Shirley Clarke

Fear Flight (2016)

Beatrice Seckler rehearses a dance, filmed by Shirley Clarke in 1952. ...

A Short Lecture and Demonstration on the Evolution of Ragtime as Presented by Jelly Roll Morton (2016)

An astonishing Holy Grail-like glimpse of choreographer/dancer Anna Sokolow's famed 'A Short Lecture and Demonstration on the Evolution of Ragtime as Presented by Jelly Roll Morton' (1952), from Shirley Clarke's 'Home Movies #20'. ...

Home Movies #20: Dance Tests (2016)

Home Movies #20: Dance Tests dates from 1953 and shows Shirley Clarke working on her film technique before she shot her first "official" film later that year--'Dance in the Sun' starring the dancer Daniel Nagrin. ...

Decroux Film (2016)

In 1953, Shirley Clarke went to make a film about French mime Ettiene Decroux. The legend goes that he had left town and instead, she created In Paris Parks. Not known, is that in 1955, Clarke tried a second time to make a film about Decroux. This is the ...

Outtakes for 'In Paris Parks' (2016)

'In Paris Parks' outtakes reveal a little more of Shirley Clarke's filmmaking process. ...

This Is Not 'In Paris Parks' (2016)

In 1954, Shirley Clarke created 'In Paris Parks', a short film starring her ten-year-old daughter Wendy Clarke. In 2013, the Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research loaned the outtakes of this film to Milestone. Much to everybody's surprise, one of ...

Bullfight: The C and D Rolls (2016)

Shirley Clarke manipulated the colors of her short film 'Bullfight' to great effect. Much of her final version had a strong red tint. These are the original C and D rolls of the film that show the spectacular work of their photographer Peter Buckley. ...

Rose and the Players – Part 1 (2016)

A 1957 rehearsal film test for a dance film inspired by Pablo Picasso's 'Family of Saltimbanques'. Anna Sokolow can be seen on the lower left of the frame. Based on the script found in Shirley Clarke's collection, this looks to be a complete version of Ms ...

Rose and the Players – Part 2 (2016)

In August 1955, director Shirley Clarke and choreographer Anne Sokolow embarked on a dance film about mime. It evolved two years later into 'The Rose and the Players', inspired by Pablo Picasso's 'Family of Saltimbanques'. 'The Rose and the Players' was ...

Ornette: Made in America (1986)

Shirley Clarke's frenetic documentary about multi-talented musician Ornette Coleman. ...

Ornette Coleman: A Jazz Video Game (1984)

In this short, magical film experiment, Shirley Clarke interprets the musical universe of jazz giant Ornette Coleman in best Afrofuturist tradition. With breathless echo effects, superimpositions and artificial light reflections, younger versions of Colema ...

Tongues (1982)

A performance piece written by Sam Shepard, enacted by Joseph Chaikin and directed by Shirley Clarke, a dying man reflects on his life while delivering his own last rites. ...

Savage/Love (1981)

A prelude to Tongues (1982) which languishes over love and its effect on people. ...

A Visual Diary (1980)

A Visual Diary is a look at a private moment in one's life. A narrative form without utilizing a story line. The collaboration incorporates naturalistic non-verbal theater and dance techniques with photographs providing the environment. ...

Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Trans (1978)

Part of the larger filmic Four Journeys Into Mystic Time, in this work director Shirley Clarke makes use of a dancer's body not only as the primary performer, but also as a canvas on which to paint projected images. Further enhanced by editing and effecti ...

Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: One Two Three (1978)

An abstract work featuring three dancers, the performers interact with large screens as well as each other. Included in Shirley Clarke's Four Journeys Into Mystic Time, costuming and color play an integral role in this piece. ...

Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Initiation (1978)

Left to viewer interpretation, this beautiful dance piece displays a spiritual or religious initiation. A short work, this film was released as part of Shirley Clarke's Four Journeys Into Mystic Time. ...

Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Mysterium (1978)

A pair of performers wearing bodysuits dance and balance together in this short film for director Shirley Clarke's Four Journeys Into Mystic Time. ...

24 Frames per Second (1977)

A highly edited work complimenting an exhibit on Persian art in the Los Angeles Museum of Art. ...

Carl Lee, Max and Friends at the Hotel Chelsea (1968)

Four minutes of color footage featuring Carl Lee and a poodle named Max. A very cute home movie from the Connection blu-ray. ...

Portrait of Jason (1967)

Interview with Jason Holliday aka Aaron Payne. House-boy, would-be cabaret performer, and self-proclaimed hustler giving one man's gin-soaked, pill-popped view of what it was like to be black and gay in 1960s United States. Preserved by the Academy Film A ...

Butterfly (1967)

A visual protest of America's involvement in the Vietnam War. ...

For Life, Against the War (1967)

First shown on January 30, 1967, FOR LIFE AGAINST THE WAR was an open-call, collective statement from American independent filmmakers disparate in style and sensibility but united by their opposition to the Vietnam War. Part of the protest festival Week of ...

The Cool World (1964)

A fifteen-year-old boy wants to buy a gun from an adult racketeer named Priest, in order to become president of the gang to which he belongs, and to return them to active "bopping" (gang fighting) which has declined in Harlem. ...

Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World (1963)

The acclaimed poet is examined in this film completed just prior to his death at age 88, with his speaking engagements at Amherst and Sarah Lawrence Colleges intercut with studies of his work, as well as with scenes of his life in rural Vermont and persona ...

The Connection (1962)

Eight drug addicts are waiting for their connection in a New York apartment while a two-man documentary team films the proceedings. Things go out of control as the men grow increasingly nervous and the cameraman keeps recording. ...

