Stan Brakhage
Stan Brakhage (January 14, 1933 - March 9, 2003) is one of the most influential filmmakers in American avant-garde cinema, noted for his unflinching social commentaries and technical innovations. Over his nearly 40-year career, he has made over 200 films of varying length. He made his first film, Interim (1952) at age 18 after dropping out of college. Brakhage films seek to change the way we see. They encourage viewers to eschew traditional narrative structure in favor of pure visual perception that is not reliant on naming what is seen; rather his goal is to create a more visceral visual experience, for he believes that a "stream-of visual-consciousness could be nothing less than the pathway of the soul." To this end, his films are shot in highly sensual colors and utilize minimal soundtracks.
His work can be divided into distinct periods. His first short films explored the properties and possibilities of light. In many of his experimental ventures, Brakhage has forgone traditional cinematography in favor of working directly with the film stock itself. He has occasionally painted, inked, scratched and dyed images onto it; he has also tried pasting organic objects on the film. His most famous example is the 1963 short Mothlight in which he glued moth wings onto the stock. Some of his early films were based on his most intimate experiences that included making love to his new bride--depicted on negative film--in Wedlock House: An Intercourse (1959), and an attempt to bring his dead dog back to life with a camera in Sirius Remembered (1959). During the 1960s, Brakhage's iconoclastic views were celebrated for their poetry, but during the '70s, his focus changed to social issues and he alienated many supporters with such disturbing film series as the "Pittsburgh documents" in which he presented many gruesome views of inner city life with films such as Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (1971) which was shot in a morgue. He also continued with autobiographical material with the "Sincerity/Duplicity series. During the 1980s, Brakhage's focus again changed--this time he became intrigued with creating truly "abstract" films such as Arabics (1982) which consists of brilliant bursts of colored light which he claims, represent "envisioned music." In addition to filmmaking, Brakhage also wrote books about films and filmmaking and also served as a teacher.
Photos
Movies (436)
Brakhage on Brakhage
2025 · Self
Derealization
2025 · Visual Effects
Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages
2022
Brakhage by Mothlight
2016 · Self (voice)
20 Little Films
2012 · Director
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
2011 · Himself
Drawings by Billy and His Friends
2011 · In Memory Of
Cyclopean 3D: Life with a Beautiful Woman
2011
By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume Two
2010 · Director, Writer
Sweetgrass
2009 · Thanks
For Stan
2009 · Himself
Dinner with Brakhage and Gamow
2008
Brakhage Crosses Central Park
2006 · Self
A Visit to Stan Brakhage
2006
Notes on Marie Menken
2006 · Self (archive footage)
Preserving Cultural Traditions in a Period of Instability
2004 · Voice
By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume One
2003 · Director, Writer
Chinese Series
2003 · Director
A Visit to Stan Brakhage
2003 · Himself
Sonic Youth: Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui (April 12, 2003)
2003 · Self (archive footage)
Stan's Window & Work in Progress
2003 · Director
Keeping an Eye on Stan
2003
Encomium
2003 · Self
Panels for the Walls of Heaven
2002 · Director
Resurrectus Est
2002 · Director
SB
2002 · Director
Seasons...
