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 short Mothlight in which he glued moth wings onto the stock. Some of his early films were based on his most intimate experiences that included making love to his new bride--depicted on negative film--in Wedlock House: An Intercourse (1959), and an attempt to bring his dead dog back to life with a camera in Sirius Remembered (1959). During the 1960s, Brakhage's iconoclastic views were celebrated for their poetry, but during the '70s, his focus changed to social issues and he alienated many supporters with such disturbing film series as the "Pittsburgh documents" in which he presented many gruesome views of inner city life with films such as Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (1971) which was shot in a morgue. He also continued with autobiographical material with the "Sincerity/Duplicity series. During the 1980s, Brakhage's focus again changed--this time he became intrigued with creating truly "abstract" films such as Arabics (1982) which consists of brilliant bursts of colored light which he claims, represent "envisioned music." In addition to filmmaking, Brakhage also wrote books about films and filmmaking and also served as a teacher.
Filmography
all 426
Movies 425
Director 370
self 33
Narrator 1
TV Shows 1
Producer 1
E 9 10 22 - 9 10 23 (2023)
Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages (2022)
20 Little Films (2012)
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film (2011)
Drawings by Billy and His Friends (2011)
By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume Two (2010)
For Stan (2009)
A Visit to Stan Brakhage (2006)
Notes on Marie Menken (2006)
By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume One (2003)
Chinese Series (2003)
A Visit to Stan Brakhage (2003)
Sonic Youth: Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui (April 12, 2003) (2003)
Stan's Window (2003)
Keeping an Eye on Stan (2003)
Encomium (2003)
Panels for the Walls of Heaven (2002)
Resurrectus Est (2002)
SB (One Minute for Vienna) (2002)
Seasons... (2002)
Ascension (2002)
Song of the Mushroom (2002)
Stan Brakhage Exits the Cinema and Enters the Light of Day (2002)
In the Mirror of Maya Deren (2002)
Vakvagany (2002)
Max (2002)
Persian Series #15 (2001)
Persian Series #14 (2001)
Persian Series #18 (2001)
Persian Series #17 (2001)
Persian Series #13 (2001)
Persian Series #16 (2001)
Persian Series (2001)
Micro Garden (2001)
Garden Path (2001)
Lovesong 5 & 6 (2001)
Dark Night of The Soul (2001)
Lovesong 4 (2001)
Lovesong (2001)
Lovesong 3 (2001)
Occam's Thread (2001)
Lovesong 2 (2001)
Night Mulch (2001)
Very (2001)
Rounds (2001)
Jesus Trilogy and Coda (2000)
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000)
Persian Series #12 (2000)
Persian Series #11 (2000)
Persian Series #10 (2000)
Looking at Forest of Bliss (2000)
Persian Series #9 (2000)
The God of Day Had Gone Down Upon Him (2000)
Persian Series #8 (2000)
Persian Series #7 (2000)
Persian Series #6 (2000)
Water for Maya (2000)
Dance (2000)
The Lion and the Zebra Make God's Raw Jewels (1999)
Moilsome Toilsome (1999)
Persian Series #5 (1999)
Persian #3 (1999)
Persian #2 (1999)
Persian #1 (1999)
Persian Series #4 (1999)
Keepers of the Frame (1999)
