Anthology Film Archives announce new series of DVDs



by Daryl Chin (for MoC), September 2006.


logo ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES, founded in 1969, is unique in that it is dedicated to the avant-garde/independent film and video. In addition to its impressive film library, Anthology has been a repository of one of the most extensive collections of materials related to the history, theory and practice of American and international avant-garde/independent film and video. These holdings include books, periodicals, photographs, posters, tapes of lectures and interviews, distribution and festival catalogs, as well as files on individual film- and videomakers and organizations active in independent film and video.

From its vast array of materials on filmmakers, Anthology Film Archives has just announced a new series of DVDs, devoted to lectures, interviews and video profiles. This series should fill an important gap in the paucity of available materials on avant-garde filmmakers. The first three DVDs in the Anthology Film Archives series are: Curtis Harrington at Anthology Film Archives; Meet the Kuchar Brothers; and Stan Brakhage on Gregory Markopoulos & Jim Davis.

In 2005, Anthology Film Archives had a retrospective of the career of Curtis Harrington. Harrington began his career as a film student in the 1940s, where he and fellow student Gregory Markopoulos studied under Josef von Sternberg at UCLA. After making a number of 16mm experimental shorts in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Harrington made the independent feature film Night Tide in 1959 (released 1961), and would make the Hollywood feature Games in 1966. The disc, Curtis Harrington at Anthology Film Archives, contains Harrington's introduction to Night Tide, a question-and-answer session with the film critic Elliott Stein about Games, an audience question-and-answer session about the film What's the Matter With Helen?, two question-and-answer sessions with the actor Fabrice after screenings of Usher, and an interview with Curtis Harrington conducted by Amy Greenfield. In all, the disc contains over 2 hours worth of material, much of it casual but always engaging.

Meet the Kuchar Brothers is described as "This disc provides a rare glimpse into the world of George and Mike Kuchar, underground filmmaking brothers from the Bronx. Get to know the Kuchars, casually hanging out with John Waters at a party, looking at old yearbook photos with their high school classmate Gerard Malanga. Sit in on an extensive interview with the brothers at Anthology Film Archives." Containing 85 minutes worth of material, this disc is entertaining and certainly shows George and Mike Kuchar in their element; the interview with Andrew Lampert is informative as well as amusing.

Stan Brakhage, in addition to his amazingly productive career as a filmmaker, was a polemicist and theorist for avant-garde film of no small measure. His extensive writings on film include Metaphors on Vision, A Moving Picture Giving and Taking Book, and Film at Wit's End; his prolific lectures, over a period of some five decades, helped to advance the cause of avant-garde film. The Anthology DVD, Stan Brakhage on Gregory Markopoulos & Jim Davis, provides examples of Brakhage's talent as lecturer and polemicist. Anthology Film Archives provides this description of the disc: "This rare and illuminating collection features three previously unreleased sessions with Brakhage. The first is a casual, intimate look at Brakhage exploring footage left behind by his friend, the filmmaker Charles Boultenhouse, who had previously passed away; the second is a very personal lecture on filmmaker and friend Jim Davis. Finally, Brakhage's lecture at the Whitney Museum is a thoughtful meditation on another friend and fellow filmmaker Gregory Markopoulos." Stan Brakhage on Gregory Markopoulos & Jim Davis (a bit of a misnomer, as the disc also includes Brakhage on Charles Boultenhouse) is an opportunity to see Brakhage in his guise as a major teacher and theorist of film, a vital and central aspect of his artistic practice.

These three DVDs are being offered by Anthology Film Archives at a cost of $18.00 each. For anyone with an interest in American avant-garde cinema, these three discs are important additions to the sparse output available on digital versatile discs. These discs are produced by Robert Haller for Anthology Film Archives; information on ordering these discs will be available from Anthology Film Archives in October 2006.