Synopsis
Stan Brakhage on Gregory Markopoulos & Jim Davis 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.
Brakhage, in addition to his amazingly productive career as a filmmaker, was a polemicist and theorist for avant-garde film. 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.
Stan Brakhage on Gregory Markopoulos & Jim Davis, provides examples of
Brakhage's talent as lecturer and polemicist.
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.