The Earthsong of the Cricket (1999)
The Birds Of Paradise (1999)
Stately Mansions Did Decree (1999)
Cricket Requiem (1999)
Coupling (1999)
Worm and Web Love (1999)
Alternating Currents (1999)
Cloud Chamber (1999)
The Dark Tower (1999)
Brakhage (1998)
"..." Reel 3 (1998)
"..." Reel 5 (1998)
"..." Reel 4 (1998)
"..." Reel 1 (1998)
I Met Stan Brakhage (At Moma, N.Y.C) (1998)
"..." Reel 2 (1998)
Self Song/Death Song (1997)
Yggdrasill: Whose Roots Are Stars in the Human Mind (1997)
Birth of a Nation (1997)
Stan Brakhage on Gregory Markopoulos (1997)
Stan Brakhage on Jim Davis (1997)
The Cat of the Worm's Green Realm (1997)
Divertimento (1997)
Last Hymn to the Night - Novalis (1997)
Comingled Containers (1996)
Cannibal! The Musical (1996)
Prelude 8 (1996)
Prelude 7 (1996)
Prelude 6 (1996)
Prelude 5 (1996)
Prelude 4 (1996)
Prelude 13 (1996)
Prelude 12 (1996)
Prelude 11 (1996)
Prelude 1 (1996)
Prelude 10 (1996)
Prelude 3 (1996)
Prelude 14 (1996)
Prelude 9 (1996)
Prelude 2 (1996)
Sexual Saga (1996)
Two Found Objects of Charles Boultenhouse (1996)
Shockingly Hot (1996)
Beautiful Funerals (1996)
Concrescence (1996)
Prelude 24 (1996)
Prelude 21 (1996)
Prelude 19 (1996)
Prelude 18 (1996)
Prelude 17 (1996)
The Fur of Home (1996)
Prelude 23 (1996)
Prelude 22 (1996)
Prelude 20 (1996)
Prelude 16 (1996)
Prelude 15 (1996)
Blue Value (1996)
Through Wounded Eyes (1996)
Polite Madness (1996)
I Take These Truths (1995)
I... (1995)
We Hold These (1995)
The Lost Films (1995)
Earthen Aerie (1995)
Paranoia Corridor (1995)
The 'b' Series (1995)
As Is Was (1995)
Spring Cycle (1995)
In Consideration of Pompeii (1995)
Black Ice (1994)
From: First Hymn to the Night – Novalis (1994)
Chartres Series (1994)
Cannot Exist (1994)
Naughts (1994)
The Mammals of Victoria (1994)
Cannot Not Exist (1994)
Elementary Phrases (1994)
Jonas in the Desert (1994)
Stellar (1993)
Autumnal (1993)
Three Homerics (1993)
The Harrowing (1993)
Tryst Haunt (1993)
Abstract Cinema (1993)
Boulder Blues and Pearls and... (1993)
Ephemeral Solidity (1993)
Study in Color and Black and White (1993)
Z (Zee Not Zed) (1993)
Blossom-Gift/Favor (1993)
Crack Glass Eulogy (1992)
Untitled (For Marilyn) (1992)
Interpolations I-V (1992)
Joseph Cornell: Worlds in a Box (1991)
Christ Mass Sex Dance (1991)
Agnus Dei Kinder Synapse (1991)
Delicacies of Molten Horror Synapse (1991)
A Child’s Garden and the Serious Sea (1991)
Passage Through: A Ritual (1990)
Vision of the Fire Tree (1990)
Glaze of Cathexis (1990)
Visions in Meditation #4: D.H. Lawrence (1990)
Visions in Meditation #3: Plato's Cave (1990)
City Streaming (1990)
The Thatch of Night (1990)
Visions in Meditation (1990)
Babylon Series #2 (1990)
Babylon Series #3 (1990)
Babylon Series #1 (1989)
Faust IV (1989)
Visions in Meditation #2: Mesa Verde (1989)
Visions in Meditation #1 (1989)
Watunna (1989)
I... Dreaming (1988)
Faust 3: Candida Albacore (1988)
Faust's Other: An Idyll (1988)
Marilyn's Window (1988)
Matins (1988)
Rage Net (1988)
Loud Visual Noises (1987)
The Dante Quartet (1987)
Faustfilm: An Opera: Part I (1987)
Kindering (1987)
Doodlin': Impressions Of Len Lye (1987)
The Loom (1986)
Invocation: Maya Deren (1986)
Fireloop (1986)
Dance Shadows by Danelle Helander (1986)
The Aerodyne (1986)
