Black Ice
Stellar
Crack Glass Eulogy
The Dark Tower
Comingled Containers
Lovesong
Unglassed Windows Cast a Terrible Reflection
Prelude: Dog Star Man
The Process
The God of Day Had Gone Down Upon Him
The Way to Shadow Garden
Dog Star Man: Part II
Blue Moses
Dog Star Man: Part III
Dog Star Man: Part IV
Autumnal
From: First Hymn to the Night – Novalis
Chinese Series
Two: Creeley/McClure
The Machine of Eden
Burial Path
Sirius Remembered
The Dead
Reflections on Black
Boulder Blues and Pearls and...
Flesh of Morning
The Riddle of Lumen
Three Homerics
Ephemeral Solidity
Pasht
Fire of Waters
The Extraordinary Child
Interim
Song 1
Song 2
Song 3
Song 4
Song 6
Song 7
Song 8
Song 10
Song 9
Song 11
Song 12
Song 13
Song 14
Naughts
Elementary Phrases
Murder Psalm
Creation
The Weir-Falcon Saga
Mr. Tompkins Inside Himself
Deus Ex
Desert
The Domain of the Moment
Visions in Meditation #1
I Take These Truths
Eyes
Star Garden
Duplicity III
Visions in Meditation #2: Mesa Verde
Visions in Meditation #4: D.H. Lawrence
Arabic Numeral Series 12
Unconscious London Strata
The Cat of the Worm's Green Realm
Yggdrasill: Whose Roots Are Stars in the Human Mind
"..." Reel 5
Western History
Sexual Meditation: Room with View
Sexual Meditation: Hotel
The Animals of Eden and After
Sincerity I
Lovemaking
Three Films: Blue White/Blood's Tone/Vein
Scenes from Under Childhood, Section Two
Scenes from Under Childhood, Section Three
Scenes from Under Childhood, Section Four
Skein
Sexual Meditation: Open Field
Roman Numeral: II
Max
Water for Maya
Song 16
Song 17
Song 18
Song 19
Song 20
Song 21
Song 22
Song 24
Song 25
Song 26
Song 28
Song 29
15 Song Traits
My Mountain: Song 27
My Mtn. Song 27 Part II: Rivers
American 30s Song
Loud Visual Noises
The Harrowing
Tryst Haunt
Sexual Meditation: Faun's Room, Yale
Sexual Meditation: Office Suite
Garden Path
Persian Series #6
Persian Series #7
Persian Series #8
Persian Series #9
Persian Series #10
Persian Series #11
Persian Series #12
Egyptian Series
Persian Series #13
Persian Series #14
Persian Series #15
Persian Series #16
Persian Series #17
Persian Series #18
Seasons...
Eye Myth Educational
Chartres Series
Panels for the Walls of Heaven
Prelude 1
Prelude 2
Prelude 3
Prelude 4
Prelude 5
Prelude 6
Prelude 7
Prelude 8
Prelude 9
Prelude 10
Prelude 11
Prelude 12
Prelude 13
Prelude 14
Coupling
Persian Series #1
Persian Series #2
Persian Series #3
Persian Series #4
Roman Numeral: I
Persian Series #5
Colorado Legend
"..." Reel 3
The Governor
Arabic Numeral Series 1
Arabic Numeral Series 2
Arabic Numeral Series 3
Arabic Numeral Series 4
Arabic Numeral Series 5
Arabic Numeral Series 6
Arabic Numeral Series 7
Arabic Numeral Series 8
Arabic Numeral Series 9
Arabic Numeral Series 0 + 10
Arabic Numeral Series 11
Arabic Numeral Series 13
Arabic Numeral Series 14
Arabic Numeral Series 15
Arabic Numeral Series 16
Arabic Numeral Series 17
Arabic Numeral Series 18
Arabic Numeral Series 19
23rd Psalm Branch: Part I
Passage Through: A Ritual
I...
23rd Psalm Branch: Part II
Prelude 15
Prelude 16
Prelude 17
Prelude 18
Prelude 19
Prelude 20
Prelude 21
Prelude 22
Prelude 23
Prelude 24
By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume One
By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume Two
The Loom
Micro Garden
Centre
Sincerity V
Faustfilm: An Opera
Faust 3: Candida Albacore
For Life, Against the War
Tortured Dust
Alternating Currents
Fireloop
“He was born, he suffered, he died.”
Sincerity II
Airs
Sincerity III
Duplicity I
RR
The "Lost" Films
Earthen Aerie
Concrescence
Beautiful Funerals
"..." Reel 1
"..." Reel 4
"..." Reel 2
Short Films 1975: #9 (Forest Love Scene)
Short Films 1975: #10 (Painted Lightning)
Lovesong 2
Dog Star Man
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