From: Marilyn Brakhage (email suppressed)
Date: Tue Mar 31 2009 - 16:11:06 PDT
Yes, 23rd Psalm Branch will be complete. And the Visions in Meditation
Series will be complete. Other series are quite long, and if I had
included another complete series, then too much would have been left
out, as I was trying to provide a diverse selection from different
periods and types of work. . . . I consulted with a number of people
and went through many revisions before arriving at this list. These
titles, and all the rest, are still available on film, so I hope people
will continue to seek out more. The DVDs, of course, are not intended
to replace the films! They are meant to introduce more people to
Stan's work, and to provide a way for individuals so inclined to study
some of them more closely.
Marilyn
On Tuesday, March 31, 2009, at 11:27 AM, Jorge Amaro wrote:
> Dear Marilyn,
>
> That sounds fabulous! I'm just wondering if I may. Why did you decide
> not include full series? Like in the case of the Persian Series, will
> 23rd psalm branch be complete?
>
> Regards,
>
> J.
>
> 2009/3/31 Marilyn Brakhage <email suppressed>:
>> To answer the question from Marcos: The Criterion set will be DVDs,
>> but as
>> all transfers are in high definition they would be able to, and may
>> consider
>> re-releasing them in Bluray at a later date. For now, not sure of the
>> initial release date yet. We're probably still some months away, but
>> the
>> titles will be: The Wonder Ring; The Dead; Two: Creeley/McClure;
>> 23rd Psalm
>> Branch; Scenes From Under Childhood (Part One); The Machine of Eden;
>> Star
>> Garden; Desert; The Process; Burial Path; The Domain of the Moment;
>> Murder
>> Psalm; Duplicity III; Arabic 12; Visions in Meditatiion 1-4;
>> Unconscious
>> London Strata; Boulder Blues and Pearls And; The Mammals of Victoria;
>> From:
>> First Hymn to the NIght - Novalis; I Take These Truths; The Cat of the
>> Worm's Green Realm; Yggdrasill: Whose Roots Are Stars in the Human
>> Mind;
>> Ellipsis #5; Persians 1-3; Chinese Series.
>>
>> Marilyn Brakhage
>> Victoria BC
>>
>> On Monday, March 30, 2009, at 10:35 PM, Ted Sonnenschein wrote:
>>
>>> That's some good news. Any chance you can leak the titles to us?
>>>
>>> On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 5:31 PM, Marilyn Brakhage <email suppressed>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> 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>.
>>>
>>>
>>> __________________________________________________________________
>>> 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>.
>
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.