Night Music (1986)
Confession (1986)
Greetings from Boulder (1986)
Reflecting Thought: Stan Brakhage (1985)
Jane (1985)
Tortured Dust (1984)
Tortured Dust Part IV (1984)
Tortured Dust Part III (1984)
Tortured Dust Part I (1984)
Tortured Dust Part II (1984)
Egyptian Series (1984)
Hell Spit Flexion (1983)
Arabics (1982)
Arabic Numeral Series 19 (1982)
Arabic Numeral Series 16 (1982)
Arabic Numeral Series 15 (1982)
Arabic Numeral Series 14 (1982)
Arabic Numeral Series 18 (1982)
Arabic Numeral Series 17 (1982)
Arabic Numeral Series 12 (1981)
Nodes (1981)
Stan & Jane Brakhage (1981)
Made Manifest (1981)
Unconscious London Strata (1981)
Aftermath (1981)
Murder Psalm (1981)
Arabic Numeral Series 11 (1981)
Arabic Numeral Series 13 (1981)
Arabic Numeral Series 7 (1981)
Arabic Numeral Series 0 + 10 (1981)
Arabic Numeral Series 9 (1981)
Arabic Numeral Series 8 (1981)
Arabic Numeral Series 6 (1981)
Arabic Numeral Series 4 (1981)
Arabic Numeral Series 3 (1981)
Arabic Numeral Series 1 (1981)
Arabic Numeral Series 5 (1981)
Arabic Numeral Series 2 (1981)
The Garden of Earthly Delights (1981)
RR (1981)
Sincerity V (1980)
Salome (1980)
Roman Numeral: VIII (1980)
Roman Numeral: VI (1980)
Roman Numeral: IX (1980)
Roman Numeral: IV (1980)
Other (1980)
Duplicity III (1980)
Roman Numeral: V (1980)
Sincerity (1980)
Roman Numeral: VII (1980)
Roman Numeral: I (1979)
Roman Numeral: II (1979)
Sincerity IV (1979)
Creation (1979)
Roman Numeral: III (1979)
@ (1979)
Burial Path (1978)
Thot-Fal'N (1978)
Bird (1978)
Nightmare Series (1978)
Sincerity III (1978)
Centre (1978)
Purity, and After (1978)
Duplicity II (1978)
Duplicity I (1978)
Sluice (1978)
Grand Opera: An Historical Romance (1978)
The Governor (1977)
Soldiers and Other Cosmic Objects (1977)
Tragoedia (1977)
The Domain of the Moment (1977)
Trio (1976)
Rembrandt, Etc., and Jane (1976)
Window (1976)
Airs (1976)
Desert (1976)
The Dream, NYC, The Return, The Flower (1976)
Highs (1976)
Short Films 1976 (1976)
Absence (1976)
Gadflies (1976)
Sketches (1976)
Short Films 1975: #9 (Forest Love Scene) (1975)
Sincerity II (1975)
Short Films 1975: #8 (Small Town Streets) (1975)
Short Films 1975: #7 (Turning the Raccoon Loose) (1975)
Short Films 1975: #6 (Stars, Chickens, Eyes, Candles) (1975)
Short Films 1975: #5 (Niagara Falls) (1975)
Short Films 1975: #4 (Jane’s Memory) (1975)
Short Films 1975: #2 (Dante’s Styx) (1975)
Short Films 1975: #3 (Hollis Frampton) (1975)
Short Films 1975: #1 (Jane’s Memory) (1975)
Short Films 1975 (1975)
Short Films 1975: #10 (Painted Lightning) (1975)
The Stars Are Beautiful (1974)
The Text of Light (1974)
Hymn to Her (1974)
Star Garden (1974)
Flight (1974)
Aquarien (1974)
Dominion (1974)
Skein (1974)
“He was born, he suffered, he died.” (1974)
Clancy (1974)
Sol (1974)
Gift (1973)
Sexual Meditation: Open Field (1973)
Sincerity I (1973)
The Women (1973)
The Riddle of Lumen (1972)
The Process (1972)
Screening Room (1972)
Sexual Meditation: Faun's Room, Yale (1972)
Sexual Meditation: Office Suite (1972)
Reality's Invisible (1972)
The Shores of Phos: A Fable (1972)
Sexual Meditation: Hotel (1972)
The Presence (1972)
Wecht (1972)
The Wold Shadow (1972)
Eye Myth Educational (1972)
Deus Ex (1971)
The Trip to Door (1971)
Fox Fire Child Watch (1971)
