NEW FILMS BY KENNETH ANGER

This program features ten recent films by Kenneth Anger, six of which have yet to be screened in New York. Together they reveal dimensions of Anger’s ironic art and personality that have often been overlooked in his past work, which has ranged from the operatic (INAUGURATION OF THE PLEASURE DOME) to the dream-like (FIREWORKS), from pop/fetish rites of passage (SCORPIO RISING) to symphonic studies of the movement of liquids and classical figures (EAUX D’ARTIFICE). Anger’s cinema is multifaceted, self-conscious in the best sense, and wide-ranging in its meaning. These new works include a film documenting the art of Aleister Crowley, an essay on Mickey Mouse that the Disney Company surely would not endorse, a surveillance film, and a stunning relic of the Nazis’ attempts to raise a generation of soldiers for the Fuhrer.

Additional Note: A highly unusual installation of Anger’s early films is currently on view at P.S.1, through September 14. The exhibition is reminiscent of the early presentation of films at Carnival fair grounds at the beginning of the 20th century, but Anger writes that the intent was to suggest “a kind of Ali Baba Cave…with things flickering in the dark.” Insofar as many of Anger’s films are like dreams this installation is another way to encounter the enduring and singular poetry of his cinema. –Robert Haller

THE MAN WE WANT TO HANG (2002, 15 minutes, video)

FOREPLAY (2008, 7 minutes, video)

MY SURFING LUCIFER (2008, 5 minutes, video)

ELLIOTT’S SUICIDE (2007, 15 minutes, video)

MOUSE HEAVEN (2005, 12 minutes, video)

ICH WILL! (2008, 35 minutes, video)

BRUSH OF BAPHOMET (2009, 7 minutes, video)

I’LL BE WATCHING YOU (2007, 5 minutes, video)

DEATH (2009, 1 minute, video)

UNIFORM ATTRACTION (work in progress) (2009, 18 minutes, video)

Total running time: ca. 120 minutes.

–Saturday and Sunday, July 18 & 19 at 7:30 each night.

Plus:

ESSENTIAL CINEMA

Kenneth Anger

FIREWORKS (1947, 20 minutes, 35mm)

RABBIT’S MOON (1950-70, 15 minutes, 35mm)

SCORPIO RISING (1963, 30 minutes)

Poetry, psychodrama and the occult meet in these timeless works by one of the pioneers of the American avant-garde film.

Total running time: ca. 70 minutes.

–Sunday, July 19 at 5:30.