The Living Theater and the New American Cinema: NEWSREEL: JONAS IN THE BRIG, THE BRIG, STREET SONGS

The Living Theater and the New American Cinema:
THE BRIG, STREET SONGS, NEWSREEL JONAS IN THE BRIG

Friday, September 18, 10:00 PM
All screenings are at the Millennium Film Workshop,
66 East 4th Street, NY NY 10003.
Programs are subject to change.
Advance Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79742
Admission: $10 to benefit the HOWL ! HELP Fund
Cash only tickets available at the door two hours before showtime.

HOWL ! ARTS PROJECT 2009: FILM SERIES presents
The Living Theater and the New American Cinema

Introduction by Jonas Mekas, filmmaker, author, director of Anthology Film Archives:
NEWSREEL: JONAS IN THE BRIG, 1964, directed by Storm de Hirsch.
With Jonas Mekas and members of the Living Theatre. B/W, silent, 5 min. 16m print courtesy of the New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative.
“A newsreel of Jonas Mekas shooting his filmed version of ‘The Brig” on the set of the Living Theatre production. ” (Storm de Hirsch)

THE BRIG, 1963, directed by Jonas Mekas.
With members of the Living Theatre. B/W, sound, 68 min. 16mm print courtesy of the New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative.
“Part drama, part polemic, with shock-wave sound and a nightmare air that suggests Kafka with a Kodak, the movie does exactly what it sets out to do – seizes the audience by the shirtfront and slams it around from wall to wall for one grueling day in a Marine Corps lockup.” (Time Magazine)

STREET SONGS, 1983, directed by Jonas Mekas.
With Julian Beck and members of the Living Theatre. B/W, sound, 10 min. 16mm print courtesy of The New York Film-Makers Cooperative.
“Made in 1966/1983 ‘STREET SONGS’ is a 1966 performance, in France, of a section of the Living Theater’s ‘Mysteries and Smaller Pieces.” Based on a chance-determined scenario written by Jackson Maclow in 1961, STREET SONGS weaves militant political chants into a mandala of mantras. Julian Beck sits cross legged on an empty stage; the slogan he repeats – ‘Free All Men! Ban the Bomb! Stop the War! Free the Blacks! Change the World!’ – are both meditation and calls to action, as a crowd of voices answers each slogan and actors join him on stage to pace in a circle, clasp one another’s shoulders and collectively breathe ‘Ohmm…’” (the Village Voice)

Photo credit: The Brig film still by Jonas Mekas. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Copyright Jonas Mekas.

In and Around Tompkins Square Park: B/SIDE, WHAT ABOUT ME

In and Around Tompkins Square Park: B/SIDE, WHAT ABOUT ME
Friday, September 18, 7:00 PM
All screenings are at the Millennium Film Workshop,
66 East 4th Street, NY NY 10003.
Programs are subject to change.
Advance Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79727
Admission: $10 to benefit the HOWL ! HELP Fund
Cash only tickets available at the door two hours before showtime.

HOWL ! ARTS PROJECT 2009: FILM SERIES presents
In and Around Tompkins Square Park

B/SIDE, 1996, directed by Abigail Child.
Color and b/w, sound, 40 min. 16mm print courtesy of the New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative.
“Framed by on New York's Lower East Side, where some of the homeless of Tompkins Square Park settled after the riots of June 1991, the movie begins with the encampment's first night and ends with the fire and subsequent destruction of the lot in October of the same year. Applying rhythmic construction, poetic license and a generous eye to bodies in poverty, B/SIDE documents a gritty vision of late 20th century urban life.” (New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative Catalogue)

Introduction by Rachel Amodeo, filmmaker:
WHAT ABOUT ME, 1993, directed by Rachel Amodeo. Cast: Rachel Amodeo, Judy Carne, Gregory Corso, Richard Edson, Richard Hell, John Peter Melendez, Jerry Nolan, Dee Dee Ramone, Rockets Redglare, Johnny Thunders, Nick Zedd. B/W, sound, 87 min. 16mm print courtesy of the New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative.
“WHAT ABOUT ME tells the story of a young woman, Lisa Napolitano (Rachel Amodeo), who through uncontrollable circumstances, finds herself homeless in New York City. The film portrays her gradual deterioration as she exists on the streets, intermingling with outcasts of society. Along the ways she encounters a shell-shocked Vietnam veteran, Nick (Richard Edson); a nihilistic east-villager, Tom (Nick Zedd); and a sympathetic good samaritan, Paul (Richard Hell). WHAT ABOUT ME was shot on location in the Lower East Side and Tompkins Square Park.” (New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative Catalogue)

Jack Smith and the Lower East Side (as seen by Ken Jacobs): BLONDE COBRA, FLAMING CREATURES

Jack Smith and the Lower East Side (as seen by Ken Jacobs):
BLONDE COBRA, FLAMING CREATURES
Thursday, September 17, 10:00 PM
All screenings are at the Millennium Film Workshop,
66 East 4th Street, NY NY 10003.
Programs are subject to change.
Advance Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79753
Admission: $10
Cash only tickets available at the door two hours before showtime.
Recommended for adults only. Ages 18 +.

