Stan Brakhage Films, 1991-2003

AGNUS DEI KINDER SYNAPSE (1991)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 3.5m (3:32)
Film stock notes: This film was assembled as a set of positive A/B rolls from Eastman 7291 color negative and 7384 LPP color print stock.

A CHILD’S GARDEN AND THE SERIOUS SEA (1991)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 70.5m (70:39)
Film stock notes: This film was assembled from Kodachrome KM and Eastman 7384 LPP color print stock (that had likely been printed from color negative shot by Brakhage for this film, as was common during this period of his filmmaking). The film’s first reel is entirely Kodachrome, and the second reel a mix of the Kodachrome and the color print material.

CHRIST MASS SEX DANCE (1991)
16mm, color, sound, 4m (3:55)
This film’s sound is the 1961 tape piece by James Tenney, Collage #1 (“Blue Suede”).
Film stock notes: This film features the largest number of multi-pass printing rolls ever employed by Brakhage in his career, comprising A/B/C/D/E/F rolls, entirely Kodachrome KM & KMA stocks.

DELICACIES OF MOLTEN HORROR SYNAPSE (1991)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 8.5m (8:17)
Film stock notes: This film was edited in A/B/C/D rolls from a mix of 1988 Eastman 7384 LPP color print and 1980 7252 Ektachrome Commercial footage similar to the chemically eroded material found in Brakhage’s 1981 film Aftermath (and also showing up in City Streaming). Because Brakhage’s lab wouldn’t have likely printed anything new in 1991 onto 1988 print stock, it’s possible that the color print material (which is print of hand-painted imagery, and not painted itself) derives from an earlier film or films, though this has not been investigated.

CRACK GLASS EULOGY (1992)
16mm, color, sound, 6m (6:07)
Sound by Rick Corrigan.
Film stock notes: This film was shot on Kodachrome KM and edited as A/B rolls.

INTERPOLATIONS 1-5 (1992)
35mm, color, silent 24fps, 12m (12:14)
This is the only 35mm film by Brakhage that was never reduced to and distributed in 16mm. Some of the original elements for this film are labeled with the title “Boulder Blues”, and particularly the first part of the film seems to have some relationship to Boulder Blues and Pearls And…, sharing some to-be-determined amount of footage with that film. In a 1994 interview with Suranjan Ganguly (Film Culture, Summer 1994), Brakhage makes a few comments suggesting a relationship between these two films in part through the music of Edgard Varèse, but I’m still in the process of deciphering the definitive connection between the two.
Also, the production process for this film is mildly confusing, and I intend to write something more involved about it here once I’ve been able to more fully re-inspect the elements.

UNTITLED (FOR MARILYN) (1992)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 10.5m (10:28)
The most commonly used form of this film’s title is as given above. On screen, the titlecard actually only reads “For Marilyn”, but this should be understood as a dedication rather than being the title itself, i.e. this is an untitled film with an onscreen dedication to Marilyn (Brakhage).
Film stock notes: The original for this film is primarily Kodachrome KM footage that has been painted on by Brakhage. Some painted leader is also present.

BOULDER BLUES AND PEARLS AND… (1993)
16mm, color, sound, 22.5m (22:24)
Sound by Rick Corrigan. According to the film’s opening titles, the Corrigan pieces contained in the film’s soundtrack are “4 Percussive Movements” and “Requiem”.
Film stock notes: The originals for this film are edited as A/B rolls comprising a mix of Kodachrome KM and Eastman LPP color print stock (from color negative shot by Brakhage) both dating from the early ’90s, as well as a variety of material that was pre-existing, including 1968 and 1969 7255 Ektachrome Commercial, 1971 Ektachrome (I didn’t note precisely what variety), and 1978 7390 Ektachrome print material.

