From: David Baker (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Apr 05 2009 - 21:42:42 PDT
Steve,
I am most grateful to you for your alacrity and expertise.
The Smithsonian Archives of American Art Oral History
interview with Bruce Conner
confirms exactly what you are saying.
Thank you,
David
On Apr 5, 2009, at 3:42 AM, Steve Polta wrote:
> I believe this film is called LEADER. I believe it is "endless"
> countdown leader. It shows up in Conner filmographies. I want to say
> that it is listed as being something like 30 minutes long. I seem to
> recall a description of a screening of this film at which the screen
> (which I believe was like a portable tripod screen) was stolen and
> at which an audience member left the theatre, sat in his or her car
> (which was right outside the venue), and honked their horn for the
> duration. I think this was a Mekas article that decribed this, but
> it may be FILM AT WITS END by Brakhage.
>
> In planning a Conner tribute/retro for San Francisco Cinematheque
> (which screened a couple weeks ago) I inquired on the availability
> of this film and was informed that it was no longer extant.
>
> ——————steve polta
> ——————san francisco cinematheque
>
>
>
> --- On Sat, 4/4/09, David Baker <email suppressed> wrote:
>
>> From: David Baker <email suppressed>
>> Subject: Unknown Bruce Conner Film
>> To: email suppressed
>> Date: Saturday, April 4, 2009, 10:58 PM
>> Help Frameworkers,
>>
>> From the Brooklyn Rail 9/2008:
>> "The day after Bruce died, I read an interview
>> conducted by Paul Cummings posted on the Web
>> (www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/conner73.htm
>> ). In it, Bruce mentions the screening of a film that I have
>> never seen listed in his filmography and certainly don’t
>> remember hearing him talk about it. The film was made
>> entirely of leader, and had a soundtrack derived from a
>> movie about American G.I.s captured by the Germans during
>> World WarII. Conner did various things to distort the
>> soundtrack, which basically repeated phrases such as,
>> “Let’s get out of here.” “We can’t stay here, we
>> have to escape.” The audience, of course, took the cue and
>> didn’t stay to watch it through to the end. According to
>> Conner, he was the only person still in the room each time
>> he showed it."-John Yau
>>
>> Can anyone identify the name of this film?
>>
>> Does anyone know if it is available to be presented as part
>> of Bradley Eros's
>> "Void For Film,"
>> a seven hour marathon of imageless cinema,on Friday April
>> 17,
>> (part of the Migrating Forms Film Festival
>> at Anthology Film Archives)?
>>
>> Thank you,
>> David Baker
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> __________________________________________________________________
>> 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>.