HOWL ! ARTS PROJECT 2009: FILM SERIES presents
Jack Smith and the Lower East Side (as Seen by Ken Jacobs)
Introduction by Ken Jacobs, filmmaker:
BLONDE COBRA, 1963, directed by Ken Jacobs, based on images gathered by Bob Fleischner. Cast: Jack Smith. B/W, sound, 16mm. 33 min. 16mm print courtesy of the New York Film-Makers’ Coop.
“BLONDE COBRA is an erratic narrative – no, not really a narrative, it’s only stretched out in time for convenience of delivery. It’s a look in on an exploding life, on a man of imagination suffering pre-fashionable lower East Side deprivation and consumed with American 1950s, ‘40s, ‘30s disgust. Silly, self-pitying, guilt-stricken and yet triumphing – on one level – over the situation with style, because he’s unapologetically gifted, has a genius for courage, knows that a state of indignity can serve to show his character in sharpest relief. He carries on, states his presence for what it is. Does all he can to draw out our condemnation, testing our love for limits, enticing us into an absurd moral posture the better to dismiss us with a regal ‘screw-off’.” (Ken Jacobs)

FLAMING CREATURES, 1963, directed by Jack Smith. Cast: Francis Francine, Sheila Bick, Joel Markman, Dolores Flores, Arnold, Judith Malina, Marian Zazeela. B/W, sound, 16mm. 42 min. 16mm print courtesy of the New York Film-Makers’ Coop.
“Jack Smith has graced the anarchic liberation of new American cinema with graphic and rhythmic power worthy of the best of formal cinema. He has attained for the first time in motion pictures a high level of art which is absolutely lacking in decorum; and a treatment of sex which makes us aware of the restraint of all previous filmmakers. He has shown more clearly than anyone before how the poet’s license includes all things, not only of spirit, but also of flesh; not only of dreams and of symbol, but also of solid reality. In no other art but the movies could this have so fully been done; and their capacity was realized by Smith” (Film Culture Magazine)

Plus sequences from other films made by Ken Jacobs starring Jack Smith, including TWO WRENCHING DEPARTURES and STAR SPANGLED TO DEATH. B/W and color, sound. DVD courtesy of Ken Jacobs.

Photo credits: Blonde Cobra Film Still courtesy Ken Jacobs, used with permission, all rights reserved, Copyright Ken Jacobs.

Allen Ginsberg on Film: SCREEN TEST, COUCH, WHOLLY COMMUNION, PULL MY DAISY

Allen Ginsberg on Film: SCREEN TEST, COUCH, WHOLLY COMMUNION, PULL MY DAISY

Thursday, September 17, 7:00 PM
All screenings are at the Millennium Film Workshop,
66 East 4th Street, NY NY 10003.
Programs are subject to change.
Advance Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79647
Admission: $10 to benefit the HOWL ! HELP Fund
Cash only tickets available at the door two hours before showtime.
Curated by Jon Gartenberg.

HOWL ! ARTS PROJECT 2009: FILM SERIES presents
Allen Ginsberg on Film

Introduction by Callie Angell, Adjunct Curator, The Andy Warhol Film Project, Whitney Museum of American Art:
SCREEN TEST, 1966, directed by Andy Warhol. Cast: Allen Ginsberg. B/W, silent, 4 min. 16mm print courtesy of The Museum of Modern Art Circulating Film Library.
A portrait of Allen Ginsberg filmed by Andy Warhol on December 4, 1966. This was one of the very last of the hundreds of screen tests that Warhol shot of well-known personalities from the poetry, music, fashion, film, and other creative worlds that visited his famous Factory.

COUCH, 1964, directed by Andy Warhol.
Cast: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso, Peter Orlovsky, and others. B/W, silent, 52 min. 16mm print courtesy of The Museum of Modern Art Circulating Film Library.
“Warhol had filmed Ginsberg once before in 1964 when he shot several rolls of a historic gathering of Ginsberg and his fellow Beats Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso, and Peter Orlovsky hanging out in and around the Factory couch.” (Callie Angell)

Introduction by Paul Cronin, author, filmmaker and historian:
WHOLLY COMMUNION, 1965, Peter Whitehead. Cast: Gregory Corso, Harry Fanlight, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Michael Horovitz, Ernst Jandl, Christopher Logue, Adrian Mitchell, Alexander Trocchi. B/W, sound, 35 min. 16mm print courtesy of the Reserve Film and Video Collection of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, with the permission of Contemporary Films, London.
“Peter Whitehead captures the unexpected, the intensity and the excitement of a Happening, as 7000 people jam into London’s Albert Hall on June 11, 1965 for four hours of poetry reading by many Beat poets.” (New York Public Library Catalogue)
Excerpts from IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE IMAGE: CONVERSATIONS WITH PETER WHITEHEAD, 2006, directed by Paul Cronin. Cast: Peter Whitehead. B/W and color, sound. DVD courtesy of Paul Cronin.
Historian/filmmaker Paul Cronin interviews Peter Whitehead, the filmmaker of WHOLLY COMMUNION, about the significance of this unique Beat poetry event.

PULL MY DAISY, 1959, directed by Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie. Cast: Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Larry Rivers, Peter Orlovsky, David Amram, Richard Bellamy, Alice Neel, Sally Gross, Pablo Frank, Denise Parker, Delphine Seyrig, Jack Kerouac (narrator), Music by David Amram. B/W, sound, 29 min. 16mm print courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
“PULL MY DAISY is a classic look at the soul of the beat generation, made with writers Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, and painters Alfred Lesllie, Larry Rivers, and Alice Neel. It was written and narrated by Kerouac, based on his unproduced play ‘The Beat Generation.’ It tells the story of a bishop (Richard Bellamy) and his mother (Alice Neel) who pay a visit to Milo, a railroad worker. At the same time his poet friends, Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, and Gregory Corso, hang around quizzing the bishop about the meaning of life and its everyday relationship to art and poetry.” (Museum of Fine Arts catalogue)

Photo credits: top to bottom: Allen Ginsberg in Wholly Communion by Peter Whitehead,
used with permission, all rights reserved, copyright Peter Whitehead. Pull My Daisy film still by Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie, used with permission, all rights reserved, copyright Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie.