2002 · Director
Ascension
2002 · Director
Song of the Mushroom
2002 · Director
Stan Brakhage Exits the Cinema and Enters the Light of Day
2002 · Himself
In the Mirror of Maya Deren
2002 · Himself
Vakvagany
2002 · Himself
Max
2002 · Director
Persian Series #17
2001 · Director
Persian Series #13
2001 · Director
Persian Series #14
2001 · Director
Persian Series #15
2001 · Director
Persian Series #18
2001 · Director
Persian Series #16
2001 · Director
Micro-Garden
2001 · Director
Garden Path
2001 · Director
Lovesong 5 & 6
2001 · Director
Dark Night of The Soul
2001 · Director
Lovesong 4
2001 · Director
Lovesong
2001 · Director
Lovesong 3
2001 · Director
Occam's Thread
2001 · Director
Rounds
2001 · Director
Very
2001 · Director
Night Mulch
2001 · Director
Lovesong 2
2001 · Director
Jesus Trilogy and Coda
2000 · Director
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
2000 · Self
Persian Series #11
2000 · Director
Persian Series #12
2000 · Director
Persian Series #10
2000 · Director
Looking at Forest of Bliss
2000 · Himself
The God of Day Had Gone Down Upon Him
2000 · Director
Water for Maya
2000 · Director
Persian Series #7
2000 · Director
Persian Series #6
2000 · Director
Persian Series #8
2000 · Director
Persian Series #9
2000 · Director
Dance
2000 · Director
The Lion and the Zebra Make God's Raw Jewels
1999 · Director
Moilsome Toilsome
1999 · Director
Persian Series #2
1999 · Director
Persian Series #3
1999 · Director
Persian Series #1
1999 · Director
Persian Series #4
1999 · Director
Persian Series #5
1999 · Director
Keepers of the Frame
1999 · Himself
The Earth Song of the Cricket
1999 · Director
The Dark Tower
1999 · Director
The Birds Of Paradise
1999 · Director
Stately Mansions Did Decree
1999 · Director
Coupling
1999 · Director
Cloud Chamber
1999 · Director
Worm and Web Love
1999 · Director
Cricket Requiem
1999 · Director
Brakhage
1998 · Self
"..." Reel 3
1998 · Director
I Met Stan Brakhage (At Moma, N.Y.C)
1998
"..." Reel 5
1998 · Director
The Female Mystique and Spare Leaves (for Gordon)
1998 · Director
"..." Reel 4
1998 · Director
"..." Reel 1
1998 · Director
"..." Reel 2
1998 · Director
Self Song & Death Song
1997 · Director
Yggdrasill: Whose Roots Are Stars in the Human Mind
1997 · Director
Birth of a Nation
1997 · Self
Stan Brakhage on Gregory Markopoulos
1997
Stan Brakhage on Jim Davis
1997
The Cat of the Worm's Green Realm
1997 · Director
Last Hymn to the Night - Novalis
1997 · Director
Divertimento
1997 · Director
Comingled Containers
1996 · Director
Cannibal! The Musical
1996 · Noon Sr.
Prelude 9
1996 · Director
Prelude 11
1996 · Director
Prelude 7
1996 · Director
Prelude 12
1996 · Director
Prelude 8
1996 · Director
Prelude 13
1996 · Director
Prelude 10
1996 · Director
Prelude 14
1996 · Director
BRAKHAGE ON BRAKHAGE
1996 · self
Shockingly Hot
1996 · Director
Prelude 15
1996 · Director
Prelude 16
1996 · Director
Prelude 21
1996 · Director
Prelude 22
1996 · Director
Prelude 24
1996 · Director
Prelude 17
1996 · Director
Prelude 19
1996 · Director
Prelude 20
1996 · Director
Prelude 23
1996 · Director
Prelude 18
1996 · Director
Blue Value
1996 · Director
Sexual Saga
1996 · Director
The Fur of Home
1996 · Director
Beautiful Funerals
1996 · Director
Polite Madness
1996 · Director
Through Wounded Eyes
1996 · Director
Concrescence
1996 · Director
Two Found Objects of Charles Boultenhouse
1996 · Director
I Take These Truths
1995 · Director
I...
1995 · Director
We Hold These
1995 · Director
As Is Was
1995
The 'b' Series
1995 · Director
Prelude 3
1995 · Director
Prelude 4
1995 · Director
Prelude 1
1995 · Director
Prelude 2
1995 · Director
Prelude 5
1995 · Director
Prelude 6
1995 · Director
In Consideration of Pompeii
1995 · Director
The "Lost" Films
1995 · Director
Spring Cycle
1995 · Director
Paranoia Corridor
1995 · Director
Earthen Aerie
1995 · Director
Black Ice
1994 · Director
From: First Hymn to the Night – Novalis
1994 · Director
Chartres Series
1994 · Director
The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg
1994 · Thanks
Jonas in the Desert
1994 · Self
The Mammals of Victoria
1994 · Director
Elementary Phrases
1994 · Director
Naughts
1994 · Director
Cannot Exist
1994 · Director
Cannot Not Exist
1994 · Director
Alternating Currents
1994 · Director
Stellar
1993 · Director
Study in Color and Black and White
1993 · Director
Autumnal
1993 · Director
Three Homerics
1993 · Director
The Harrowing
1993 · Director
Tryst Haunt
1993 · Director
Abstract Cinema
1993 · Himself
Boulder Blues and Pearls and...
