Remembering Brakhage

Professor Peter Rist reminisces on "Stan the Man."

The '400' Year Plan

Anyone who has heard Stan Brakhage lecture will probably be familiar with his now famous artistic credo, his "400 year plan." Offscreen editor Donato Totaro provides a brief glimpse into the mountain of a man that was Stan Brakhage.

Stan Brakhage at the Cinémathèque Québecoise, Montreal, January 27-28, 2001 Part 1: “Death is a Meaningless Word.”

Stan Brakhage introduces Sirius Remembered (1959), Dog Star Man Part II , Self Song /Death Song (1997), The Machine of Eden (1970), Mothlight (1963), and The Act of Seeing With One's Own Eyes (1971).

Stan Brakhage at the Cinémathèque Québecoise, Montreal, January 27-28, 2001 Part 2: "I would rather take a chance on hell than go to Disneyland."

Transcribed by Donato Totaro

Stan Brakhage introduces Loving (1957), Dog Star Man Part III (1964), Dog Star Man Part IV (1964), Murder Psalm (1980), The Garden of Earthly Delights (1981), Stellar (1993), Naughts (1994), Coupling (1999), Cloud Chamber (1999), and The Dante Quartet (1987).

Notes from Underground: Coltrane, Brakhage and the American Avant-Garde

Stemming from his ongoing graduate work, first-time Offscreen writer Brett Kashmere delves headlong into the fascinating intersection of Brakhage and the cultural expression of the Post-World War II American avant-garde.

Plus a Postscript: By Brett Kashmere and Astria Suparak following the Stan Brakhage Benefit Concert featuring Sonic Youth, Anthology Film Archives, NYC April 12, 2003:

Beyond Notes: On Music, Improvisation and Film, and Writing

Brakhage’s Silent Legacy for Sound Cinema

Drawing on the wide-ranging theories of Michel Chion (Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen), William C. Wees (Light Moving in Time), Sergei Eisenstein (Nonindifferent Nature), Peter Kivy (Music Alone: Philosophical Reflections on the Purely Musical Experience), and Tom Gunning, Jordan explores how Brakhage's films and theory ask us to 're-learn' the fundamental principles of how we interect with the world around us.

For all things Brakhage, the place to begin is Fred Camper's invaluable "Stan Brakhage on the Web."