HOWL ! ARTS PROJECT 2009: FILM SERIES

HOWL ! ARTS PROJECT 2009: FILM SERIES
Thursday Sept 17-Sunday Sept 20
to benefit the HOWL ! HELP Fund.
Curated by Jon Gartenberg.

Allen Ginsberg on Film:
SCREEN TEST, 1966, directed by Andy Warhol.
COUCH, 1964, directed by Andy Warhol.
WHOLLY COMMUNION, 1965, Peter Whitehead.
Excerpts from IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE IMAGE: CONVERSATIONS WITH PETER WHITEHEAD, 2006, directed by Paul Cronin.
PULL MY DAISY, 1959, directed by Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie.
Thursday, September 17, 7:00 PM
All screenings are at the Millennium Film Workshop,
66 East 4th Street, NY NY 10003.
Programs are subject to change.
Advance Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79647
Admission: $10
____________________________________________________________

Jack Smith and the Lower East Side (as Seen by Ken Jacobs)*:
BLONDE COBRA, 1963, directed by Ken Jacobs, based on images
gathered by Bob Fleischner.
FLAMING CREATURES, 1963, directed by Jack Smith.
Plus sequences from TWO WRENCHING DEPARTURES and
STAR SPANGLED TO DEATH.
*Introduction by Ken Jacobs, filmmaker
Thursday, September 17, 10:00 PM
All screenings are at the Millennium Film Workshop,
66 East 4th Street, NY NY 10003.
Programs are subject to change.
Advance Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79753
Admission: $10
Recommended for adults only. Ages 18 +.
_______________________________________

In and Around Tompkins Square Park:
B/SIDE, 1996, directed by Abigail Child.
WHAT ABOUT ME, 1993, directed by Rachel Amodeo.*
*Introduction by Rachel Amodeo, filmmaker
Friday, September 18, 7:00 PM
All screenings are at the Millennium Film Workshop,
66 East 4th Street, NY NY 10003.
Programs are subject to change.
Advance Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79727
Admission: $10
_______________________________________________

The Living Theater and the New American Cinema:
NEWSREEL: JONAS IN THE BRIG, 1964, directed by Storm de Hirsch.
THE BRIG, 1963, directed by Jonas Mekas.
STREET SONGS, 1983, directed by Jonas Mekas.
Friday, September 18, 10:00 PM
All screenings are at the Millennium Film Workshop,
66 East 4th Street, NY NY 10003.
Programs are subject to change.
Advance Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79742
Admission: $10
_________________________


______________________________________________________

Punk Rock, Forever !
THE BLANK GENERATION, 1976, directed by Amos Poe and Ivan Kral.*
SOUL CITY, 1979, directed by M. Henry Jones.*
PUNKING OUT, 1979, directed by Maggie Carson*, Juliusz Kossakowski,
and Fredric A. Shore.
*Introduced by Amos Poe and Ivan Kral; introduced by M. Henry Jones; introduced by Maggie Carson (respectively).
Saturday, September 19, 10:00 PM
All screenings are at the Millennium Film Workshop,
66 East 4th Street, NY NY 10003.
Programs are subject to change.
Advance Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79930
Admission: $10
_______________________________________________________

A Moveable Feast: A Tribute to the NY Film Makers’ Coop
Part 1: Filmmakers Speak !
MOVING IMAGES – THE FILM-MAKERS’ COOPERATIVE RELOCATES, 2001. directed by Joel Schlemowitz.
SERRA’S MORNING, 2001, directed by Saul Levine.*
VIET-FLAKES (1966), directed by Carolee Schneemann.*
FRAGMENTS (1967), directed by Mike Kuchar.
ANGEL BLUE SWEET WINGS (1966), directed by Chick Strand.*
BRIDGES-GO-ROUND (1958), directed by Shirley Clarke.*
SCOTCH TAPE (1962), directed by Jack Smith.*
COMMINGLED CONTAINERS (1996), directed by Stan Brakhage.*
CARTOON LE MOUSSE (1979), directed by Chick Strand.*
THE WHIRLED, 1961, directed by Ken Jacobs.*
* Introduction by Saul Levine, filmmaker:
* Introduction by M.M. Serra (VIET-FLAKES ,1966)
* Introduction by Lynne Sachs (ANGEL BLUE SWEET WINGS, 1966)
* Introduction by Donna Cameron (BRIDGES-GO-ROUND,1958)
* Introduction by Anne Hanavan (SCOTCH TAPE, 1962)
* Introduction by Scott Nyerges (COMMINGLED CONTAINERS,1996)
* Introduction by Bradley Eros (CARTOON LE MOUSSE, 1979)
* Introduction by Colen Fitzgibbon (THE WHIRLED, 1961)
Sunday, September 20, 7 PM
All screenings are at the Millennium Film Workshop,
66 East 4th Street, NY NY 10003.
Programs are subject to change.
Advance tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/81666
Admission: $10
_______________________________________________________

A Moveable Feast: A Tribute to the NY Film Makers’ Coop
Part 2: Through the Decades
GHOSTS BEFORE BREAKFAST (1927-28), directed by Hans Richter.
HAITI (1938), directed by Rudy Burckhardt.
RITUAL IN TRANSFIGURED TIME (1946), directed by Maya Deren.
GLIMPSE OF THE GARDEN (1957), directed by Marie Menken.
HOLD ME WHILE I’M NAKED (1966), directed by George Kuchar.
THE RIDDLE OF LUMEN (1972), directed by Stan Brakhage.
DHPG MON AMOUR (1989), directed by Carl Michael George.
THE FILM OF HER (1996), directed by Bill Morrison.
MEET ME IN WICHITA (2007), directed by Martha Colburn.
Sunday, September 20, 10 PM
All screenings are at the Millennium Film Workshop,
66 East 4th Street, NY NY 10003.
Programs are subject to change.
Advance tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/81669
Admission: $10
______________________________________________________

For more information: www.eastvillagehowler.blogspot.com
For advance tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com
Cash only tickets available 2 hours before showtime at the door
if available.