BLOSSOM – GIFT / FAVOR (1993)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 0.5m (37 seconds)
This film was made in dedication to Doug Edwards. Edwards died from AIDS-related complications on February 2, 1993, and I presume this film was made in memory of and tribute to Edwards upon his passing. Edwards was a Los Angeles based film programmer who, in addition to being a key figure in the city’s film community through his work at more prominent venues like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Filmex, and LACMA, also ran experimental film series for many years throughout the 1970s and early ’80s at The Egg and the Eye, Theatre Vanguard, and Encounter Cinema. Edwards screened Brakhage’s work in Los Angeles on many occasions throughout this time, with Brakhage in person on more than one occasion, and also hosted Stan and Jane at AMPAS on 12/12/1981 as part of a seminar on experimental film. Edwards was also the person who supplied the 70mm 5-perf and 15-perf (IMAX) film material on which Brakhage painted Night Music and parts three and four of The Dante Quartet. If you’re curious about Edwards’ programming activities, you can find pages dedicated to some of this work elsewhere on the Lightstruck site.
Film stock notes: This film was created by Brakhage hand painting and scratching directly onto a 16mm 7384 Eastman LPP color print of Interpolations section 1, though I haven’t confirmed yet if it’s a complete print of that material, or just sections.

AUTUMNAL (1993)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 4m (3:48)
Film stock notes: This film was edited as A/B/C rolls from a mix of early 1990s 7384 LPP color print (struck from unknown source negative), 7272 internegative material (from an unknown positive source), as well as 1968 and 1969 7255 Ektachrome Commercial stock, and 1971 7387 Kodachrome print material.

EPHEMERAL SOLIDITY (1993)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 4m (3:48)
Film stock notes: This film is assembled (with an enormous number of splices) entirely from Eastman 7384 LPP color print material (struck from an unknown negative source).

THE HARROWING/TRYST HAUNT (1993)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 3.5m (3:27) total
The Harrowing: 1.5m (1:24); Tryst Haunt: 2m (1:48)
These are two individual films, but they’ve only ever been distributed paired together, and have a Sam Bush optical printing credit at the end.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer on Eastman 7272 internegative stock.

STELLAR (1993)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2.5m (2:20)
This film features a Sam Bush credit at the end, reading, “This film is to be considered a collaboration with Sam Bush, optical printer at Western Cine, in the sense that I was the composer, he the visual musician.”
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer on Eastman 7272 internegative stock.

STUDY IN COLOR AND BLACK AND WHITE (1993)
16mm, bw & color, silent 24fps, 1.5m (1:35)
Film stock notes: Despite the film’s title, the original for this film is entirely on Kodachrome, although it seems to have been optically printed from an earlier original element that contained a mix of color and b/w material.

THREE HOMERICS (FOR BARBARA FELDMAN) (1993)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 5m (5:04) total
Diana, Holding Back the Night: 1.5m (1:21); The Rolling Sea: 2m (2:10); Love Again, The Light: 1.5m (1:22)
These three films have some individual integrity as works, but have only ever been distributed together in this configuration.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer on Eastman 7272 internegative stock, edited as A/B rolls just to enable 96-frame dissolves between the three parts.

BLACK ICE (1994)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2m (1:49)
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer on Eastman 7384 LPP color print stock. During this period, Brakhage sometimes worked with the concept of what he called a “non-orange negative”, meaning a film element that is technically on (non-orange base) color positive stock, but meant to be treated as if negative in printing. This was a conscious choice that produced higher contrast and saturation, and also sometimes was employed to achieve reverse polarity colors from his original painting.
This film features a Sam Bush credit at the end, reading, “This film is to be considered a collaboration with Sam Bush, optical printer at Western Cine, in the sense that I was the composer, he the visual musician.”

