From: Marilyn Brakhage (email suppressed)
Date: Mon Mar 30 2009 - 08:31:48 PDT
Yes, it's a good idea, the traveling programs. There is occasionally
talk of people wanting to mount a major retrospective, but I agree,
that breaking that down into smaller chunks for touring would be great.
. . . Though these things always seem to take years to organize.
In the meantime, the Criterion Company has a second DVD set now in the
works, whereby a number of films -- in that form, at least -- will be
more available to people (including seven titles from the 70s).
Marilyn Brakhage
On Monday, March 30, 2009, at 02:19 AM, Ted Sonnenschein wrote:
> I thought it a credit to Brakhage that no one has yet to take this on.
> But, I also can't imagine many people have even seen even 75% of his
> output. When I was at SFAI around '90-'91, I was shocked at how
> negative so many people were towards Brakhage. I mean, viciously
> negative. Even Keith Sanborn, leading the intro class would take
> potshots. One time I recommended to Ernie Gehr that we watch
> 'Anticipation of the Night' when the film we shot for the class wasn't
> back from the lab (Gehr had asked what he thought we should do
> instead). A few from the class started to get pissed off and saying
> all this crap against Brakhage. Something I was, at that time, used to
> hearing. Gehr just smiled and decided that this was a good idea after
> all. Well, when that film ended, it shut them up. There was an air in
> the room that is hard to describe. My gut was just sore from all that
> weight. Gehr called for thoughts and impressions and looked at me. I
> had nothing to say. I don't think anyone did. I was glad to see that
> there is a new generation that seems more respectful and interested.
>
> I had recently gone to look up some information on his 70s period and
> realized then that in the dozen or so years since I looked, there
> wasn't much new out there. Still, the only thing that bothered me is
> the work isn't regularly out there to see and would I ever get to see
> much works from this period. I think more important than scholars,
> would be someone coordinating touring programs of his work, ideally
> programmed by period. Has anyone tried to do anything like this?
> Well-programmed, I think, could really get the ball rolling and
> possibly even finding people who would be into taking on the study of
> Brakhage's work. Plus, I am sure Brakhage has fans all over the world
> that could help get such a project rolling but I am sure most of the
> major film art screening houses would support such a project.
>
> Ted
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 8:23 AM, Marilyn Brakhage <email suppressed> wrote:
>
> Well, as to Mason suggesting 'his wife': Not sure which wife you're
> meaning. I am Stan Brakhage's second wife -- but, regrettably, not
> the scholar Fred describes. Nevertheless, I have several comments:
>
> 1) Bruce Elder has written an impressive book that addresses some of
> these towering ambitions (The Films of Stan Brakhage in the American
> Tradition of Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, and Charles Olson), and of
> course there are a number of others, beginning with P. Adams Sitney,
> from whom we also have important parts of this envisioned massive
> undertaking. But yes, something more, something along the lines that
> Fred describes, is definitely needed.
>
> 2) I wholeheartedly agree that "more than one person taking it on"
> would not only be fine, but probably essential.
>
> 3) Though it may be true that it's important to be gathering
> information now, while people are still around who knew Stan, I can
> also guarantee that even doing that will lead to "information" being
> "disputed at great lengths." Stan was many things to many people,
> full of apparent and sometimes rather dramatic contradictions, his
> "complicated life story" is inextricably bound to his work, other
> people have their own subjective experiences, subject to the vagaries
> of memory -- and there is already a lot of "information" floating
> around that I (for one) know to be untrue and/or would interpret quite
> differently than someone else might. Therefore (and because the sheer
> amount of information is so huge),
>
> 4) Well, to do it well would take someone who is also very brave,
> wise, comprehensive in approach, sensitive and subtle in their writing
> . . .
>
> BUT -- no need to wait for the perfect human being! Anyone who takes
> on even part of this project in good faith -- bravo!
>
> Marilyn Brakhage
>
>
>
>
> On Sunday, March 29, 2009, at 08:00 PM, Mason Shefa wrote:
>
> His wife?
>
> On Mar 28, 2009, at 1:38 PM, Fred Camper wrote:
>
> The recent talk about who is "THE" (or was that "THEE") "Brakhage
> expert" got me thinking. The world actually does not have the
> "Brakhage expert" that the scope and importance of his work
> requires. There is no "Brakhage expert" in the sense that in the
> academic community one can find, for example, Ezra Pound experts, or,
> more recently and sad (for me if not for others) to say, Bob Dylan
> experts and Madonna experts. I post this in the hope of interesting a
> young scholar, or someone else such as a film professor who might
> interest a young scholar, in taking on this role. More than one person
> taking it on would be fine too!
>
> Obviously, the expert has to be devoted, ready to spend a large part
> of her or his career on this. What's needed is someone with a deep
> interest in, love of, and understanding of both world cinema and
> Brakhage's work in particular. But since a large part of this project
> would be a working through of Brakhage's many influences and sources,
> this scholar should have deep involvements with and understandings of
> modern poetry, classical music from Bach to Webern to Messiaen, and
> Western painting. The scholar should be an avid reader, and willing
> and able to travel to various archives to track down Brakhage's
> voluminous writings, lectures, and correspondence. The scholar should
> also be an extremely fine film viewer, both open to multiple ways of
> seeing and capable of very careful observation. I envision the results
> would be both a massive critical biography and a shorter, book-length
> introduction. Several threads would be present in both: Brakhage's
> complicated life story, his artistic influences and the way they are
> reflected in his films, and examinations of the films from varied
> perspectives.
>
> Partly I write this out of regret at never having taken on this task
> myself. (For various reasons, I never felt up to it.) Obviously, a
> scholar who takes this on may have different ideas about what's
> needed; these are just my opinions. I also write out of regret at
> never having done the kind of massive, tape-recorded oral history I
> had thought of when Brakhage and some of his associates were still
> living. But many who knew and worked with him are still living, from a
> few of his high school friends to the filmmakers who helped him in the
> making of his late films. If an oral history is not done, the
> information lost will be disputed at great lengths by scholars far
> into the future -- just as scholars today are debating facts lost
> about arts from earlier centuries.
>
> Brakhage has a particular importance, due not only to the quality and
> scope of his work but to its, and his, vast influence, but there are
> many other filmmakers worthy of study in depth. Interested film
> scholars should, in my view, be devoting as much time to such
> projects, including gathering facts from living people in the present,
> as is now devoted to "theory," or to arguing about things that
> happened in 1897 that we will likely never know about for sure. Sadly,
> though, in the current climate the latter two options may be better
> career moves.
>
> Fred Camper
> Chicago
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
>
> _____________________
> Mason Shefa
> email suppressed
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________ For
> info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
>
>
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.