Photo credit:
Film Still: THE BLANK GENERATION,1976,directed by
Amos Poe and Ivan Kral.
Copyright the film-makers. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Film Still: MOVING IMAGES – THE FILM-MAKERS’ COOPERATIVE RELOCATES, 2001,directed by Joel Schlemowitz.
Copyright the film-makers. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Film Still: PULL MY DAISY, 1959, directed by Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie.
Copyright the film-makers. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

A Moveable Feast: A Tribute to the New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative Part 2: Through the Decades

A Moveable Feast: A Tribute to the New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative
Part 2: Through the Decades
Sunday, September 20, 10 PM
All screenings are at the Millennium Film Workshop,
66 East 4th Street, NY NY 10003.
Programs are subject to change.
Advance tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/81669
Admission: $10

HOWL ! ARTS PROJECT 2009: FILM SERIES presents
A Tribute to the NY Film-Makers’ Cooperative Part 2:
Through the Decades

Introduction by Jon Gartenberg, Curator, Howl Film Festival, and M.M. Serra, Executive Director, New York Film-Makers’ Coop:

This program also celebrates almost a half-century of the Coop’s existence, and the archive of more than 5,000 films that it makes available for distribution. These films and videos date from 1921 to the present, and this program presents a brief (by no means comprehensive) survey by decade of the creative richness of the films in the Coop’s collection. All films and videos courtesy of the New York Film-Makers’ Coop.

GHOSTS BEFORE BREAKFAST (1927-28), directed by Hans Richter.
B/W, Sound, 6 min. (16mm print)
"Pure vintage dada. A humorous, delightful, grotesque in which ordinary objects rebel against their daily routine and, for a brief period of liberation, fallow their own laws. A bow-tie undoes itself, bowler hats float gracefully through the air, coffee cups leap from a tray to smash themselves on the ground, and so forth. At the stroke of noon, they return to their normal functional state. GHOSTS BEFORE BREAKFAST represents one of the earliest collaborations between avant-garde filmmaker and composer: Paul Hindemith's score accompanied the film when it was first shown at an avent-garde music festival in Baden-Baden in 1928." (Standish D. Lawder)

HAITI (1938), directed by Rudy Burckhardt.
B/W, Sound, 15 min. (16mm print)
“A young Swiss with a curious eye looks at this tropical black island world, savoring the difference.” (New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative Catalogue)

RITUAL IN TRANSFIGURED TIME (1946), directed by Maya Deren.
B/W, Sound, 15 min. (16mm print)
In Maya Deren's RITUAL IN TRANSFIGURED TIME we have gestures that invite us to move into step with them, abandoning the comfort of the known and giving ourselves over to so many strange partners. This silent short begins in a domestic environment, moves to a party scene, and ends with modern dance performed in an outdoor setting. The film's continuity is established by an emphasis on gesture and/or dance throughout.” (New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative Catalogue)

GLIMPSE OF THE GARDEN (1957), directed by Marie Menken.
Color, sound, 5 min. (16mm print)
"A lyric, tender, intensely subjective exploration of a flower garden, with extreme magnification, flashing color harmonies." (Cinema 16)

HOLD ME WHILE I’M NAKED (1966), directed by George Kuchar.
Color, Sound, 15 min. (16mm print)
"A very direct and subtle, very sad and funny look at nothing more or less than sexual frustration and aloneness. In its economy and cogency of imaging, HOLD ME surpasses any of Kuchar's previous work. The odd blend of Hollywood glamour and drama with all-too-real life creates and inspires counterpoint of unattainable desire against unbearable actuality." (Ken Kelman)

THE RIDDLE OF LUMEN (1972), directed by Stan Brakhage.
Color, Silent, 13 min. (16mm print)
The classical riddle was meant to be heard, of course. Its answers are contained within its questions; and on the smallest piece of itself this possibility depends upon sound -- 'utterly,' like they say... the pun is its pivot. Therefore, my RIDDLE OF LUMEN depends upon qualities of light. All films do, of course. But with THE RIDDLE OF LUMEN, 'the hero' of the film is light/itself. It is a film I'd long wanted to make -- inspired by the sense, and specific formal possibilities, of the classical English language riddle... only one appropriate to film and, thus, as distinct from language as I could make it.” (Stan Brakhage)

DHPG MON AMOUR (1989), directed by Carl Michael George.
Color, Sound, 12 min. (super 8mm blowup to 16mm print)
A Super-8 homestyle movie which explores the radical advances made by PWA's (People With AIDS), in developing their own health care. Focusing precisely on the ordinary minutiae of David Conover and Joe Walsh's daily life, DHPG Mon Amour shows the struggle for self-determination and control over one's own body, and resonates on an intimate and more broadly political level.” (New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative Catalogue)

THE FILM OF HER (1996), directed by Bill Morrison.
B/W, Sound, 12 min. (16mm print)
"...Morrison's THE FILM OF HER is based on the story of a Library on Congress clerk who saved a vaultful of paper reels, documenting the earliest days of cinema, from the incinerator. A gorgeous tribute to the art form's origins, this 12-minute short is anchored by the memory of this man, who has fixed in his mind since boyhood the image of a woman he saw in an early porn film. 'The Film of Her' is what drives the clerk to save the films, this collective memory, and it also serves as the focal point for Morrison's thoughts on personal experience and the happenstance of history. Drawing comparisons between the primordial ooze and the elemental flicker of a light projector, or between Lumiere babes, magic a la Melies, and the gears of industry, Morrison reminds us that even the most brilliant and brave creations begin as cherished ideas nurtured in dedicated imaginations and subjected to the whims of chance." ( Hazel-Dawn Dumpert, L.A. Weekly)

MEET ME IN WICHITA (2007), directed by Martha Colburn.
Color, Sound, 8 min. (DVD)
“This work throws Osama Bin Laden into the fairytale Land of Oz. A combination of watercolors, collage and paint on glass animation, this film is a play between fact, fiction, politics , fantasy, terror and morality.” (New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative Catalogue)

A Moveable Feast: A Tribute to the New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative Part 1: Filmmakers Speak!

