From: Marcos Ortega (email suppressed)
Date: Wed Apr 01 2009 - 00:34:36 PDT
Thanks, Marilyn :-) the selection is very diverse and there are many
titles which I haven't even heard of. This editions, though as you say
never can replace the films, are a real blessing. By a sad combination
of scarcity and bad luck I have yet to see Brakhage's works in film!
Best,
Marcos
Quoting Marilyn Brakhage <email suppressed>:
> 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>.
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.