A Scary Time (1960)

Intended as a call to action, this UNICEF-sponsored film juxtaposes the fears experienced by children around the world as a means of awakening audiences to the struggles seen abroad. ...

Christopher and Me (1960)

A short documentary in which twins Christopher and David describe how an unplanned sailing trip led them into the midst of a boat race. Told largely from the children's point of view, the film reflects Richard Leacock's observational approach and includes ...

Skyscraper (1959)

Nominated for an Academy Award, this live-action short film playfully chronicles the construction of the Tishman Building at 666 Fifth Avenue in New York City. ...

Bridges-Go-Round 1 (1958)

New York City's bridges dissolve into shifting abstractions through montage, superimposition, and color. Set to an electronic score by Louis and Bebe Barron, the film transforms familiar urban structures into an uncanny, alien landscape (an alternate versi ...

Bridges-Go-Round 2 (1958)

New York City's bridges are reimagined through montage, superimposition, and vivid color, transforming industrial architecture into rhythmic visual abstraction. Accompanied by a jazz score by Teo Macero, the film renders the urban landscape musical, kineti ...

Brussels Loops (1958)

A collection of twenty short films, averaging 2-3 minutes, by various filmmakers depicting American life, intended to be shown in a continuous loop at the American Pavilion of the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. Some releases of the film include ten extra minu ...

A Moment in Love (1956)

A couple in love interacts across a multitude of environments. ...

Bullfight (1955)

Anna Sokolow's choreographed reinterpretation of a bullfight. Sokolow plays the matador, an audience member, and the doomed animal. ...

In Paris Parks (1954)

This short film displays the dynamic movement of people as they enter and exit parks in Paris. ...

Dance in the Sun (1953)

Choreographer Daniel Nagrin performs in a studio and in the sun. ...

Love Nest (1951)

Jim and Connie's postwar New York building troubles keep Jim from working on his novel. Ex-WAC from Jim's army days Roberta moves in, further upsetting Connie but pleasing Jim's friend Ed. Tenant Charley, who marries tenant Eadie, loans money to Jim to hel ...

Home Movies #15 Shirley with Camera (1950)

Shirley Clarke: The Artist with the Lens (2016)

A short, Filmstruck-produced documentary on the life of director Shirley Clarke. ...

Alien Blood (1999)

Spoof science fiction. An alien mother and her child are pursued across England by a bunch of incompetent government agents and take refuge in a house full of vampires. Homage back to the camp tone of British directors of the 1970's such as Ken Russell, (T ...

Happy Birthday to John (1997)

On October 9, 1972, the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse hosted an exhibition of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's work, designed by Fluxus artist George Maciunas. That same day, friends including Ringo Starr, Allen Ginsberg, and Paul Krassner gathered to celebr ...

Birth of a Nation (1997)

Jonas Mekas assembles 160 portraits, appearances, and fleeting sketches of underground and independent filmmakers captured between 1955 and 1996. Fast-paced and archival in spirit, the film celebrates the avant-garde as its own "nation of cinema," a vital ...

He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life (1986)

A film collage tracing the story of the lives, loves, and deaths within the artistic community surrounding Jonas Mekas. ...

As Kineastas (1986)

Based on interviews with 15 women, including directors, producers and film actresses, a journey around the world is made, seeing the wars waged by each one against economic and political repression, bombs, police dogs, censors, etc. Images from England, Ne ...

The Beats: An Existential Comedy (1980)

A "film poem" that focuses on the Beat poetry scene of the late 1950s. ...

Sex Stars (1976)

Sex star gives an explosive behind the scenes view of the people who make sexual fantasies come true on the silver screen. Sex Stars is the first feature documentary made by Lech Kowalski. ...

Rome Is Burning: Portrait of Shirley Clarke (1970)

Documentary about filmmaker Shirley Clarke which originally aired on the French television series "Cinéastes de notre temps". ...

Lions Love (1969)

Three actors in Hollywood live and love together. A director comes from New York to make a movie about actors and Hollywood. ...

Diaries, Notes, and Sketches (1968)

Also known as Walden, Jonas Mekas's first diary film is a six-reel chronicle of his life in 1960s New York, interweaving moments with family, friends, lovers, and artistic idols. Blending everyday encounters with portraits of the avant-garde art scene, it ...

Underground New York (1968)

A rare behind-the-scenes view of the exploding New York "underground" in the late sixities, a turbulent time and place that was to change American culture forever. A German TV crew, led by journalist Gideon Bachmann, explores the epicenter of the sixties r ...

Portrait of Jason (1967)

Interview with Jason Holliday aka Aaron Payne. House-boy, would-be cabaret performer, and self-proclaimed hustler giving one man's gin-soaked, pill-popped view of what it was like to be black and gay in 1960s United States. Preserved by the Academy Film A ...

Bill's Hat (1967)

"The whole film are non-art portraits of people in which they do what they want with this hat – and therefore, act or stand in front of my camera. It's only love: therefore it can't harm you". Joyce Wieland. ...

Galaxie (1966)

In March and April of 1966, Markopoulos created this filmic portrait of writers and artists from his New York circle, including Parker Tyler, W. H. Auden, Jasper Johns, Susan Sontag, Storm De Hirsch, Jonas Mekas, Allen Ginsberg, and George and Mike Kuchar, ...

Home Movies #15 Shirley with Camera (1950)

Home Movies #10 Wedding and Pregnancy (1943)

Home Movies #18 Florida (1943)