A Moveable Feast: A Tribute to the New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative
Part 1: Filmmakers Speak!
Sunday, September 20, 7 PM
All screenings are at the Millennium Film Workshop,
66 East 4th Street, NY NY 10003.
Programs are subject to change.
Advance tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/81666
Admission: $10

HOWL ! ARTS PROJECT 2009: FILM SERIES presents
A Tribute to the NY Film Maker’s Coop Part 1: Filmmakers Speak !


This program celebrates almost a half-century of the Coop’s existence, and the archive of more than 5,000 films that it makes available for distribution.

The Film-Makers' Cooperative, founded in 1962 as a filmmaker-run distribution center, is now the largest archive and distributor of independent and avant-garde films in the world. Since 1967 the Coop had its offices at Lexington Ave and 31st Street New York City. It then relocated to the Clocktower Gallery at 108 Leonard Street, and is currently in the process of moving to a new state-of-the-art facility at 475 Park Avenue South, thanks to the generosity of real estate developer Charles S. Cohen. All films and videos courtesy of the New York Film-Makers’ Coop.

Introduction by Jonas Mekas, founder of the New American Cinema Group and the New York Film-Makers Coop:
SPECIAL SURPRISE SCREENING, presented by Jonas Mekas

MOVING IMAGES – THE FILM-MAKERS’ COOPERATIVE RELOCATES, 2001. directed by Joel Schlemowitz.
Cast: M.M. Serra (voiceover), Jonas Mekas (voiceover). Color, sound, 14 min. (16mm print)
“The day the Film-Makers' Cooperative was forced by loss of lease to move from their offices at Lexington Ave and 31st Street in New York City filmmaker and Coop member Joel Schlemowitz showed up with a camera to document the historic moment. Rather than record the event per se, a freewheeling use of roving handheld, time lapse and double exposure were employed to create a visually evocative, impressionistic documentary about the Film-Makers' Cooperative. On the soundtrack Jonas Mekas, one of the Coop's founders, and MM Serra, the current executive director, describe the Coop's beginnings, the organization's recent struggles, and the difficulties of finding space for the arts.” (New York Flm-Makers Cooperative Catalogue)

Introduction by Saul Levine, filmmaker:
SERRA’S MORNING, 2001, directed by Saul Levine.
Cast: M.M. Serra. Color, sound, 10 min. (VHS video)
“Director of the Film-makers Coop M.M. Serra recollects her morning on September 11, 2001. The Coop is a few blocks from the New York Worlds Trade Center. The tape was shot a month after, while we were waiting to have lunch together.” (Saul Levine)

Followed by a presentation and screening from each current Coop filmmaker Board member of a work from the collection that has influenced his or her work.

Introduction by M.M. Serra,
filmmaker and Executive Director, The New York Film-Makers’ Coop:
VIET-FLAKES (1966), directed by Carolee Schneemann.
B/W, sound, 11 min. (16mm print)
“VIET-FLAKES was central in ‘Snows,’ the Kinetic Theater work I presented at the Martinique Theater, New York, 1966, in conjunction with Angry Arts Week. ‘Snows’ concretized imagery and the denied ravages of the war and did its part in heightening moral outrage at the endless destruction. James Tenney's sound collage intercuts three-second fragments of Vietnamese religious chants and secular songs with fragments of Bach and 1960s ‘Top of the Charts.’” (Carolee Schneemann)

Selection by Jack Waters, filmmaker and Coop Board Member:
FRAGMENTS (1967), directed by Mike Kuchar.
Color, sound, 10 min. (16mm print)
“A visual drift into the realm of electric colors, sensual curves and dark, dank grasslands, where one is lost with himself.” (New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative Catalogue).

Introduction by Lynne Sachs, filmmaker and Coop Board Member:
ANGEL BLUE SWEET WINGS (1966), directed by Chick Strand.
Color, sound, 4 min. (16mm print)
“A visual drift into the realm of electric colors, sensual curves and dark, dank grasslands, where one is lost with himself.” (New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative Catalogue).

Introduction by Donna Cameron, filmmaker and Coop Board Member:
BRIDGES-GO-ROUND (1958), directed by Shirley Clarke.
Color, sound, 7 min. (16mm print)
“In this film Manhattan Island becomes a maypole around which its bridges, detached from moorings, execute a bewitched and beguiling dance. The filmmaker has magically set them dancing to two different music tracks – an electroic score by the Barrons and a jazz score by Teo Macero. Each track affects the viewer’s response to the imagery of the film differently.” (Donna Cameron)

Introduction by Anne Hanavan, filmmaker and Coop Board Member:
SCOTCH TAPE (1962), directed by Jack Smith.
Color, sound, 3 min. (16mm print)
“16mm Kodachrome shot on the rubble strewn site of the future Lincoln Center. The title arises from the piece of scotch tape which had become wedged in the camera gate.” (New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative Catalogue)

