Blu-ray/DVD Combo Commencing in 1920 with Charles Sheeler and Paul Strand s creative collaboration on Manhatta, successive generations of experimental filmmakers and artists have worked in collaboration or alone to create... more » a cinema capable of expressing dynamic unspoken concepts in totally abstract visual terms. Flicker Alley and the Blackhawk Films® Collection in cooperation with Filmmakers Showcase are proud to present this premiere collection of 37 films created by some of the most acclaimed names of American Avant-garde experimental filmmaking, including Charles Sheeler, Paul Strand, Fernand Le ger, Dudley Murphy, Rrose Se lavy (Marcel Duchamp), Robert Florey, Slavko Vorkapich, Ralph Steiner, Jay Leyda, James Sibley Watson, Jr., Melville Webber, Emlen Etting, Oskar Fischinger, Joseph Cornell, Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth, Rudy Burckhardt, Francis Lee, Maya Deren, Alexander Hackenschmied, Helen Levitt, Janice Loeb, James Agee, James Broughton, Kenneth Anger, Ian Hugo, Anai s Nin, Len Lye, Jim Davis, Hy Hirsh, Marie Menken, Francis Thompson, Hilary Harris, Bruce Baillie, George Landow, Jonas Mekas, Lawrence Jordan, Tom Palazzolo, Lawrence Janiak, Amy Greenfield, Phil Solomon, and Stan Brakhage. To watch these films is to see the world anew through innovative cinematic interventions: fast cutting, expressive camerawork, abstract animation, surrealistic collage, distorted and superimposed imagery, and many more extraordinary techniques. Essentially the filmmakers ask us to open our eyes and see, to permit the reception of pure sensations uninhibited by any complex web of predetermined associations dominant in mainstream Hollywood film and television. Collected from archives around the world, and beautifully restored in high definition, the majority of vintage silent films in Masterworks of American Avant-Garde Experimental Film 1920-1970 feature new musical scores and performances by innovative composers George Antheil, Louis Siegel, William O. Smith, Gene Forrell, Arthur Kleiner, Louis & Bebe Barron, Donald Sosin, Eric Beheim, Rodney Sauer, Gustavo Matamoros, Henry Wolfe, and Phil Carluzzo. BONUS FEATURES:
- 2K restoration of Manhatta (1920-21, dir. Charles Sheeler, Paul Strand) with 2008 Slovak Sinfonietta orchestral score by Donald Sosin and 2013 music score by Henry Wolfe and Phil Carluzzo
- 2K restoration of Ballet Mechanique (1924, dir. Fernand Le ger, Dudley Murphy) with additional footage and George Antheil s 1925 percussive score for 16 player pianos and mechanical noises
- Previously unavailable, unique versions of Meshes of the Afternoon (1943, dir. Maya Deren, Alexandr Hackenschmied), In the Street (1948, 1952, dir. Helen Levitt, Janice Loeb, James Agee), N.Y., N.Y. (1958, dir. Francis Thompson), Castro Street (1966, dir. Bruce Baillie), and Film That Rises to the Surface of Clarified Butter (1968, dir. Owen Land formerly George Landow)
- Sappho and Jerry, Parts 1-3 (1977-78, dir. Bruce Posner)
- Seasons... (2002, dir. Phil Solomon, Stan Brakhage)
- Ch an (1983, dir. Francis Lee) with music by Christopher Atwood
- 28-page booklet featuring an essay and extensive notes on restorations by curator, filmmaker, and film historian Bruce Posner« less
