Stan Brakhage

Stan Brakhage is one of the most influential filmmakers in American avantgarde cinema noted for his unflinching social commentaries and technical innovations Over his nearly 40year 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 streamof visualconsciousness 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 bridedepicted on negative filmin 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 Brakhages 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 Ones Own Eyes 1971 which was shot in a morgue He also continued with autobiographical material with the SincerityDuplicity series During the 1980s Brakhages focus again changedthis 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