Milestone wraps up its ‘Project Shirley,’ an in-depth study of the independent director of The Connection and Portrait of Jason. Practically all of Shirley Clarke’s small and experimental films are here from the early 1950s forward, plus a wealth of biographical film.
The Magic Box: The films of Shirley Clarke, 1929-1987
Blu-ray
The Milestone Cinematheque
1929-1987 / B&W + Color
1:37 flat full frame / 502 min.
Street Date November 15, 2016 / 99.99
featuring Shirley Clarke
Produced by Dennis Doros & Amy Heller
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Some disc boutique companies license ready-made movie classics for home video, and some slap whatever odd-sourced items can be had into the Blu-ray format and call it a restoration. Although the general tide for quality releases is rising, only a few companies will invest time and effort in historically- and artistically- important films lacking an obvious commercial hook. Milestone Films has been consistent in its championing of abandoned ‘marginal’ films,...
The Magic Box: The films of Shirley Clarke, 1929-1987
Blu-ray
The Milestone Cinematheque
1929-1987 / B&W + Color
1:37 flat full frame / 502 min.
Street Date November 15, 2016 / 99.99
featuring Shirley Clarke
Produced by Dennis Doros & Amy Heller
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Some disc boutique companies license ready-made movie classics for home video, and some slap whatever odd-sourced items can be had into the Blu-ray format and call it a restoration. Although the general tide for quality releases is rising, only a few companies will invest time and effort in historically- and artistically- important films lacking an obvious commercial hook. Milestone Films has been consistent in its championing of abandoned ‘marginal’ films,...
- 11/19/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In a festival whose dedication to celluloid is readily apparent, why not declare it directly? And so one of the Vienna International Film Festival's Special Programs this year is a bastion of that most wonderful format, 16mm film. Programmed by Katja Wiederspahn and Haden Guest with an admirably variegated range, the programs were gathered around collective films, war films, sex films, expanded cinema, and more. Key to the section's expanse, which begins in the 1920s and touches every decade between here and there, is also in highlighting new work done in this increasingly outmoded, "out of date," and unprojectionable format. Included amongst these are films every bit as exciting as the history and canon "Revolution in 16mm" touches on: Jodie Mack's Razzle Dazzle (written about here), Richard Touhy's masterpiece of color Ginza Strip, and, most excitingly, a quartet of new films by Nathaniel Dorsky, the film poet who makes...
- 11/3/2014
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
Mostly known for her animated films, Martha Colburn returns to live action with a short experimental documentary on the Occupy Wall Street protests that have been going on since mid-September. The above embedded video is actually two short films that should play one right after another. Rather than get into the goals and message of the protestors, Colburn simply documents the scene, displaying the same kind of frenetic montage that her animated films have.
What’s particularly appealing about this short doc is that it also displays a heavy ’60s underground film vibe. While Colburn leaves her shots a little longer than the then-popular “single-frame” shooting technique, the effect is essentially the same, creating a disorienting, kaleidoscope documentary vision. The film is not unlike classic undergrounds like Marie Menken’s Go! Go! Go! and Shirley Clarke’s Bridges-Go-Round.
Also, the “single-frame” technique is particularly appropriate here, centering the action right...
What’s particularly appealing about this short doc is that it also displays a heavy ’60s underground film vibe. While Colburn leaves her shots a little longer than the then-popular “single-frame” shooting technique, the effect is essentially the same, creating a disorienting, kaleidoscope documentary vision. The film is not unlike classic undergrounds like Marie Menken’s Go! Go! Go! and Shirley Clarke’s Bridges-Go-Round.
Also, the “single-frame” technique is particularly appropriate here, centering the action right...
- 10/14/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Today is underground filmmaker Shirley Clarke‘s birthday. She was born on Oct. 2, 1919 and passed away on Sept. 23, 1997.
She is mostly well-known for her two jazz-themed narrative feature films The Connection (1960) and The Cool World (1963); as well as the 1967 documentary, Portrait of Jason. However, she also directed numerous short films, such as Bullfight (1955) and Bridges-Go-Round (1958-59).
In the ’70s and early ’80s, she taught filmmaking at UCLA and continued to make short films, but returned to feature filmmaking with the 1985 documentary Ornette: Made in America.
