COLLECTION NAME:
Don Yannacito Collection
Record
Collection Name:
Don Yannacito Collection
Title:
Stan Brakhage, speaking for Bruce Baillie, First Person Cinema
Name:
Brakhage, Stan
Name Role Term Text:
speaker
Resource Type:
Audio
Genre:
presentations (communicative events)
Place Created:
Boulder (Colo.)
Date Created:
1985-10-07
Language Term:
English
Extent:
1 audiocassette (45 min., 30 sec.)
Form:
audiocassettes
Abstract:
As an event in the First Person Cinema series at the University of Colorado Boulder, filmmaker Stan Brakhage introduces and answers questions about films of Bruce Baille, including Mr. Hayashi (1961), Tung (1966), Quixote (1965-65/67), and Roslyn Romance (1978). Topics include Baillie’s depiction of social oppression in the 1960s, particularly of American Indian communities; Baillie’s use of “out of focus” images and its relation to human vision; the founding of Canyon Cinema; artists’ reliance on grant funding and public lectures; Baillie’s use of superimposition and juxtaposition of different images; and reception and interpretation of Baillie’s films.
Note:
00:00 Speaker, possibly Don Yannacito, introduces Stan Brakhage. 00:01:15 Brakhage discusses artists’ aversion to public speaking, his relationship with Bruce Baillie, and Baillie’s reputation since the 1960s. 00:05:07 Brakhage discusses institutional education and artistic creativity, referring to his time at Dartmouth and his childhood. 00:08:00 Brakhage contrasts his youth and career path with that of Bruce Baillie. 00:09:00 Brakhage mentions founding of Canyon Cinema, Baillie’s sensibility, and more on the 1960s. 00:11:20 Brakhage introduces the program, beginning with Mr. Hayashi (1961). 00:12:40 Audio cuts to after film has screened. Brakhage takes a question from the audience about Baillie’s Tung (1966). Brakhage discusses Baillie’s and his own experiences in the Dakotas, witnessing violent racism against American Indians, and Native American activism in the 1970s. 00:16:30 Brakhage returns to Baillie’s focus on social atrocity in the 1960s, mentioning Quixote (1964-65/67). 00:18:30 Brakhage talks about "ways of seeing," Hollywood narrative drama, and film criticism, compared to Baillie’s technique and the reception to his work. He returns to the work of Canyon Cinema. 00:21:50 Brakhage returns to Tung and Quixote, in contrast to Hollywood narrative. He discusses politics of the films. 00:24:30 Brakhage mentions Baillie’s Mass for the Dakota Sioux (1964). He describes “social art.” 00:26:05 Brakhage takes a question about the “technique of being out of focus” in Baillie’s film. He speaks about human vision, compared to sharp focus on Hollywood film and television shows. 00:28:50 Brakhage talks about the definition of art. He introduces Baillie’s Quixote. 00:30:06 Audio cuts to after film has screened. Question from audience comparing Baillie to John Steinbeck. 00:31:11 Audio briefly cuts, repeats the previous 20 seconds. 00:31:40 Brakhage discusses themes of Baillie and Steinbeck, his interest in people who are oppressed and suffering. 00:34:59 Question from audience about Baillie’s current work. Brakhage mentions Roslyn Romance (ca. 1978) and Baillie’s struggle for grant funding, his reliance on lecture tours and funding from friends. He mentions a shared event they had intended in Kalamazoo, Michigan. 00:38:06 Brakhage describes a section of Baillie’s film superimposing images of pigs with businessmen. 00:40:12 Brakhage returns to definitions of art, representation of private life, and its reception. 00:41:08 Question from the audience about interpretations of the pig scene. 00:42:20 Question from audience. Brakhage discusses contrast of color and black-and-white in Baillie’s film, mentioning human perception and memory. He discusses a sequence with images of field workers, mentioning Jean-Francois Millet’s Man with a Hoe (1860-62), in contrast with images of athletes. He compares the sequence to the work of Bruce Conner. 00:45:23 Brakhage introduces Baillie’s Roslyn Romance. 00:45:30 End of recording.
Note Type:
Timecode description
Subject Topic:
Experimental films
Subject Topic:
Indians in popular culture
Subject Topic:
Art and social conflict
Subject Name:
Baillie, Bruce, 1931-2020
Subject Name:
Canyon Cinema
Identifier:
narv_yannacitoDon_112_1985-10_brakhageSpeakingForBaillie_a.mp3
Physical Location:
University of Colorado Boulder Libraries Rare and Distinctive Collections
Shelf Locator:
COU: 5045 | Tape 112
Date Captured:
2024
Internet Media Type:
audio/mp3
Digital Origin:
born digital
Access Condition:
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