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AMERICAN UNDERGROUND PRIMER: 1 Maya Deren, Meshes of the Afternoon, 1943, 18 min Kenneth Anger, Invocation of My Demon Brother, 1969, 11 min Ken Jacobs, Little Stabs at Happiness, 1959-63, 15 min Paul Sharits, Piece Mandala\/End War, 1966, 3 min Shirley Clarke, Bridges Go Round, 1958, 8 min Bruce Baillie, Mass (for the Dakota Sioux), 1964, 24 min Robert Breer, 69, 1968, 5 min Robert Nelson, Oh Dem Watermelons, 1965, 12 min
\n<\/strong>Friday 15 October 1999, at 6pm<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Leeds Hyde Park Cinema<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The making of Maya Deren\u2019s first film was a key point in the advancement of the personal film. It is one of the earliest \u2018trance\u2019 films, a style which developed from the earlier European Surrealist films of the 1920s and 30s. Deren creates a subconscious world and portrays a dreamer disturbed by a series of irrational incidents.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Kenneth Anger, one of the most well-known experimental filmmakers, fuses the magick of his mentor Aleister Crowley with the myths of Hollywood\u2019s golden age. This film, which shows Anger performing the Equinox Of The Gods ritual and has a Moog synthesiser soundtrack by Mick Jagger, is one of his most intense productions.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Little Stabs at Happiness<\/em> consists of several unedited camera poems which depict a wistful nostalgia for times passed. Two sections feature the legendary filmmaker and performer Jack Smith. Ken Jacobs went on to be an important influence on the Structural movement and since the 1970s has developed amazing 3D projection performances known as the Nervous System.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Paul Sharits produced a series of outstanding \u2018flicker\u2019 films in which rapid changes of colour result in perceptual hallucinations. Piece Mandala\/End War<\/em> is a concise and remarkable example of his stroboscopic style.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Shots of immobile New York bridges are choreographically edited and printed in a way such that they appear to dance. The footage is repeated twice, once with a score by jazz arranger Teo Macero and again with a composition by electronic music pioneers Louis and Bebe Barron (best known for their soundtrack to The Forbidden Planet<\/em>).<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>A sombre examination of the American experience and a critique of modern society. Baillie masterfully combines footage from television, movies, film diaries and specially staged scenes to present a densely layered requiem dedicated to the Native American Indians.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Robert Breer, whose films present continually evolving ideas in a witty, gentle style, is one of the most original and respected animators of the experimental movement. 69<\/em> is a kinetic investigation of geometric forms, building visual tension by rapidly alternating images.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>A classic underground romp starring the San Francisco Mime Troop and a dozen watermelons. The fruit is put through every possible use and treatment for comic effect and social comment. Minimalist composer Steve Reich arranged the soundtrack.<\/p>\n