Introduction by Scott Nyerges, filmmaker and Coop Board Member:
COMMINGLED CONTAINERS (1996), directed by Stan Brakhage.
Color, silent, 3 min. (16mm print)
“The film begins with anamorphic lens vision of water, prismatically etched dark blue needles of watery turbulence shifting radically in sudden twists of the anamorphic lens. . . a sense of a violently roughened surface to a stream which cuts to a darkened quietude of gently evolving under-water bubbles, pulsing like living entities. The entire film juxtaposes its water surface tensions and its under-water pulsing forms of light, its blues of water surface reflecting sky, and whites of watery turbulence, and its sub surface world of quiet whites yellows and oranges, ending finally on a surface shot which resolves these tones.” (New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative Catalogue)

Introduction by Bradley Eros, filmmaker and Coop Board Member:
CARTOON LE MOUSSE (1979), directed by Chick Strand.
Color, sound, 12 min. (16mm print)
"Chick Strand is a prolific and prodigiously gifted film artist who seems to break new ground with each new work. Her recent ‘found footage’ works such as CARTOON LE MOUSSE, are extraordinarily beautiful, moving, visionary pieces that push this genre into previously unexplored territory. If poetry is the art of making evocative connections between otherwise dissimilar phenomena, then Chick Strand is a great poet, for these films transcend their material to create a surreal and sublime universe beyond reason." (Gene Youngblood)

Introduction by Colen Fitzgibbon, filmmaker and Coop Board Member
THE WHIRLED, 1961, directed by Ken Jacobs.
Color and B/W, sound, 4 min. (16mm print)
“The following films are early images of Jack Smith: 1) SATURDAY AFTERNOON BLOOD SACRIFICE (1956); 2) LITTLE COBRA DANCE (1956); 3) HUNCH YOUR BACK (1963); 4) DEATH OF P’TOWN (1961). The first two shorts were shot around Jack's loft on Reade Street on two 100' rolls (Sunday morning, following Saturday's sacrifice, I saw there was another 50' left) in an impromptu way very different from my initial fastidious art-film approach. I would never be an art-film true-believer again. In 1963 a snatch of ‘Saturday Afternoon...’ was shown on TV when I was somehow invited to participate in a TV quiz program called HUNCH YOUR BACK (‘Back Your Hunch’). After years of shooting my raging epic STAR SPANGLED TO DEATH starring Jack as The Spirit Not of Life But of Living, and after a few months of being on the outs with each other, we got together for one last stab at friendship and the making of a film in Provincetown, Summer of '61.” (Ken Jacobs)

Introduction by Ghen Zando-Dennis, filmmaker and Coop board Member:
CECI N’EST PAS (1997), directed by Jeanne Liotta. B/W, Sound, 7 min. (super 8mm blowup to 16mm print).
“Hand-developed and unedited, this roll lived in my camera from March to May 1995: A trip to New Orleans, a train ride, the death of a dear friend and artist. This film is the author of itself; its trace function leaves me behind.” (New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative Catalogue).

Punk Rock, Forever ! : THE BLANK GENERATION, SOUL CITY, PUNKING OUT

Saturday, September 19, 10:00 PM
All screenings are at the Millennium Film Workshop,
66 East 4th Street, NY NY 10003.
Programs are subject to change.
Advance Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79930
Admission: $10

HOWL ! ARTS PROJECT 2009: FILM SERIES presents
Punk Rock, Forever !

Introduction by Amos Poe and Ivan Kral filmmakers:
THE BLANK GENERATION, 1976, directed by Amos Poe and Ivan Kral. Cast: Patti Smith Group, Television, Ramones, The Heartbreakers, Talking Heads, Blondie, Harry Toledo, Marbles, Tuff Darts, Wayne County, Miamis, New York Dolls, The Shirts. B/W, sound. 55 min. 16mm print courtesy of Amos Poe.
“In 1976 Ivan Kral joined the Patti Smith Group and became friendly with underground filmmaker Amos Poe. Poe and Kral were both interested in the punk rock scenes that was just beginning to emerge in New York City at venues like CBGB and Max’s Kansas City, and they began bringing cameras to shows, shooting silent footage of bands who were beginning to develop potent reputations in the rock underground. Poe and Kral married their silent footage with live tapes or demo recordings of the bands (most of whom had yet to release a record) to create a deliberately rough audio-visual record of the burgeoning punk scene.” (Wikipedia)

Introduction by M. Henry Jones, filmmaker:
SOUL CITY, 1979, directed by M. Henry Jones. Cast: The Fleshtones. Color, sound. 2 min. 16mm print courtesy of the New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative.
“In Henry Jones' words, this film is intended to, ‘Visually counterpoint the music of a subculture.’ Punk rock group FLESHTONES perform the song "Soul City," as tiny black & white cut-out figures, (with hand-tinted flesh tones), against a flickering background of brilliant color. In SOUL CITY, Jones 'recycled' the same basic movements of his subjects by reconstructing totally new motions from the same severely limited amount of footage. This was done through alteration of perspective, and reversal of selected movements at varying intervals. The number of movements a subject can make, artificially created from a few basics, becomes almost limitless.” (Bikini Girl Magazine)

Introduction by Maggie Carson, filmmaker:
PUNKING OUT, 1979, directed by Maggie Carson, Juliusz Kossakowski, and Fredric A. Shore. Cast: Stiv Bators, Cheetah Chrome, Richard Hell, Hilly Kristal, Lydia Lunch, Dee Dee Ramone, Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone, Helen Wheels. B/W, sound, 25 min. 16mm print courtesy of the Reserve Film and Video Collection of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, with the permission of Ric Shore, Managing Producer. Punking Out has been preserved with funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
“Documents the beginning of the punk rock movement in New York City at CBGB’s, a punk night club, and the lifestyle that revolves around this scene. Presents a sometimes shocking look at the attitudes and motivations behind the movement through interviews with outspoken club-goers and band members of the Ramones, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, and the Dead Boys.” (New York Public Library Catalogue)

Jack Smith and The Lower East Side (as Seen by Ken Jacobs): BLONDE COBRA, FLAMING CREATURES

Thursday, September 17, 10:00 PM
All screenings are at the Millennium Film Workshop,
66 East 4th Street, NY NY 10003.
Programs are subject to change.
Advance Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79753
Admission: $10
Recommended for adults only. Ages 18 +.