1993 · Director
Z (Zee Not Zed)
1993
Ephemeral Solidity
1993 · Director
Blossom-Gift/Favor
1993 · Director
For Marilyn
1992 · Director
Interpolations 1-5
1992 · Director
Joseph Cornell: Worlds in a Box
1991 · Self
Christ Mass Sex Dance
1991 · Director
Agnus Dei Kinder Synapse
1991 · Director
Delicacies of Molten Horror Synapse
1991 · Director
Crack Glass Eulogy
1991 · Director
A Child’s Garden and the Serious Sea
1991 · Director
Passage Through: A Ritual
1990 · Director, Editor, Cinematography, Writer
Vision of the Fire Tree
1990 · Director
Glaze of Cathexis
1990 · Director
Visions in Meditation #3: Plato's Cave
1990 · Director
Visions in Meditation #4: D.H. Lawrence
1990 · Director
City Streaming
1990 · Director
Babylon Series #2
1990 · Director
Babylon Series #3
1990 · Director
The Thatch of Night
1990 · Director
Babylon Series #1
1989 · Director
Faust IV
1989 · Director
Watunna
1989 · Narrator
Visions in Meditation #1
1989 · Director
Visions in Meditation #2: Mesa Verde
1989 · Director
I... Dreaming
1988 · Director
Faust 3: Candida Albacore
1988 · Director
Faust's Other: An Idyll
1988 · Director
Rage Net
1988 · Director
Marilyn's Window
1988 · Director
Matins
1988 · Director
The Dante Quartet
1987 · Director
Loud Visual Noises
1987 · Director
Faustfilm: An Opera
1987 · Director
Doodlin': Impressions Of Len Lye
1987 · Self
Kindering
1987 · Director
The Loom
1986 · Director
Invocation: Maya Deren
1986 · Himself
Dance Shadows by Danelle Helander
1986 · Director
Fireloop
1986 · Director
Night Music
1986 · Director
Confession
1986 · Director
The Aerodyne
1986 · Director
Reflecting Thought: Stan Brakhage
1985 · Self
Jane
1985 · Director, Editor, Director of Photography
Tortured Dust
1984 · Director
Tortured Dust Part 3
1984 · Director
Tortured Dust Part 2
1984 · Director
Tortured Dust Part 1
1984 · Director
Tortured Dust Part 4
1984 · Director
Egyptian Series
1984 · Director
Hell Spit Flexion
1983 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 15
1982 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 19
1982 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 16
1982 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 18
1982 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 14
1982 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 17
1982 · Director
Nodes
1981 · Director
Stan & Jane Brakhage
1981 · Self
Unconscious London Strata
1981 · Director
Made Manifest
1981 · Director
Aftermath
1981 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 12
1981 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 11
1981 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 0 + 10
1981 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 13
1981 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 9
1981 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 7
1981 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 8
1981 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 3
1981 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 6
1981 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 1
1981 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 2
1981 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 4
1981 · Director
Arabic Numeral Series 5
1981 · Director
The Garden of Earthly Delights
1981 · Director
RR
1981 · Director
Murder Psalm
1980 · Director
Duplicity III
1980 · Director
Roman Numeral: VII
1980 · Director
Roman Numeral: IV
1980 · Director
Roman Numeral: VIII
1980 · Director
Roman Numeral: IX
1980 · Director
Roman Numeral: VI
1980 · Director
Roman Numeral: V
1980 · Director
4A
1980 · Director
Sincerity V
1980 · Director
Other
1980 · Director
Salome
1980 · Director
@
1979 · Director