CANNOT EXIST (1994) (w/ Sam Bush)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 1.5m (1:15)
More than any of the other films for which Sam Bush executed optical printer work according to Brakhage’s instructions, this film is something like an actual collaboration between Brakhage and Bush. Brakhage provided hand-painted film material and Sam Bush elaborated it on the optical printer along with some other non-painted source material as a memorial/tribute to Bush’s son Graham, who had died that year. The film features an end title reading, “This work is lovingly dedicated to the memory of Graham Bush 9/8/69 – 9/29/94”. (Note that in Sam Bush’s own 2021 obituary, his son’s name is spelled “Gram”, but Bush himself would have prepared and printed the titlecard appearing on Cannot Exist, so either Sam’s obituary misspelled his son’s name, or both spellings were somehow valid.)
The finished and released version of this film was actually the third try/version produced by Bush. The state of the first version is unknown, but the second version does exist in Brakhage’s collection, and is the same length, though it does not reflect the final iteration of the film as released.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to 7244 Eastman color intermediate stock.

CANNOT NOT EXIST (1994)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 8m (7:57)
Film stock notes: This film was completed in negative polarity image to 7386 Eastman color print stock. In other words, the conformed original for this film is a positive element, but contains imagery which is technically negative polarity, employed to deliberate aesthetic effect.
The reason for this is that the hand-painted material from which the edited original for this film derives was treated as a “non-orange negative” as Brakhage called it, meaning a non-orange base element to be printed as if it were color negative to color print stock, to achieve reverse polarity colors and higher saturation/contrast. In the case of this film, the resulting 7386 Eastman print stock was further edited by Brakhage (with tape splices) to create the final cut of the film. This positive original was then printed to 7272 Eastman internegative stock, from which all of the actual exhibition prints were then derived.

CHARTRES SERIES (1994)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 8.5m (8:35)
This film features a Sam Bush credit at the end, reading, “This film is to be considered a collaboration with Sam Bush, optical printer at Western Cine, in the sense that I was the composer, he the visual musician.”
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to 7272 Eastman color internegative stock.

ELEMENTARY PHRASES (1994) (w/ Phil Solomon)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 33m (33:14)
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Kodachrome KMA stock.

FROM: FIRST HYMN TO THE NIGHT – NOVALIS (1994)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 3m (2:53)
The title for this film is often printed omitting the “From:” at its beginning, so it’s not uncommon to see references to this film being called “First Hymn to the Night – Novalis”.
Film stock notes: This is one of Brakhage’s few fully hand-painted films that was finished in its final conform as a hand-painted original; the vast majority of his fully painted works were finished optically with some printing effects added. The finished, hand-painted original was duplicated to 7272 Eastman color internegative stock for printing.

THE MAMMALS OF VICTORIA (1994)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 34m (34:10)
Film stock notes: This film was made from a mix of Kodachrome KM & KMA, Eastman color print, Eastman color negative, Agfa-Geveart b/w positive, and 7272 Eastman color internegative material.

NAUGHTS (1994)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 5m (5:03)
Sometimes referred to in print references as “Naughts Series”, the title on screen is only “Naughts”. This film is composed of five individual hand-painted and step-printed pieces, though they have not been distributed individually.
This film features a Sam Bush credit at the end, reading, “This film is to be considered a collaboration with Sam Bush, optical printer at Western Cine, in the sense that I was the composer, he the visual musician.”
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to 7272 Eastman color internegative stock.

I TAKE THESE TRUTHS (1995)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 17.5m (17:44)
This film is Part 1 of “Trilogy”, a trio of films dedicated to Phil Solomon. Solomon also seems to have done the optical printing on this film for Brakhage.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Kodachrome KMA stock. The optical printing primarily involved printing each frame of the original hand-painted film 2:1, to slow its speed down by half.

WE HOLD THESE (1995)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 11.5m (11:35)
This film is Part 2 of “Trilogy”, a trio of films dedicated to Phil Solomon. Sam Bush at Western Cine did the optical work on this film. The optical printing primarily involved printing each frame of the original hand-painted film 2:1, to slow its speed down by half.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to 7272 Eastman color internegative stock.

