Masterworks of American Avant-Garde Experimental Film 1920-1970

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Average: 3.8 (8 votes)

Flicker Alley and the Blackhawk Films® Collection, in collaboration with Filmmakers Showcase, are proud to present Masterworks of American Avant-garde Experimental Film 1920-1970 in a 4-disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo Edition. This breathtaking collection includes 30 films, restored to pristine high-definition, from some of the foremost experimental filmmakers of the 20th century.

Commencing in 1920 with Charles Sheeler and Paul Strand’s creative collaboration on Manhatta, successive generations of experimental filmmakers and artists have worked in collaboration or alone to create a cinema capable of expressing dynamic unspoken concepts in totally abstract visual terms.

To watch these films is to see the world anew through cinematic interventions: fast cutting, expressive camerawork, abstract animation, surrealistic collage, distorted and superimposed imagery, and many more extraordinary techniques. Essentially the filmmakers ask us to open our eyes and see, to permit the reception of pure sensations uninhibited by any complex web of predetermined associations dominant in mainstream Hollywood cinema.

Collected from archives around the world, and beautifully restored in high definition, the majority of vintage silent films in Masterworks of American Avant-garde Experimental Film 1920-1970 feature new musical scores from innovative composers Donald Sosin, George Antheil, Eric Beheim, Rodney Sauer, Gustavo Matamoros, Henry Wolfe and Phil Carluzzo.

Contents:

1920s

  • Manhatta (1920-21) by Charles Sheeler, Paul Strand
  • Ballet Mechanique (1923-24) by Fernand Léger, Dudley Murphy
  • Anémic cinema (filmed 1924-25, released 1926) by Rrose Sélavy a.k.a. Marcel Duchamp
  • The Life and Death of 9413–A Hollywood Extra (1927) by Robert Florey, Slavko Vorkapich
  • Skyscraper Symphony (1929) by Robert Florey

1930s

  • Mechanical Principles (1930) by Ralph Steiner
  • A Bronx Morning (1931) by Jay Leyda
  • Lot in Sodom (1930-32, released 1933) by J.S. Watson, Jr., Melville Webber, Alec Wilder, Remsen Wood, Bernard O’Brien.
  • Poem 8 (1932-33) by Emlen Etting
  • Thimble Theater (c. 1938, unfinished until 1968) by Joseph Cornell

1940s

  • Tarentella (1940) by Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth
  • The Pursuit of Happiness (1940) by Rudy Burckhardt
  • 1941 (1941) by Francis Lee
  • Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) by Maya Deren, A. Hackenschmied
  • Motion-Painting, No. 1 (1947) by Oskar Fischinger
  • Meditation on Violence (1948) by Maya Deren

1950’s

  • In the Street (filmed 1945-46, released 1948, 1952) by Helen Levitt, Janice Loeb, James Agee.
  • Abstronic (1952) by Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth
  • Hurry, Hurry! (1957) by Marie Menken
  • N.Y., N.Y. (filmed 1949-57, released 1958) by Francis Thompson
  • A MOVIE (1958) by Bruce Conner

1960’s

  • Re-Entry (1964) by Jordan Belson
  • Castro Street (The Coming of Consciousness) (1966) by Bruce Baillie
  • Excerpt from Walden: Diaries, Notes and Sketches (1969) by Jonas Mekas
  • Our Lady of the Sphere (1969) by Lawrence Jordan

1970

  • Love It / Leave It (1970) by Tom Palazzolo
  • DL2 (Disintegration Line #2) (1970) by Lawrence Janiak
  • Transport (1970) by Amy Greenfield

Legacy Bonus Films

  • Seasons… (2002) by Phil Solomon, Stan Brakhage
  • Manhatta (1920-21) by Charles Sheeler, Paul Strand with new music composed and performed by Henry Wolfe and Phil Carluzzo

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Data

Price: 

59,95 USD

Publisher: 

Publishing date: 

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Runtime: 

372 min

Discs: 

2 BDs, 2 DVDs

Language: 

English

Region: 

Multizone

Video: 

AVC

Resolution: 

1080p

Aspect ratio: 

4:3

Colour: 

Colour & B&W

Sound: 

Sound