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The problem, for every artist, is to hold this reflection of the divine fire of inspiration in the direction and the essence of his work, since he well knows how this transient fire, this flash of light which appears out of the night and has to be given expression - and yet which sometimes has the incandescent force of a newly born volcano - is a fragile thing: a witch's light, St. Elmo's fire.
What Einstein called 'the first vision.'
What a strange paradox, then, is the film medium, that magnificent and terrible instrument born of our time to tempt and torture our creative imagination. Without in any way lessening our enthusiasm for it as an art form, I don't think we - the children of this era - are wrong to call it an imperfect medium . . . imperfect and terrifying. – Kenneth Anger
“A dissatisfied dreamer awakes, goes out in the night seeking 'a light' and is drawn through the needle's eye"- Kenneth Anger
Fireworks is "a film that came from that beautiful night from which emerge all true works. It touches the quick of the soul, and this is very rare."- Jean Cocteau
"This flick is all I have to say about being 17, the United States Navy, Christmas and the Fourth of July."
"It's a personal statement about my own feelings about violence and
(a) certain kind of masculinity. Also a treatment of a kind of myth in
America which relates to the American sailor. That's part of
history now, but the sailor then was a kind of sex symbol on one
another level there was a great deal of ambivalence and
hostility, latency, and fear in the image.…" – Kenneth Anger
“I met Bertolt Brecht with Charles Laughton in the very same theatre where Fireworks was first shown, at the Coronet Film Society. This is a theatre that seats about 300, an intimate theatre, but it's perfect for showing experimental kinds of films. It really was a place where you met all sorts of people. James Whale -- the director of Frankenstein -- came, and Dr. Kinsey. Dr. Alfred Kinsey was there and he invited me to do one of his famous interviews for his book on human sexual behavior, and he also said he wanted to buy a print of Fireworks for the collection at the Kinsey Institute, which was the first time I sold a print of my film.” - Anger from an interview in Austin Chronicle 11/9/97
“At seventeen, I composed my first long poem, a fifteen minute suite of images, my black tanka: Fireworks.
I had seen this drama entirely on the screen of my dreams. This vision was uniquely amenable to the instrument that awaited it. With three lights, a black cloth as decor, the greatest economy of means and enormous inner concentration, Fireworks was made in three days.
An example of the direct transfer of a spontaneous inspiration, this film reveals the possibilities of automatic writing on the screen, of a new language that reveals thought; it allows the triumph of the dream.” From Modesty and the Art of Film first published in Cahiers du Cinéma, no. 5, September 1951, Translated by David Wilson
Concept, direction and editing by Kenneth Anger. Camera Assistant: Tourjansky. Filmed in Paris. Cast: Andre Soubeyran (Pierrot), Claude Revenant (Harlequin), Nadine Valence (Columbine).
Fable of the Unattainable (the Moon) combining elements of commedia dell'arte with Japanese myth.
Rabbit's Moon seems to me your finest film, most perfect and, oh all together finest!, of the sharpest clarity. Beautiful, yet beauty balanced by dreadful necessity, so that it is an emblem of the soul's experience: signature .... And I think my turn-of-mind here especially appropriate because I also saw this film as your autobiography, all the figures in it aspects of yourself, its magical progress a kind of 'story of your life.' - Stan Brakhage
Concept, direction, camera and editing by Kenneth Anger. Music by Little Peggy March, The Angels, Bobby Vinton, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, The Crystals, The Rondells, Kris Jensen, Claudine Clark, Gene McDaniels, The Surfari. Filmed in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Cast: Bruce Byron (Scorpio), Johnny Sapienza (Taurus), Frank Carifi (Leo), John Palone (Pinstripe), Ernie Allo (Joker), Barry Rubin (Fall Guy), Steve Crandell (Blondie), Bill Dorfmann (Back), Johnny Dodds (Kid).
A "high" view of the Myth of the American Motorcyclist. The machine as totem, from toy to terror. Thanatos in chrome and black leather. Part I - Boys & Bolts. Part II - Image Maker. Part III - Walpurgis Party. Part IV - Rebel Rouser.
Concept, Direction and Editing: Kenneth Anger; Camera Assistant: Arnold Baskin; Music: The Parris Sisters; Cast: Sandy Trent (Car Customizer). Filmed in San Bernardino.
Pygmalion and his machine mistress.
To the soundtrack of "Dream Lover" a young man strokes his customized car with a powder puff.
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Sat Oct 7: 8:15
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