I… (1995)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 27m (27:06)
This film is Part 3 of “Trilogy”, a trio of films dedicated to Phil Solomon. Sam Bush at Western Cine did the optical work on this film. The optical printing primarily involved printing each frame of the original hand-painted film 2:1, to slow its speed down by half.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to 7272 Eastman color internegative stock.

IN CONSIDERATION OF POMPEII (1995)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 3.5m (3:26)
This film is divided into three sections, each with a preceding titlecard, although they don’t appear to have been circulated individually. The three sections are:
-The Sexual Partners of Pompeii
-Ashen Snow
-Angelus
In catalog descriptions, Brakhage referred to the first section instead as “The Flowers of Pompeii”.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to 7244 Eastman color intermediate stock.

PARANOIA CORRIDOR (1995)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2.5m (2:26)
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to 7244 Eastman color intermediate stock.

THE “b” SERIES (1995)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 11.5m (11:30)
This film is sometimes referred to verbally (and occasionally in print) as “The Small b Series”.
This film comprises five segments with individual titles, and which Brakhage decided to compile under the umbrella title The ‘b’ Series. The five segments (with individual running times) are:
-Retrospect: The Passover (2:14)
-Blue/Black Introspection (1:32)
-Blood Drama (2:29)
-I am Afraid: And This is my Fear (2:29)
-Sorrowing (2:14)
Based on the original lab paperwork, it seems that all five films were first finished and printed individually between May and September 1995, but Brakhage didn’t assemble them in this compiled form until April 1996.
Blue/Black Introspection is typically referenced in print as having a colon in the title, as “Blue/Black: Introspection”, but on screen, there is no colon (and my guess is that there isn’t supposed to be one).
On the individual segment titles throughout the film, Brakhage’s name is spelled with a lowercase ‘b’, as “Copyright 1995 by Stan brakhage”, although on the main/end titles for the full film, his name is spelled with standard capitalization.
Film stock notes: Below is what I believe to be accurate about the production of this film.
The originals for Retrospect and Blue/Black are Eastman 7386 color print masters struck optically from hand-painted originals. These 7386 print masters were then printed from 7386 to 7386 again (rather than to conventional internegative stock), yielding a high contrast reverse polarity image, which would then be treated as printing negatives for making positive prints.
The original for Blood Drama is also an Eastman 7386 color print master, possibly also optically printed directly from a hand-painted original, though this isn’t certain. It does contain optical step-printing, but I’m not sure it was directly printed from a painted film or from some other intermediate element. The original for I am Afraid is literally an Eastman 7386 color print struck from the 7386 Blood Drama original, and flipped head-to-tail, yielding a backwards, flopped, reverse polarity copy of Blood Drama. Both of these 7386 elements were then individually printed to Eastman 7272 color internegative to make the finished printing negative for these two films.
Sorrowing was created via an optical bi-packing of Blood Drama and I am Afraid, printed to 7272 internegative, and slightly shortened at a splice 2/3 of the way through. Since the source bi-pack rolls are technically the same footage (except one is a backwards, flopped, reverse polarity version of the other), the result in Sorrowing could be seen as a complex, semi-fugal, theme-and-variation echo of the other two, perhaps. This 7272 internegative made from the bi-pack process was edited as an A/B roll negative (to add titles and to hide the aforementioned negative splice with a superimposed flash frame). These A/B rolls for Sorrowing were then printed to 7244 interpositive, and this interpositive to a 7244 internegative.
The finished and conformed “original” negative for The “b” Series comprises the 7386 print stock “negatives” for Retrospect and Blue/Black, the 7272 internegatives for Blood Drama and I am Afraid, and the 7244 internegative for Sorrowing, all spliced together as a single printing negative.

EARTHEN AERIE (1995)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2m (2:02)
This film features a Sam Bush credit at the end, reading, “This film is to be considered a collaboration with Sam Bush, optical printer at Western Cine, in the sense that I was the composer, he the visual musician.”
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to 7272 Eastman color internegative stock.

