Bruce Baillie, who died on April 10th of this year, was the pioneer of the "Western American Experimental Film" and the key figure in the pioneering avant-garde awakening in the San Francisco Bay Area in the sixties. In memoriam we show two of the main works by this underground poet: Mass for the Dakota Sioux is a picture-sound poem as a requiem for a native culture destroyed by "civilized" America (as an outsider, Baillie naturally identifies with the Sioux and orchestrates the Gregorian chorales on the soundtrack like an accusation to the world of the white conquerors). Quixote is one of the culmination points of his work: a one-year journey across the land of progress and conquest. With breathtaking montages, fades and multiple exposures, the film becomes a dense portrait of the "mental and physical landscape of the USA" (Baillie) in the Vietnam era. (C.H.)
A joint presentation by the Austrian Film Museum and sixpackfilm
Mass for the Dakota Sioux Bruce Baillie. USA, 1964, 16mm, b&w, 20 min
Quixote Bruce Baillie. USA, 1965–68, 16mm, color + b&w, 43 min