Stan Brakhage

Stan Brakhage is one of the most influential filmmakers in American avant-garde cinema, noted for his unflinching social commentaries and technical innovations. Over his nearly 40-year career, he has made over 200 films of varying length. He made his first film, Interim (1952) at age 18 after dropping out of college. Brakhage films seek to change the way we see. They encourage viewers to eschew traditional narrative structure in favor of pure visual perception that is not reliant on naming what is seen; rather his goal is to create a more visceral visual experience, for he believes that a "stream-of visual-consciousness could be nothing less than the pathway of the soul." To this end, his films are shot in highly sensual colors and utilize minimal soundtracks. His work can be divided into distinct periods. His first short films explored the properties and possibilities of light. In many of his experimental ventures, Brakhage has forgone traditional cinematography in favor of working directly with the film stock itself. He has occasionally painted, inked, scratched and dyed images onto it; he has also tried pasting organic objects on the film. His most famous example is the 1963 short Mothlight in which he glued moth wings onto the stock. Some of his early films were based on his most intimate experiences that included making love to his new bride--depicted on negative film--in Wedlock House: An Intercourse (1959), and an attempt to bring his dead dog back to life with a camera in Sirius Remembered (1959). During the 1960s, Brakhage's iconoclastic views were celebrated for their poetry, but during the '70s, his focus changed to social issues and he alienated many supporters with such disturbing film series as the "Pittsburgh documents" in which he presented many gruesome views of inner city life with films such as Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (1971) which was shot in a morgue. He also continued with autobiographical material with the "Sincerity/Duplicity series. During the 1980s, Brakhage's focus again changed--this time he became intrigued with creating truly "abstract" films such as Arabics (1982) which consists of brilliant bursts of colored light which he claims, represent "envisioned music." In addition to filmmaking, Brakhage also wrote books about films and filmmaking and also served as a teacher.

Known For	Directing
Most Rating	4.705
Birthday	1933-01-14
Place of Birth	Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Also Known As	James Stanley Brakhage, 스탠 브래키지, スタン・ブラッケージ, 斯坦·布拉哈格, Стэн Брэкидж, სტენ ბრეკიჯი,

Z (Zee Not Zed)

In the Mirror of Maya Deren

Cat's Cradle

Window Water Baby Moving

Dog Star Man: Part IV

Flesh of Morning

Brakhage

Trumpit

Vakvagany

Garden Path

Cannibal! The Musical

Joseph Cornell: Worlds in a Box

The One Romantic Venture of Edward

The Extraordinary Child

Wedlock House: An Intercourse

Birth of a Nation

I... Dreaming

As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty

Song 1

The Stars Are Beautiful

Faust's Other: An Idyll

Prelude: Dog Star Man

Dog Star Man: Part I

Dog Star Man: Part II

Dog Star Man: Part III

Dog Star Man

As Is Was

Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film

The Art of Vision

For Stan

Grand Opera: An Historical Romance

Filmmakers

Invocation: Maya Deren

Watunna

Tortured Dust

Looking at Forest of Bliss

Stan Brakhage Exits the Cinema and Enters the Light of Day

Reality's Invisible

Jonas in the Desert

Notes on Marie Menken

Keepers of the Frame

Keeping an Eye on Stan

Stan Brakhage on Jim Davis

Stan Brakhage on Gregory Markopoulos

Abstract Cinema

Diaries, Notes, and Sketches

Sonic Youth: Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui (April 12, 2003)

Encomium

Stan & Jane Brakhage

Reflecting Thought: Stan Brakhage

Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages

A Visit to Stan Brakhage

Brakhage Crosses Central Park

Doodlin': Impressions Of Len Lye

I Met Stan Brakhage (At Moma, N.Y.C)

A Visit to Stan Brakhage