THE “LOST” FILMS (1995)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 49m (49:03)
This is a collection of nine individual pieces that Brakhage apparently had made between 1991 and 1993, but lacking funds to print them at the time of their respective making, put them aside, until finally compiling and printing them in 1995. Because of the occasional ambiguity about where one film ends and another begins, I’ve not measured the individual films in this release, and they don’t seem to have been individually circulated or given titles.
Film stock notes: Films 1 and 2 were shot on Kodachrome KM and KMA stock. Film 3 is hand-painted over Kodachrome KMA stock. Film 4 is Kodachrome KM. Film 5 is composed of Eastman 7384 LPP color print stock. Film 6 is color print of hand-painted imagery (i.e. no actual paint on the film itself). Film 7 is Kodachrome KM. Film 8 is Kodachrome KMA. Film 9 is color print of hand-painted imagery (i.e. no actual paint on the film itself); it appears to be color print struck from Eastman 7386 color print (treated as negative).

SPRING CYCLE (1995)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 9m (8:52)
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to 7272 Eastman color internegative and 7244 color intermediate stocks.

…(PRELUDES) (1995-96)
This is a series of 24 short films, released in four groupings of six films each. Although each film has discrete integrity as an individual work, these films are by far most commonly shown in the groupings Brakhage released them in.

…(PRELUDES) 1-6 (1995)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 10.5m (10:23)
The onscreen titlecard is only …(PRELUDES), without the “1-6”. However, as Brakhage made subsequent additional films in this series and numbered them accordingly, all print references refer to this one as “1-6” for consistency and clarity. Print references also quite commonly drop the ellipsis and parentheses from the titles, and refer to these films simple as PRELUDES.
Although Phil Solomon hadn’t specifically noted doing the optical printing for Brakhage on these films (although I never asked him about this specific title), the optical printing was all done to Kodachrome, which was not something Western Cine would likely have done. No one else was printing for Brakhage yet at this time, so it’s very possible Phil did do the optical printing on this work (and also Prelude 11), though this is just an educated guess.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Kodachrome stock.

…(PRELUDES) 7-12 (1996)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 15.5m (15:28)
Film stock notes: All but Prelude 11 were finished via optical printer to 7272 Eastman color internegative stock. Prelude 11 was initially optically printed to Kodachrome, and then to color negative to create the film’s original printing negative.

…(PRELUDES) 13-18 (1996)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 9m (8:52)
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to 7272 Eastman color internegative stock.

…(PRELUDES) 19-24 (1996)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 9m (8:50)
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to 7272 Eastman color internegative stock.

BEAUTIFUL FUNERALS (1996)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 1.5m (1:23)
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to 7272 Eastman color internegative stock.

BLUE VALUE (1996)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2m (1:54)
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to 7272 Eastman color internegative stock.

CONCRESCENCE (1996) (w/ Phil Solomon)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 3m (3:08)
This film was made from a roll of material produced by Brakhage and Solomon during the optical printing sessions that produced Elementary Phrases. However, Brakhage was bothered by a visible hair in the printer gate, and created the film’s printing negative optically at Western Cine, zoomed in slightly to crop out the hair.
Film stock notes: This film was initially finished via optical printer to Kodachrome KMA, and then further optically printed (to crop out a gate hair) on 7272 Eastman color internegative stock.

THE FUR OF HOME (1996)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2m (1:51)
Although Phil Solomon hadn’t specifically noted doing the optical printing for Brakhage on these films (although I never asked him about this specific title), the optical printing was all done to Kodachrome, which was not something Western Cine would likely have done. No one else was printing for Brakhage yet at this time, so it’s very possible Phil did do the optical printing on this work, especially since it’s just a 2:1 printing of the original hand-painted film.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Kodachrome KMA stock.