HOWL ! ARTS PROJECT 2009: FILM SERIES presents
Jack Smith and the Lower East Side (as Seen by Ken Jacobs)
Introduction by Ken Jacobs, filmmaker:
BLONDE COBRA, 1963, directed by Ken Jacobs, based on images gathered by Bob Fleischner. Cast: Jack Smith. B/W, sound, 16mm. 33 min. 16mm print courtesy of the New York Film-Makers’ Coop.
“BLONDE COBRA is an erratic narrative – no, not really a narrative, it’s only stretched out in time for convenience of delivery. It’s a look in on an exploding life, on a man of imagination suffering pre-fashionable lower East Side deprivation and consumed with American 1950s, ‘40s, ‘30s disgust. Silly, self-pitying, guilt-stricken and yet triumphing – on one level – over the situation with style, because he’s unapologetically gifted, has a genius for courage, knows that a state of indignity can serve to show his character in sharpest relief. He carries on, states his presence for what it is. Does all he can to draw out our condemnation, testing our love for limits, enticing us into an absurd moral posture the better to dismiss us with a regal ‘screw-off’.” (Ken Jacobs)

FLAMING CREATURES, 1963, directed by Jack Smith. Cast: Francis Francine, Sheila Bick, Joel Markman, Dolores Flores, Arnold, Judith Malina, Marian Zazeela. B/W, sound, 16mm. 42 min. 16mm print courtesy of the New York Film-Makers’ Coop.
“Jack Smith has graced the anarchic liberation of new American cinema with graphic and rhythmic power worthy of the best of formal cinema. He has attained for the first time in motion pictures a high level of art which is absolutely lacking in decorum; and a treatment of sex which makes us aware of the restraint of all previous filmmakers. He has shown more clearly than anyone before how the poet’s license includes all things, not only of spirit, but also of flesh; not only of dreams and of symbol, but also of solid reality. In no other art but the movies could this have so fully been done; and their capacity was realized by Smith” (Film Culture Magazine)

Plus sequences from other films made by Ken Jacobs starring Jack Smith, including TWO WRENCHING DEPARTURES and STAR SPANGLED TO DEATH. B/W and color, sound. DVD courtesy of Ken Jacobs.

The Living Theater and the New American Cinema: NEWSREEL: JONAS IN THE BRIG, THE BRIG, STREET SONGS

Friday, September 18, 10:00 PM
All screenings are at the Millennium Film Workshop,
66 East 4th Street, NY NY 10003.
Programs are subject to change.
Advance Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79742
Admission: $10

HOWL ! ARTS PROJECT 2009: FILM SERIES presents
The Living Theater and the New American Cinema

NEWSREEL: JONAS IN THE BRIG, 1964, directed by Storm de Hirsch. With Jonas Mekas and members of the Living Theatre. B/W, silent, 5 min. 16m print courtesy of the New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative.
“A newsreel of Jonas Mekas shooting his filmed version of ‘The Brig” on the set of the Living Theatre production. ” (Storm de Hirsch)

THE BRIG, 1963, directed by Jonas Mekas. With members of the Living Theatre. B/W, sound, 68 min. 16mm print courtesy of the New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative.
“Part drama, part polemic, with shock-wave sound and a nightmare air that suggests Kafka with a Kodak, the movie does exactly what it sets out to do – seizes the audience by the shirtfront and slams it around from wall to wall for one grueling day in a Marine Corps lockup.” (Time Magazine)

STREET SONGS, 1983, directed by Jonas Mekas. With Julian Beck and members of the Living Theatre. B/W, sound, 10 min. 16mm print courtesy of The New York Film-Makers Cooperative.
“Made in 1966/1983 ‘STREET SONGS’ is a 1966 performance, in France, of a section of the Living Theater’s ‘Mysteries and Smaller Pieces.” Based on a chance-determined scenario written by Jackson Maclow in 1961, STREET SONGS weaves militant political chants into a mandala of mantras. Julian Beck sits cross legged on an empty stage; the slogan he repeats – ‘Free All Men! Ban the Bomb! Stop the War! Free the Blacks! Change the World!’ – are both meditation and calls to action, as a crowd of voices answers each slogan and actors join him on stage to pace in a circle, clasp one another’s shoulders and collectively breathe ‘Ohmm…’” (the Village Voice)

In and Around Tompkins Square Park: B/SIDE, WHAT ABOUT ME

Friday, September 18, 7:00 PM
All screenings are at the Millennium Film Workshop,
66 East 4th Street, NY NY 10003.
Programs are subject to change.
Advance Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79727
Admission: $10

HOWL ! ARTS PROJECT 2009: FILM SERIES presents
In and Around Tompkins Square Park

B/SIDE, 1996, directed by Abigail Child. Color and b/w, sound, 40 min. 16mm print courtesy of the New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative.
“Framed by on New York's Lower East Side, where some of the homeless of Tompkins Square Park settled after the riots of June 1991, the movie begins with the encampment's first night and ends with the fire and subsequent destruction of the lot in October of the same year. Applying rhythmic construction, poetic license and a generous eye to bodies in poverty, B/SIDE documents a gritty vision of late 20th century urban life.” (New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative Catalogue)

