Stan Brakhage
- Known for
- Directing
- Born
- January 14, 1933
- Died
- March 9, 2003 (aged 70)
- Birthplace
- Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Biography
Stan Brakhage (January 14, 1933 - March 9, 2003) is one of the most influential filmmakers in American avant-garde cinema, noted for his unflinching social commentaries and technical innovations. Over his nearly 40-year career, he has made over 200 films of varying length. He made his first film, Interim (1952) at age 18 after dropping out of college. Brakhage films seek to change the way we see. They encourage viewers to eschew traditional narrative structure in favor of pure visual perception that is not reliant on naming what is seen; rather his goal is to create a more visceral visual experience, for he believes that a "stream-of visual-consciousness could be nothing less than the pathway of the soul." To this end, his films are shot in highly sensual colors and utilize minimal soundtracks. His work can be divided into distinct periods. His first short films explored the properties and possibilities of light. In many of his experimental ventures, Brakhage has forgone traditional cinematography in favor of working directly with the film stock itself. He has occasionally painted, inked, scratched and dyed images onto it; he has also tried pasting organic objects on the film. His most famous example is the 1963 short Mothlight in which he glued moth wings onto the stock. Some of his early films were based on his most intimate experiences that included making love to his new bride--depicted on negative film--in Wedlock House: An Intercourse (1959), and an attempt to bring his dead dog back to life with a camera in Sirius Remembered (1959). During the 1960s, Brakhage's iconoclastic views were celebrated for their poetry, but during the '70s, his focus changed to social issues and he alienated many supporters with such disturbing film series as the "Pittsburgh documents" in which he presented many gruesome views of inner city life with films such as Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (1971) which was shot in a morgue. He also continued with autobiographical material with the "Sincerity/Duplicity series. During the 1980s, Brakhage's focus again changed--this time he became intrigued with creating truly "abstract" films such as Arabics (1982) which consists of brilliant bursts of colored light which he claims, represent "envisioned music." In addition to filmmaking, Brakhage also wrote books about films and filmmaking and also served as a teacher.
Known For
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Filmography
Visions in Meditation
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Arabic Numeral Series
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Persian Series
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Persian Series 1-5
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Songs
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20 Little Films
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By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume Two
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Chinese Series
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By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume One
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Stan's Window & Work in Progress
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Song of the Mushroom
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Seasons...
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Ascension
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Panels for the Walls of Heaven
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Resurrectus Est
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SB
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Max
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Lovesong
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Rounds
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Garden Path
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Persian Series #17
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Persian Series #13
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Persian Series #14
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Persian Series #15
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Persian Series #18
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Persian Series #16
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Dark Night of The Soul
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Lovesong 4
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Lovesong 5 & 6
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Lovesong 3
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Occam's Thread
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Micro-Garden
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Very
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Night Mulch
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Lovesong 2
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The God of Day Had Gone Down Upon Him
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Water for Maya
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Persian Series #11
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Persian Series #7
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Persian Series #6
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Persian Series #12
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Persian Series #8
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Persian Series #10
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Persian Series #9
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Jesus Trilogy and Coda
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Dance
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The Dark Tower
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The Birds Of Paradise
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Stately Mansions Did Decree
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Coupling
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Persian Series #2
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Persian Series #3
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Persian Series #1
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Persian Series #4
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Persian Series #5
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The Lion and the Zebra Make God's Raw Jewels
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Cloud Chamber
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Worm and Web Love
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Moilsome Toilsome
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Cricket Requiem
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The Earth Song of the Cricket
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"..." Reel 5
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"..." Reel 3
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The Female Mystique and Spare Leaves (for Gordon)
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"..." Reel 4
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"..." Reel 1
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"..." Reel 2
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Yggdrasill: Whose Roots Are Stars in the Human Mind
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The Cat of the Worm's Green Realm
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Self Song & Death Song
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Last Hymn to the Night - Novalis
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Divertimento
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Comingled Containers
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Shockingly Hot
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Prelude 9
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Prelude 11
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Prelude 7
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Prelude 12
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Prelude 8
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Prelude 13
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Prelude 10
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Prelude 14
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Prelude 15
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Prelude 16
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Prelude 21
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Prelude 22
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Prelude 24
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Prelude 17
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Prelude 19
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Prelude 20
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Prelude 23
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Prelude 18
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Blue Value
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Sexual Saga
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The Fur of Home
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Beautiful Funerals
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Polite Madness
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Through Wounded Eyes
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Concrescence
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Two Found Objects of Charles Boultenhouse
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I Take These Truths
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The 'b' Series
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Prelude 3
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Prelude 4
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Prelude 1
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Prelude 2
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Prelude 5
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Prelude 6
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I...