Roman Numeral: I
1979 · Director
Grand Opera: An Historical Romance
1979 · Himself (voice)
Roman Numeral: II
1979 · Director
Sincerity IV
1979 · Director
Creation
1979 · Director
Roman Numeral: III
1979 · Director
Burial Path
1978 · Director
Thot-Fal'N
1978 · Director, Editor, Cinematography
Bird
1978 · Director
Centre
1978 · Director
Nightmare Series
1978 · Director
Sluice
1978 · Director
Purity and After
1978 · Director
Duplicity II
1978 · Director
Sincerity III
1978 · Director
Duplicity I
1978 · Director
The Governor
1977 · Director
Soldiers and Other Cosmic Objects
1977 · Director
Tragoedia
1977 · Director
The Domain of the Moment
1977 · Director
The Dream, N.Y.C., The Return, The Flower
1976 · Director
Absence
1976 · Director
Desert
1976 · Director
Highs
1976 · Director
Rembrandt, Etc., and Jane
1976 · Director
Trio
1976 · Director, Cinematography
Window
1976 · Director
Airs
1976 · Director
Gadflies
1976 · Director
Sketches
1976 · Director
Short Films 1976
1976 · Director
Short Films 1975: #1 (Jane’s Memory)
1975 · Director
Short Films 1975: #3 (Hollis Frampton)
1975 · Director
Short Films 1975: #2 (Dante’s Styx)
1975 · Director
Short Films 1975: #5 (Niagara Falls)
1975 · Director
Short Films 1975: #4 (Lady in Glass)
1975 · Director
Short Films 1975: #8 (Small Town Streets)
1975 · Director
Short Films 1975: #6 (Stars, Chickens, Eyes, Candles)
1975 · Director
Short Films 1975: #7 (Turning the Raccoon Loose)
1975 · Director
Short Films 1975
1975 · Director
Sincerity II
1975 · Director
Short Films 1975: #10 (Painted Lightning)
1975 · Director
Short Films 1975: #9 (Forest Love Scene)
1975 · Director
The Stars Are Beautiful
1974 · Narrator (voice), Director, Editor, Writer, Cinematography
The Text of Light
1974 · Director, Director of Photography
Hymn to Her
1974 · Director
Star Garden
1974 · Director
Skein
1974 · Director
Aquarien
1974 · Director
Clancy
1974 · Director
Flight
1974 · Director
“He was born, he suffered, he died.”
1974 · Director
Sol
1974 · Director
Dominion
1974 · Director
Gift
1973 · Director
Sincerity I
1973 · Director
Sexual Meditation: Open Field
1973 · Director
Notes on the Buffalo Conference: “Autobiography in American Independent Cinema”
1973
The Women
1973 · Director
The Process
1972 · Director
The Riddle of Lumen
1972 · Director
Sexual Meditation: Office Suite
1972 · Director
Sexual Meditation: Faun's Room, Yale
1972 · Director
Wecht
1972 · Director
Reality's Invisible
1972 · Self
The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes
1972 · Director, Editor, Director of Photography
The Wold-Shadow
1972 · Director
Sexual Meditation: Hotel
1972 · Director
The Shores of Phos: A Fable
1972 · Director
Eye Myth Educational
1972 · Writer, Director
The Presence
1972 · Director
Deus Ex
1971 · Director
The Trip to Door
1971 · Director
Fox Fire Child Watch
1971 · Director
Western History
1971 · Director
Sexual Meditation: Room with View
1971 · Director
Door
1971 · Director
The Peaceable Kingdom
1971 · Director
Angels'
1971 · Director
Eyes
1970 · Director
The Machine of Eden
1970 · Director
The Animals of Eden and After
1970 · Director
The Weir-Falcon Saga
1970 · Director
Scenes from Under Childhood
1970 · Director
Scenes from Under Childhood, Section Four
1970 · Director
Sexual Meditation #1: Motel
1970 · Director
Scenes from Under Childhood, Section Three
1969 · Director
Scenes from Under Childhood, Section Two
1969 · Director
Nuptiae
1969 · Director of Photography
My Mtn. Song 27 Part II: Rivers
1969 · Director
Filmmakers
1969 · Himself
Legendary Epics Yarns and Fables Part 2: Stan Brakhage
1969 · Himself
Window Suite of Children's Songs
1969 · Director
American 30s Song
1969 · Director