Introduction by Rachel Amodeo, filmmaker:
WHAT ABOUT ME, 1993, directed by Rachel Amodeo. Cast: Rachel Amodeo, Judy Carne, Gregory Corso, Richard Edson, Richard Hell, John Peter Melendez, Jerry Nolan, Dee Dee Ramone, Rockets Redglare, Johnny Thunders, Nick Zedd. B/W, sound, 87 min. 16mm print courtesy of the New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative.
“WHAT ABOUT ME tells the story of a young woman, Lisa Napolitano (Rachel Amodeo), who through uncontrollable circumstances, finds herself homeless in New York City. The film portrays her gradual deterioration as she exists on the streets, intermingling with outcasts of society. Along the ways she encounters a shell-shocked Vietnam veteran, Nick (Richard Edson); a nihilistic east-villager, Tom (Nick Zedd); and a sympathetic good samaritan, Paul (Richard Hell). WHAT ABOUT ME was shot on location in the Lower East Side and Tompkins Square Park.” (New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative Catalogue)

Allen Ginsberg on Film: SCREEN TEST, COUCH, WHOLLY COMMUNION, PULL MY DAISY

Thursday, September 17, 7:00 PM
All screenings are at the Millennium Film Workshop,
66 East 4th Street, NY NY 10003.
Programs are subject to change.
Advance Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79647
Admission: $10

HOWL ! ARTS PROJECT 2009: FILM SERIES presents
Allen Ginsberg on Film

Introduction by Callie Angell, Adjunct Curator, The Andy Warhol Film Project, Whitney Museum of American Art:
SCREEN TEST, 1966, directed by Andy Warhol. Cast: Allen Ginsberg. B/W, silent, 4 min. 16mm print courtesy of The Museum of Modern Art Circulating Film Library.
A portrait of Allen Ginsberg filmed by Andy Warhol on December 4, 1966. This was one of the very last of the hundreds of screen tests that Warhol shot of well-known personalities from the poetry, music, fashion, film, and other creative worlds that visited his famous Factory.

COUCH, 1964, directed by Andy Warhol. Cast: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso, Peter Orlovsky, and others. B/W, silent, 52 min. 16mm print courtesy of The Museum of Modern Art Circulating Film Library.
“Warhol had filmed Ginsberg once before in 1964 when he shot several rolls of a historic gathering of Ginsberg and his fellow Beats Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso, and Peter Orlovsky hanging out in and around the Factory couch.” (Callie Angell)

Introduction by Paul Cronin, author, filmmaker and historian:
WHOLLY COMMUNION, 1965, Peter Whitehead. Cast: Gregory Corso, Harry Fanlight, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Michael Horovitz, Ernst Jandl, Christopher Logue, Adrian Mitchell, Alexander Trocchi. B/W, sound, 35 min. 16mm print courtesy of the Reserve Film and Video Collection of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, with the permission of Contemporary Films, London.
“Peter Whitehead captures the unexpected, the intensity and the excitement of a Happening, as 7000 people jam into London’s Albert Hall on June 11, 1965 for four hours of poetry reading by many Beat poets.” (New York Public Library Catalogue)
Excerpts from IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE IMAGE: CONVERSATIONS WITH PETER WHITEHEAD, 2006, directed by Paul Cronin. Cast: Peter Whitehead. B/W and color, sound. DVD courtesy of Paul Cronin.
Historian/filmmaker Paul Cronin interviews Peter Whitehead, the filmmaker of WHOLLY COMMUNION, about the significance of this unique Beat poetry event.

PULL MY DAISY, 1959, directed by Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie. Cast: Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Larry Rivers, Peter Orlovsky, David Amram, Richard Bellamy, Alice Neel, Sally Gross, Pablo Frank, Denise Parker, Delphine Seyrig, Jack Kerouac (narrator), Music by David Amram. B/W, sound, 29 min. 16mm print courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
“PULL MY DAISY is a classic look at the soul of the beat generation, made with writers Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, and painters Alfred Lesllie, Larry Rivers, and Alice Neel. It was written and narrated by Kerouac, based on his unproduced play ‘The Beat Generation.’ It tells the story of a bishop (Richard Bellamy) and his mother (Alice Neel) who pay a visit to Milo, a railroad worker. At the same time his poet friends, Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, and Gregory Corso, hang around quizzing the bishop about the meaning of life and its everyday relationship to art and poetry.” (Museum of Fine Arts catalogue)

The HOWL ! ARTS PROJECT 2009: FILM SERIES

The HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2009: FILM SERIES

Using Allen Ginsberg (the inspiration for the HOWL! Festival) as a point of departure, this series of programs links film and video to the various underground creative movements transpiring in the East Village in fact and in spirit: poetry, music, theater, performance, and the fine arts, as well as protests affirming sexuality, opposing gentrification, and supporting the flourishing of a subversive culture.

These screenings will take place the evenings of September 17-20 at the Millennium Film Workshop, with two different film and video programs presented each day, organized around specific personalities, themes, locales, or motifs. Among the planned programs are:
“Allen Ginsberg on Film”,
“Jack Smith and the Lower East Side
(as seen by Ken Jacobs)”,
“The Living Theater and the New American Cinema”,
“Punk Rock, Forever!”,
“In and Around Tomkins Square Park”, and
“A Moveable Feast: A Tribute to the New York Film-Makers’ Cooperative”. Special invited guests will appear to introduce individual films in the programs and to engage in a discussion with the audience.

The exclusive venue for
the HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2009: FILM SERIES
will be at the Millennium Film Workshop,
located at 66 East 4th Street in the East Village,
(just a few blocks from the HOWL! Festival’s main performing arts location at 45 Bleecker.) The Millennium has a long tradition of showing work by independent film and video artists, and was a familiar haunt of Ginsberg during his lifetime.

The entire film program for this year’s HOWL! Festival is conceived of and curated by Jon Gartenberg, a film archivist, historian, and programmer.

http://www.millenniumfilm/org

(Photo credit: Allen Ginsberg by Robert Frank. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Copyright Robert Frank.)