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In Consideration of Pompeii
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We Hold These
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The "Lost" Films
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Spring Cycle
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Paranoia Corridor
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Earthen Aerie
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Black Ice
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From: First Hymn to the Night – Novalis
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The Mammals of Victoria
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Elementary Phrases
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Naughts
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Chartres Series
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Cannot Exist
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Cannot Not Exist
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Alternating Currents
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Study in Color and Black and White
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Stellar
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Autumnal
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Boulder Blues and Pearls and...
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Ephemeral Solidity
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Three Homerics
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The Harrowing
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Tryst Haunt
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Blossom-Gift/Favor
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Untitled (For Marilyn)
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Interpolations 1-5
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Delicacies of Molten Horror Synapse
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Crack Glass Eulogy
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A Child’s Garden and the Serious Sea
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Christ Mass Sex Dance
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Agnus Dei Kinder Synapse
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Glaze of Cathexis
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Visions in Meditation #3: Plato's Cave
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Visions in Meditation #4: D.H. Lawrence
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Passage Through: A Ritual
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City Streaming
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Babylon Series #2
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Babylon Series #3
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Vision of the Fire Tree
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The Thatch of Night
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Visions in Meditation #1
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Visions in Meditation #2: Mesa Verde
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Babylon Series #1
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Faust IV
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Faust's Other: An Idyll
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Rage Net
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I... Dreaming
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Marilyn's Window
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Faust 3: Candida Albacore
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Matins
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Kindering
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The Dante Quartet
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Loud Visual Noises
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Faustfilm: An Opera
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Night Music
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The Loom
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Confession
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Fireloop
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Dance Shadows by Danelle Helander
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The Aerodyne
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Jane
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Egyptian Series
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Tortured Dust
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Tortured Dust Part 3
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Tortured Dust Part 2
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Tortured Dust Part 1
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Tortured Dust Part 4
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Hell Spit Flexion
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Arabic Numeral Series 15
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Arabic Numeral Series 19
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Arabic Numeral Series 16
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Arabic Numeral Series 18
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Arabic Numeral Series 14
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Arabic Numeral Series 17
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The Garden of Earthly Delights
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Arabic Numeral Series 12
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Unconscious London Strata
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Arabic Numeral Series 3
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Arabic Numeral Series 6
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Arabic Numeral Series 1
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Arabic Numeral Series 2
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Arabic Numeral Series 4
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Arabic Numeral Series 5
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Arabic Numeral Series 11
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Arabic Numeral Series 0 + 10
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Arabic Numeral Series 13
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Arabic Numeral Series 9
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Arabic Numeral Series 7
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Arabic Numeral Series 8
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Made Manifest
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RR
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Nodes
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Aftermath
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Murder Psalm
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Duplicity III
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Roman Numeral: VII
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Roman Numeral: IV
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Roman Numeral: VIII
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Roman Numeral: IX
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Roman Numeral: VI
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Roman Numeral: V
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4A
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Sincerity V
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Other
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Salome
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Creation
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Roman Numeral: II
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Roman Numeral: I
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Roman Numeral: III
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Sincerity IV
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@
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Burial Path
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Thot-Fal'N
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Bird
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Centre
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Nightmare Series
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Sluice
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Purity and After
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Duplicity II
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Sincerity III
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Duplicity I
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The Domain of the Moment
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The Governor
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Soldiers and Other Cosmic Objects
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Tragoedia
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Gadflies
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Desert
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Window
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Sketches
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Highs
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Rembrandt, Etc., and Jane
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Trio
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The Dream, N.Y.C., The Return, The Flower
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Absence
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Short Films 1976
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Airs
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Short Films 1975: #1 (Jane’s Memory)
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Short Films 1975: #3 (Hollis Frampton)
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Short Films 1975: #2 (Dante’s Styx)
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Short Films 1975: #5 (Niagara Falls)
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Short Films 1975: #4 (Lady in Glass)
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Short Films 1975: #8 (Small Town Streets)
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Short Films 1975: #6 (Stars, Chickens, Eyes, Candles)
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Short Films 1975: #7 (Turning the Raccoon Loose)
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Short Films 1975
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Sincerity II
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Short Films 1975: #10 (Painted Lightning)
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Short Films 1975: #9 (Forest Love Scene)
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The Stars Are Beautiful
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The Text of Light
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Star Garden
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Skein
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Aquarien
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Clancy
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Flight
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Hymn to Her
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“He was born, he suffered, he died.”
