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

Born: Kansas City, Missouri, USA , 1933-01-14

Died: 2003-03-09

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1954	The Extraordinary Child		54
2	1956	Trumpit		44
3	1956	The One Romantic Venture of Edward		60
4	1956	Flesh of Morning		43
5	1959	Cat's Cradle	Self	58
6	1959	Wedlock House: An Intercourse		56
7	1959	Window Water Baby Moving	Self (uncredited)	69
8	1962	Prelude: Dog Star Man		61
9	1963	Dog Star Man: Part II		65
10	1963	Dog Star Man: Part I		62
11	1964	Song 1		44
12	1964	Dog Star Man: Part IV		61
13	1964	Dog Star Man: Part III		61
14	1965	Dog Star Man		66
15	1965	The Art of Vision	Man	70
16	1969	Filmmakers	Himself	0
17	1972	Reality's Invisible	Himself	59
18	1974	The Stars Are Beautiful	Narrator (voice)	50
19	1979	Grand Opera: An Historical Romance	Himself (voice)	80
20	1981	Stan & Jane Brakhage	Self	60
21	1984	Tortured Dust		70
22	1985	Reflecting Thought: Stan Brakhage	Self	0
23	1986	Invocation: Maya Deren	Himself	50
24	1987	Doodlin': Impressions Of Len Lye	Self	0
25	1988	Faust's Other: An Idyll		57
26	1988	I... Dreaming		58
27	1989	Watunna	Narrator	0
28	1991	Joseph Cornell: Worlds in a Box	Self	0
29	1993	Z (Zee Not Zed)		0
30	1993	Abstract Cinema	Himself	80
31	1994	Jonas in the Desert	Self	55
32	1995	As Is Was		0
33	1996	BRAKHAGE ON BRAKHAGE	self	0
34	1996	Cannibal! The Musical	Noon Sr.	63
35	1997	Stan Brakhage on Jim Davis		0
36	1997	Stan Brakhage on Gregory Markopoulos		0
37	1997	Birth of a Nation	Self	63
38	1998	I Met Stan Brakhage (At Moma, N.Y.C)		0
39	1998	Brakhage	Self	70
40	1999	Keepers of the Frame	Himself	100
41	2000	Looking at Forest of Bliss	Himself	0
42	2000	As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty	Self	76
43	2001	Garden Path		53
44	2002	Vakvagany	Himself	100
45	2002	In the Mirror of Maya Deren	Himself	74
46	2002	Stan Brakhage Exits the Cinema and Enters the Light of Day	Himself	76
47	2002	Life with Stan #4: Stan Painting		0
48	2003	Encomium	Self	0
49	2003	Keeping an Eye on Stan		0
50	2003	Sonic Youth: Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui (April 12, 2003)	Self (archive footage)	50
51	2003	A Visit to Stan Brakhage	Himself	0
52	2004	Preserving Cultural Traditions in a Period of Instability	Voice	0
53	2006	Notes on Marie Menken	Self (archive footage)	54
54	2006	Brakhage Crosses Central Park	Self	40
55	2006	A Visit to Stan Brakhage		0
56	2008	Dinner with Brakhage and Gamow		0
57	2009	For Stan	Himself	70
58	2011	Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film	Himself	67
59	2013	Diaries, Notes, and Sketches	Self	75
60	2022	Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages		0

Stan Brakhage

Film

Television