In the below video, Edinburgh International Film Festival programmer Niall Greig Fulton reviews the retrospective the fest held of Clarke’s work in 2008. The video also includes clips from her films:...
She is mostly well-known for her two jazz-themed narrative feature films The Connection (1960) and The Cool World (1963); as well as the 1967 documentary, Portrait of Jason. However, she also directed numerous short films, such as Bullfight (1955) and Bridges-Go-Round (1958-59).
In the ’70s and early ’80s, she taught filmmaking at UCLA and continued to make short films, but returned to feature filmmaking with the 1985 documentary Ornette: Made in America.
In the below video, Edinburgh International Film Festival programmer Niall Greig Fulton reviews the retrospective the fest held of Clarke’s work in 2008. The video also includes clips from her films:...
- 10/2/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Jan. 24
8:30 p.m.
Redcat Theater
631 W. 2nd St.
Los Angeles, CA
Hosted by: Redcat
Barbara Hammer will be in attendance to present two of her recent movies: Generations (2010) and A Horse Is Not a Metaphor (2009). Both films run about a half-hour each.
With a filmmaking career that spans over 40 years, Hammer is a true pioneer of queer cinema and is still going strong making films and recently writing her autobiography Hammer! Making Movies Out of Sex and Life.
As an ovarian cancer survivor — or a cancer “thriver” as she likes to call herself — Hammer made A Horse Is Not a Metaphor about her intense chemotherapy treatments. The film is a return to her experimental filmmaking roots and features bold images of herself aligning with the freedom and power of the animal spirit. Her official website describes the film as such:
‘Survivor’ has never seemed to me to be the...
8:30 p.m.
Redcat Theater
631 W. 2nd St.
Los Angeles, CA
Hosted by: Redcat
Barbara Hammer will be in attendance to present two of her recent movies: Generations (2010) and A Horse Is Not a Metaphor (2009). Both films run about a half-hour each.
With a filmmaking career that spans over 40 years, Hammer is a true pioneer of queer cinema and is still going strong making films and recently writing her autobiography Hammer! Making Movies Out of Sex and Life.
As an ovarian cancer survivor — or a cancer “thriver” as she likes to call herself — Hammer made A Horse Is Not a Metaphor about her intense chemotherapy treatments. The film is a return to her experimental filmmaking roots and features bold images of herself aligning with the freedom and power of the animal spirit. Her official website describes the film as such:
‘Survivor’ has never seemed to me to be the...
- 1/21/2011
- by screenings
- Underground Film Journal
Jan. 30
7:30 p.m.
UnionDocs
322 Union Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Hosted by: UnionDocs
Shirley Clarke was an early force in the New American Cinema movement back in the 1960s, directing several underground feature films and shorts. For this event, there will be a screening of her short experimental film Bridges-Go-Round, plus the feature-length documentary Shirley Clarke in Our Time, directed by Donna Cameron, an associate of Clarke’s in the late ’80s.
In addition to the films being screened, there will be a live discussion with Cameron, plus filmmaker and friend of Clarke’s Jonas Mekas; and film critic-programmer Cullen Gallagher.
Here’s a little bit more on the films being screened:
In 1958, Clarke was one of several filmmakers commissioned by the State Dept. to produce short films to be screened at the Brussels World’s Fair. Bridges-Go-Round was assembled from leftover footage from that project. Although it’s typically said...
7:30 p.m.
UnionDocs
322 Union Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Hosted by: UnionDocs
Shirley Clarke was an early force in the New American Cinema movement back in the 1960s, directing several underground feature films and shorts. For this event, there will be a screening of her short experimental film Bridges-Go-Round, plus the feature-length documentary Shirley Clarke in Our Time, directed by Donna Cameron, an associate of Clarke’s in the late ’80s.
In addition to the films being screened, there will be a live discussion with Cameron, plus filmmaker and friend of Clarke’s Jonas Mekas; and film critic-programmer Cullen Gallagher.
Here’s a little bit more on the films being screened:
In 1958, Clarke was one of several filmmakers commissioned by the State Dept. to produce short films to be screened at the Brussels World’s Fair. Bridges-Go-Round was assembled from leftover footage from that project. Although it’s typically said...
- 1/27/2010
- by screenings
- Underground Film Journal
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