Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film, 1947-1986
Featured Films include: “Here I Am” (Bruce Baillie), “Aleph” (Wallace Berman), “The Riddle of Lumen” (Stan Brakhage), “Eyewash” (Robert Breer), “Bridges-Go-Round” (Shirley Clarke), “By Night with Torch and Spear” (Joseph Cornell), “Peyote Queen” (Storm De Hirsch), “nostalgia” (Hollis Frampton), “Fog Line” (Larry Gottheim), “Litlte Stabs at Happiness” (Ken Jacobs), “Hamfat Asar” (Lawrence Jordan), “I, an Actress (George Kuchar), “New Improved Institutional Quality” (Owen Land), “Necrology” (Standish Lawder), “Note to Patti” (Saul Levine), “The End” (Christopher Maclaine), “Notes on the Circus” (Jonas Mekas), “Go! Go! Go!” (Marie Menken), “The Off-Handed Jape… and How to Pull It Off” (Robert Nelson & William T. Wiley), “7362” (Pat O’Neill), “Chumlum” (Ron Rice), “Bad Burns” (Paul Sharits), “Odds & Ends” (Jane Conger Belson Shimane), “Film No. 3: Interwoven” (Chick Strand), “Mario Banana (No. 1)” (Andy Warhol)
This is an excellent set. I have seen many of these films on 16mm, they were really good prints that had ben taken care of, and this DVD gives them a run for their money. The music by Zorn is interesting, but ultimately ruins the silent films. They were meant to be silent, so they need to stay that way. I was floored to see Frampton, Maclaine, Jacobs, and Kuchar all in one set. This is a must have. The real beauty of this set is to see people preserving experimental films. I am hoping this the beginning of a new trend, and with Blu Ray I can’t wait to see the new Brakhge from Criterion.
