Re: Coni (Constance) Beeson - searching for 'Stamen' 16mm (1972)

From: DOMINIC ANGERAME (email suppressed)
Date: Tue Jan 27 2009 - 14:51:49 PST


After Coni passed away a few years ago, a member of the estate came and
brought all the prints that there were to me for distribution. It was
apparent that they would probably have been thrown away if I did not
take them. Gladly I accepted them. I agree I think that her family did
not really want any part of her filmmaking. At that time I attempted to
go to her estate in Marin County to try and see if any films were being
neglected and salvage some film equipment that was earmarked for
destruction. Alas that never happened... Her last public film
appearance that I know of was in 1999 when I curated a program for SF
Museum of Modern Art called "Shake the Nation" a series of programs
that featured the history of Bay Area experimental cinema from
1932--present.

Dominic Angerame

--- On Fri, 1/23/09, Steve Cooke <email suppressed> wrote:
From: Steve Cooke <email suppressed>
Subject: Coni (Constance) Beeson - searching for 'Stamen' 16mm (1972)
To: email suppressed
Date: Friday, January 23, 2009, 9:41 AM

We're researching flower imagery in relation to homosexuality in art
and are trying to track down a film called Stamen by Coni (or
Constance) Beeson, made (I think) in 1972. I think it existed as a
16mm print and was fairly widely shown at one time - it used flower
imagery to depict male erotic themes.

Coni made several films at that time but has since passed away. I've
managed to discover that her estate (who may have been a little
embarrassed by the content of the work) deposited whatever they had at
Canyon Cinema in San Francisco. However, Stamen was not among the
works handed over.

Does anyone have an inkling of where we could start searching for a
print or video of this work?

Very many thanks everyone in advance for your help!

Steve Cooke

__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.

__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.