Biography
Stan Brakhage 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 sh…
Directed
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Mothlight (1963) — Director
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Window Water Baby Moving (1959) — Director
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Eye Myth (1967) — Director
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The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (1972) — Director
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Stellar (1993) — Director
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The Dante Quartet (1987) — Director
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Night Music (1986) — Director
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Black Ice (1994) — Director
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Prelude: Dog Star Man (1962) — Director
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Dog Star Man: Part I (1963) — Director
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Rage Net (1988) — Director
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Comingled Containers (1996) — Director
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Dog Star Man: Part II (1964) — Director
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Dog Star Man (1965) — Director
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Glaze of Cathexis (1990) — Director
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The Garden of Earthly Delights (1981) — Director
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Dog Star Man: Part III (1964) — Director
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Dog Star Man: Part IV (1964) — Director
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The Wold-Shadow (1972) — Director
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Desistfilm (1954) — Director
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Cat's Cradle (1959) — Director
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The Dark Tower (1999) — Director
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The Wonder Ring (1955) — Director
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Kindering (1987) — Director
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I... Dreaming (1988) — Director
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Lovesong (2001) — Director
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Chinese Series (2003) — Director
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Anticipation of the Night (1958) — Director
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Delicacies of Molten Horror Synapse (1991) — Director
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Study in Color and Black and White (1993) — Director
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Untitled (For Marilyn) (1992) — Director
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Wedlock House: An Intercourse (1959) — Director
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Crack Glass Eulogy (1991) — Director
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From: First Hymn to the Night – Novalis (1994) — Director
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The Dead (1960) — Director
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The Text of Light (1974) — Director
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Persian Series #1 (1999) — Director
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The Stars Are Beautiful (1974) — Director
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Centuries of June (1955) — Director
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Persian Series #2 (1999) — Director
Also appeared in
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Cannibal! The Musical (1996) — Noon Sr.
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As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000) — Self
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Window Water Baby Moving (1959) — Self (uncredited)
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Prelude: Dog Star Man (1962)
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Dog Star Man: Part I (1963)
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Dog Star Man: Part II (1964)
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Dog Star Man (1965)
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Dog Star Man: Part III (1964)
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Dog Star Man: Part IV (1964)
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Cat's Cradle (1959) — Self
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I... Dreaming (1988)
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Diaries, Notes, and Sketches (1968) — Self
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Wedlock House: An Intercourse (1959)
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The Stars Are Beautiful (1974) — Narrator (voice)
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In the Mirror of Maya Deren (2002) — Himself
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Song 1 (1964)
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Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film (2011) — Himself
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The Extraordinary Child (1954)
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Reality's Invisible (1972) — Self
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Brakhage (1998) — Self
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The Art of Vision (1965) — Man
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Trumpit (1956)
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Grand Opera: An Historical Romance (1979) — Himself (voice)
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Flesh of Morning (1956)
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Stan Brakhage Exits the Cinema and Enters the Light of Day (2002) — Himself
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Jonas in the Desert (1994) — Self
- Notes on Marie Menken (2006) — Self (archive footage)
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Garden Path (2001)
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Faust's Other: An Idyll (1988)
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Birth of a Nation (1997) — Self
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Invocation: Maya Deren (1986) — Himself
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Sonic Youth: Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui (April 12, 2003) (2003) — Self (archive footage)
- Vakvagany (2002) — Himself
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Tortured Dust (1984)
- Keepers of the Frame (1999) — Himself
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Abstract Cinema (1993) — Himself
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Stan & Jane Brakhage (1981) — Self
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Brakhage Crosses Central Park (2006) — Self
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Doodlin': Impressions Of Len Lye (1987) — Self
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The One Romantic Venture of Edward (1956)