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Shirley Clarke

Shirley Clarke

Director · Born 1919-10-02 · New York City, New York, USA

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Biography

A major figure of the American avant garde, Shirley Brimberg Clarke (1919-1997) was born into privilege as the daughter of Polish-Jewish immigrants who made their fortune in manufacturing. Rebelling against a repressive bourgeois upbringing, Clarke turned first to dance, and later film and video, to express her distinctive vision of the world. Moving freely across genres and media throughout her career (and often within a single work), Clarke’s cinema explores the porous boundaries between narrative and documentary filmmaking, and film and other media, such as painting, dance, performance and video. Her 1960s features The Connection (1961), The Cool World (1963) and Portrait of Jason (1967), for which she is arguably best remembered, address issues of urban alienation, poverty, addiction and racism, focusing on lives lived at the margins of American society. Fearless in both her personal and creative life, Clarke produced a body of work that is as formally innovative as it is rooted in social protest. Clarke initially trained as a dancer, immersing herself in New York’s vibrant post-war avant-garde dance scene. Although her dance career never quite earned her the critical acclaim…

Directed

  1. Portrait of Jason (1967) — Director
  2. The Connection (1962) — Director
  3. The Cool World (1964) — Director
  4. Bridges-Go-Round 1 (1958) — Director
  5. Ornette: Made in America (1986) — Director
  6. Skyscraper (1959) — Director
  7. Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World (1963) — Director
  8. In Paris Parks (1954) — Director
  9. Dance in the Sun (1953) — Director
  10. Butterfly (1967) — Director
  11. A Moment in Love (1956) — Director
  12. A Visual Diary (1980) — Director
  13. 24 Frames per Second (1977) — Director
  14. A Scary Time (1960) — Director
  15. Tongues (1982) — Director
  16. Ornette Coleman: A Jazz Video Game (1984) — Director
  17. Savage/Love (1981) — Director
  18. Bridges-Go-Round 2 (1958) — Director
  19. Carl Lee, Max and Friends at the Hotel Chelsea (1968) — Director
  20. Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Trans (1978) — Director
  21. Brussels Loops (1958) — Director
  22. Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: One Two Three (1978) — Director
  23. For Life, Against the War (1967) — Director
  24. Bullfight (1955) — Director
  25. A Short Lecture and Demonstration on the Evolution of Ragtime as Presented by Jelly Roll Morton (2016) — Director
  26. Fear Flight (2016) — Director
  27. Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Initiation (1978) — Director
  28. Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Mysterium (1978) — Director
  29. Decroux Film (2016) — Director
  30. Home Movies #20: Dance Tests (2016) — Director
  31. This Is Not 'In Paris Parks' (2016) — Director
  32. Rose and the Players – Part 1 (2016) — Director
  33. Outtakes for 'In Paris Parks' (2016) — Director
  34. Rose and the Players – Part 2 (2016) — Director
  35. Bullfight: The C and D Rolls (2016) — Director
  36. Home Movies #15 Shirley with Camera (1950) — Director
  37. Ricky Leacock Visit, April 15, 1971 (1971) — Director
  38. Carl Lee on Joe Franklin Show (1973) — Director
  39. Morris at Ornette's Art Show (1972) — Director
  40. Yoko and John Party (1971) — Director

Also appeared in

  1. Lions Love (1969) — Shirley
  2. Portrait of Jason (1967) — Self - Interviewer (voice)
  3. Diaries, Notes, and Sketches (1968) — Self
  4. Alien Blood (1999) — second alien mother / MIB soldier
  5. He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life (1986) — Self (archive footage)
  6. Happy Birthday to John (1997) — Self
  7. Birth of a Nation (1997) — Self
  8. Rome Is Burning: Portrait of Shirley Clarke (1970) — Shirley Clarke
  9. Up Your Legs Forever (1971) — Self - Legs(uncredited)
  10. As Kineastas (1986)
  11. Galaxie (1966) — Self
  12. Home Movies #18 Florida (1943) — Herself
  13. Sex Stars (1976) — Self
  14. Underground New York (1968) — Self
  15. Bill's Hat (1967)
  16. Shirley Brimberg Home Movies (When She Was Young) (1927) — Herself
  17. Home Movies #10 Wedding and Pregnancy (1943) — Herself
  18. Home Movies #15 Shirley with Camera (1950) — Herself
  19. Shirley Clarke: The Artist with the Lens (2016) — Self (archival footage)
  20. The Modnar Machine (1980)
  21. The Beats: An Existential Comedy (1980)