The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (1971)
Sexual Meditation: Room with View (1971)
The Peaceable Kingdom (1971)
Angels' (1971)
Western History (1971)
Door (1971)
Eyes (1970)
The Machine of Eden (1970)
The Weir-Falcon Saga (1970)
The Animals of Eden and After (1970)
Scenes from Under Childhood (1970)
Scenes from Under Childhood, Section Four (1970)
Sexual Meditation #1: Motel (1970)
Scenes from Under Childhood, Section Three (1969)
Brakhage Crosses Central Park (1969)
Scenes from Under Childhood, Section Two (1969)
Nuptiae (1969)
Song 27 (Part II) Rivers (1969)
Song 28 (1969)
Window Suite of Children's Songs (1969)
Filmmakers (1969)
Song 29 (1969)
American 30's Song (1969)
Scenes from Under Childhood, Section One (1968)
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches (1968)
Song 26 (1968)
The Horseman, the Woman, and the Moth (1968)
Lovemaking (1968)
My Mountain Song 27 (1968)
Eye Myth (1967)
Song 25 (1967)
Song 24 (1967)
23rd Psalm Branch (1967)
23rd Psalm Branch: Part II (1967)
23rd Psalm Branch: Part I (1967)
For Life, Against the War (1967)
Song 22 (1966)
Song 21 (1966)
Song 20 (1966)
Song 19 (1966)
Song 18 (1966)
Song 16 (1966)
Song 17 (1966)
Pasht (1966)
Two: Creeley/McClure (1965)
Fire of Waters (1965)
Three Films: Blue White/Bloodstone/Vein (1965)
Brakhage on Film (1965)
Song 14 (1965)
Song 13 (1965)
Song 12 (1965)
15 Song Traits (1965)
Song 11 (1965)
Black Vision (1965)
The Art of Vision (1965)
Song 9 (1965)
Song 10 (1965)
Dog Star Man (1965)
Female Mystique and Spare Leaves (for Gordon) (1965)
Dog Star Man: Part III (1964)
Dog Star Man: Part IV (1964)
Song 7 (1964)
Song 6 (1964)
Song 4 (1964)
Song 2 (1964)
Song 1 (1964)
Song 8 (1964)
Song 5 (1964)
Song 3 (1964)
Mothlight (1963)
Oh Life - a Woe Story - the A Test News (1963)
Dog Star Man: Part I (1963)
Dog Star Man: Part II (1963)
Blue Moses (1962)
Prelude: Dog Star Man (1962)
Silent Sound Sense Stars Subotnick and Sender (1962)
Mr. Tompkins Inside Himself (1962)
Thigh Line Lyre Triangular (1961)
Films by Stan Brakhage: An Avant-Garde Home Movie (1961)
Ballad of the Colorado Ute (1961)
The Dead (1960)
Colorado Legend (1960)
Sirius Remembered (1959)
Window Water Baby Moving (1959)
Wedlock House: An Intercourse (1959)
Cat's Cradle (1959)
Anticipation of the Night (1958)
Loving (1957)
Daybreak and Whiteye (1957)
Flesh of Morning (1956)
Zone Moment (1956)
Nightcats (1956)
The One Romantic Venture of Edward (1956)
Trumpit (1956)
The Wonder Ring (1955)
Untitled Film of Geoffrey Holder's Wedding (1955)
Reflections on Black (1955)
Centuries of June (1955)
In Between (1955)
The Extraordinary Child (1954)
The Way to Shadow Garden (1954)
Desistfilm (1954)
Unglassed Windows Cast a Terrible Reflection (1953)
The Boy and the Sea (1953)
Interim (1952)
By Brakhage: An Anthology
Persian Series 1-5
Ratings
Gallery
Information
Known ForDirecting
GenderMale
Birthday1933-01-14
Deathday2003-03-09 (70 years old)
Birth NameRobert Sanders
Birth PlaceKansas City, Missouri, United States of America
CitizenshipsUnited States of America
Also Known AsJames Stanley Brakhage, 스탠 브래키지, スタン・ブラッケージ, 斯坦·布拉哈格, Стэн Брэкидж, სტენ ბრეკიჯი
AwardsMaya Deren Award, Guggenheim Fellowship
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