Song 28
1969 · Director
Song 29
1969 · Director
Scenes from Under Childhood, Section One
1968 · Director
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
1968 · Self
The Horseman, the Woman, and the Moth
1968 · Director
Lovemaking
1968 · Director
My Mountain: Song 27
1968 · Director
Song 26
1968 · Director
Eye Myth
1967 · Director
Song 24
1967 · Director
Song 25
1967 · Director
For Life, Against the War
1967 · Director
23rd Psalm Branch
1967 · Director
23rd Psalm Branch: Part I
1967 · Director
23rd Psalm Branch: Part II
1967 · Director, Cinematography, Editor
Song 21
1966 · Director
Song 20
1966 · Director
Song 17
1966 · Director
Song 22
1966 · Director
Song 18
1966 · Director
Song 19
1966 · Director
Song 16
1966 · Director
Pasht
1966 · Director
Two: Creeley/McClure
1965 · Director
Fire of Waters
1965 · Director
The Making of an Underground Film
1965 · Self
Three Films: Blue White/Blood's Tone/Vein
1965 · Director
Song 12
1965 · Director
Song 14
1965 · Director
Song 13
1965 · Director
Song 11
1965 · Director
15 Song Traits
1965 · Director
Black Vision
1965 · Director
The Art of Vision
1965 · Man, Director, Editor, Producer, Cinematography, Writer
Song 10
1965 · Director
Song 9
1965 · Director
Dog Star Man
1965 · Director, Writer, Director of Photography, Editor
Dog Star Man: Part IV
1964 · Director
Dog Star Man: Part II
1964 · Director
Dog Star Man: Part III
1964 · Director
Song 1
1964 · Director, Editor, Cinematography
Song 6
1964 · Director
Song 4
1964 · Director
Song 2
1964 · Director
Song 3
1964 · Director
Song 8
1964 · Director
Song 5
1964 · Director, Cinematography, Editor
Song 7
1964 · Director
Mothlight
1963 · Director
Oh Life - a Woe Story - the A Test News
1963 · Director
Dog Star Man: Part I
1963 · Director
Blue Moses
1962 · Director, Cinematography, Writer, Editor
Silent Sound Sense Stars Subotnick and Sender
1962 · Director
Mr. Tompkins Inside Himself
1962 · Editor, Director, Writer
Thigh Line Lyre Triangular
1961 · Director, Cinematography, Editor
Prelude: Dog Star Man
1961 · Director
Sartre's Nausea
1961 · Director
Ballad of the Colorado Ute
1961 · Editor, Cinematography, Director
Films by Stan Brakhage: An Avant-Garde Home Movie
1961 · Director
The Dead
1960 · Director
Colorado Legend
1960 · Editor, Director of Photography, Director, Cinematography
Sirius Remembered
1959 · Director
Window Water Baby Moving
1959 · Self (uncredited), Director, Director of Photography, Editor
Wedlock House: An Intercourse
1959 · Director
Pittsburgh
1959 · Cinematography
Cat's Cradle
1959 · Self, Director
Anticipation of the Night
1958 · Director, Cinematography
Loving
1957 · Director
Daybreak and Whiteye
1957 · Director
Flesh of Morning
1956 · Director
Trumpit
1956
The One Romantic Venture of Edward
1956
Zone Moment
1956 · Director
Nightcats
1956 · Director
The Wonder Ring
1955 · Director, Cinematography, Editor
Untitled Film of Geoffrey Holder's Wedding
1955 · Director
Reflections on Black
1955 · Director, Writer, Editor, Cinematography
Centuries of June
1955 · Director
In Between
1955 · Director, Cinematography, Editor, Writer
The Extraordinary Child
1954 · Director, Editor, Cinematography, Writer
The Way to Shadow Garden
1954 · Director, Cinematography, Sound Designer, Writer, Editor
Desistfilm
1954 · Director, Editor, Writer, Cinematography
The Boy and the Sea
1953 · Director
Unglassed Windows Cast a Terrible Reflection
1953 · Director, Editor, Cinematography, Writer
Interim
1952 · Director, Writer, Editor, Cinematography
Songs
· Self (Uncredited), Director, Editor, Cinematography, Writer
Visions in Meditation
· Director
Arabic Numeral Series
· Director
Persian Series
· Director
Persian Series 1-5
· Director