POLITE MADNESS (1996)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2.5m (2:18)
This film features a Sam Bush credit at the end, reading, “This film is to be considered a collaboration with Sam Bush, optical printer at Western Cine, in the sense that I was the composer, he the visual musician.”
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to 7272 Eastman color internegative stock.

SEXUAL SAGA (1996)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2.5m (2:15)
These notes will be updated as I learn more. Originally, this film featured a Sam Bush credit at the end, reading, “This film is to be considered a collaboration with Sam Bush, optical printer at Western Cine, in the sense that I was the composer, he the visual musician.” For some reason, the extant internegative for making prints does not feature this titlecard.
The post-production of this film is unclear. The original negative (which features the Bush credit) is actually a “non-orange negative” (in Brakhage’s parlance), which is to say it’s an element intended to be treated as a color negative, but which is on Eastman 7386 color print stock. From this element, four 7386 color prints were struck in August 1996, one of which remained in Brakhage’s collection labeled as a “protection print”, and one of which was sent to Canyon Cinema (not sure where the other two went). In 2002, Brakhage sold a complete collection of film prints to CU Boulder, and for some reason borrowed the Canyon Cinema distribution print and had his lab strike an internegative from the Canyon print at that time, in order to produce a new print for Boulder. This was done almost certainly because there had been a printing negative for the film that had gone missing, or because he believed there to not be an extant, usable internegative for some reason. I worked at Canyon Cinema at the time of this print sale and remember Brakhage borrowing a couple of prints from us to use as sources for new printing negatives in order to satisfy the Boulder order, because the existing internegatives were missing or temporarily mislaid by the lab. So it’s possible (likely, I’d say) that in the course of this quite large printing order, the original negative for Sexual Saga was misconstrued as not being a printable negative, leading Brakhage to have a new internegative made from a distribution print. My further thought is that the Canyon print is missing the Sam Bush credit because it may have been the answer print, which initially may not have had the Bush credit incorporated (the credit is spliced on in both the original negative and on the “protection print”, suggesting it was almost definitely added slightly later). It was not uncommon for Brakhage to send a non-final print to one of his distributors.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Eastman 7386 color print stock, as a “non-orange” negative.

THROUGH WOUNDED EYES (1996) (w/ Joel Haertling)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 7m
I haven’t personally been able to inspect the materials for this film, so the information cited here is based on existing documentation.

TWO FOUND OBJECTS OF CHARLES BOULTENHOUSE (1996)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 7m (7:02)
This film is one of only two known examples of a found-object film in Brakhage’s filmography (the other being Gift, from 1973).
According to Brakhage, this material came from the collection of Charles Boultenhouse, apparently not manipulated by Brakhage, other than to make it printable for distribution as a sort of found-object work. From his description of the film in the Canyon Cinema catalog:
“This material was found in boxes of unfinished film projects which Charles Boultenhouse (and presumably Parker Tyler) worked with in the 1950s-1960s. Anna Duncan, one of the “Isadorables” adopted (as well as trained in childhood) by Isadora Duncan was discovered working with Charles in Brentano’s bookstore: he felt compelled to preserve this lineage of Duncan, perhaps the greatest dancer innovator of the 20th century – certainly the most famous. While the film was never finished, certainly this section, as well as the following self-portraiture, speaks for itself.”
Film stock notes: The original material for this film was shot on 1961 Kodachrome A and 1962 Kodachrome II A. Upon printing this material for Brakhage in 1996, Western Cine needed to remove the last 30ft due to shrinkage and duplicate it optically to color negative. A print from that optical negative was then cut into the original to replace the shrunken material, enabling the whole thing to be printed safely.

COMMINGLED CONTAINERS (1996)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2.5m (2:42)
The title as it appears on the film is Comingled Containers, which was apparently an unintentional misspelling. In print references made by Brakhage, the correct spelling is used.
Film stock notes: This film was shot on Kodachrome stock.

THE CAT OF THE WORM’S GREEN REALM (1997)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 14m (14:11)
Film stock notes: This film was assembled from a mix of Kodachrome KM, Eastman 7296 color negative, and Eastman 7386 color print material.