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Sol
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Dominion
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The Women
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Sincerity I
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Sexual Meditation: Open Field
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Gift
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The Wold-Shadow
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The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes
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The Process
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The Riddle of Lumen
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Wecht
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Sexual Meditation: Hotel
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The Shores of Phos: A Fable
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Sexual Meditation: Office Suite
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Sexual Meditation: Faun's Room, Yale
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Eye Myth Educational
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The Presence
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Deus Ex
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Western History
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Sexual Meditation: Room with View
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Door
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The Peaceable Kingdom
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Angels'
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The Trip to Door
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Fox Fire Child Watch
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The Machine of Eden
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The Weir-Falcon Saga
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Eyes
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The Animals of Eden and After
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Scenes from Under Childhood, Section Four
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Sexual Meditation #1: Motel
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Scenes from Under Childhood
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Scenes from Under Childhood, Section Three
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Scenes from Under Childhood, Section Two
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Window Suite of Children's Songs
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American 30s Song
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My Mtn. Song 27 Part II: Rivers
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Song 28
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Song 29
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Scenes from Under Childhood, Section One
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The Horseman, the Woman, and the Moth
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Lovemaking
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My Mountain: Song 27
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Song 26
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Eye Myth
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Song 24
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Song 25
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23rd Psalm Branch
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23rd Psalm Branch: Part I
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23rd Psalm Branch: Part II
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For Life, Against the War
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Pasht
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Song 21
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Song 20
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Song 17
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Song 22
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Song 18
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Song 19
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Song 16
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The Art of Vision
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Two: Creeley/McClure
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Fire of Waters
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Song 10
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Song 12
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Song 14
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Song 13
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Song 9
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Song 11
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Three Films: Blue White/Blood's Tone/Vein
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15 Song Traits
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Black Vision
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Dog Star Man
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Dog Star Man: Part II
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Dog Star Man: Part IV
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Dog Star Man: Part III
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Song 6
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Song 4
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Song 2
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Song 3
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Song 8
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Song 5
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Song 1
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Song 7
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Dog Star Man: Part I
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Mothlight
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Oh Life - a Woe Story - the A Test News
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Blue Moses
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Silent Sound Sense Stars Subotnick and Sender
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Mr. Tompkins Inside Himself
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Thigh Line Lyre Triangular
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Prelude: Dog Star Man
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Films by Stan Brakhage: An Avant-Garde Home Movie
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Sartre's Nausea
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Ballad of the Colorado Ute
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The Dead
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Colorado Legend
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Window Water Baby Moving
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Cat's Cradle
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Wedlock House: An Intercourse
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Sirius Remembered
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Anticipation of the Night
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Loving
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Daybreak and Whiteye
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Flesh of Morning
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Zone Moment
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Nightcats
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Untitled Film of Geoffrey Holder's Wedding
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The Wonder Ring
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Centuries of June
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Reflections on Black
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In Between
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Desistfilm
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The Way to Shadow Garden
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The Extraordinary Child
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The Boy and the Sea
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Unglassed Windows Cast a Terrible Reflection
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Interim
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