LAST HYMN TO THE NIGHT – NOVALIS (1997)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 17.5m (17:30)
A titlecard at the end of the film reads: “Original material photographed and step-printed by Phil Solomon and Stan Brakhage”. According to Phil Solomon, this is because the hand-painting for this film was done by Brakhage on top of outtakes from their collaborative film Elementary Phrases.
Film stock notes: The hand-painted original for this film was optically printed 2:1 to Eastman 7272 color internegative stock to create the finished original negative.

DIVERTIMENTO (1997)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2m (1:45)
This film features a Sam Bush credit at the end, reading, “This film is to be considered a collaboration with Sam Bush, optical printer at Western Cine, in the sense that I was the composer, he the visual musician.”
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to 7272 Eastman color internegative stock.

SELF SONG & DEATH SONG (1997)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 4m (4:00)
Film stock notes: Self Song was originally shot on Kodachrome KM, and Death Song on a mix of Kodachrome KM and Eastman 7296 color negative printed to 7386 color print. However, these elements were then optically printed to Eastman 7272 color internegative, because Brakhage desired both some minor optical conform and an introductory freeze frame, as well as a dry-gate internegative which specifically retained the dirt and scratches on the surface of the originals.

SHOCKINGLY HOT (1997)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 3m (2:47)
Brakhage initially produced this film in 1996, as a hand-painted work with optical printing by Sam Bush at Western Cine, utilizing layered superimpositions. He was unsatisfied with the result (a note written by Bush accompanying the film’s production material indicates Brakhage felt there were “too many bright holes (bi-pack vs. super) to fill up”), and revised the film by supplying Bush with hand-painted loops made by his sons Anton and Vaughn and specific instructions for further bi-pack optical printing (bi-packing is done by sandwiching two pieces of film together to be copied, so the images are summed rather than superimposed). To create the revised and final version, the rejected print of this first version was printed as negative to color print stock, to create a “non-orange negative” of the painting. Separately, the newly produced painted loops by Anton and Vaughn were then bi-pack printed with each other, and the resulting bi-pack further bi-packed with the aforementioned non-orange negative. Additionally, the loops were also bi-pack printed later in the film, along with the introduction of other optical effects to close, in Brakhage’s words, with a “slow flame burnout”. The bi-packing offered an increased intensity and density of color and visual information, while the use of “non-orange negative” increased contrast and saturation. It’s rare during this period that a Brakhage painted film is just a mirror of the original painting – there are usually at least some optical effects present, and as with Shockingly Hot, sometimes the use of other film stocks in unexpected ways to radically change the appearance of the raw painted forms.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to 7272 Eastman color internegative stock.

YGGDRASILL: WHOSE ROOTS ARE STARS IN THE HUMAN MIND (1997)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 17m (17:13)
An anecdotal note to be taken with a grain of salt and actually probably not worth reading unless you’re future me wanting to remind myself of the deal with this film: I was certain of the accuracy of this memory, but a re-inspection of the elements for this film has called it into question for me now, so it may not be accurate. But I’m leaving it here for posterity’s sake, just in case. When I worked at Canyon Cinema between 2000-2003, there were two prints of this film in distribution, though one had never gone out on a rental. At some point I inspected this second print, and found it had a length discrepancy with the other print (I can’t remember which was shorter vs. longer). I called Stan and he said the shorter one was the correct, final version, and asked me to ship the longer print back to him – he had accidentally sent Canyon this non-final cut of the film for distribution. This “longer” print eventually turned up in the CalArts film collection (I spotted it there and recognized it). When I first inspected the original for this film in 2005, it seemed to be 100ft longer. However, a more recent (August 2025) inspection of elements indicates no length discrepancy anywhere, so I must have either misrecorded the length somehow in 2005 (which honestly is unlikely, as I’m kind of a maniac when it comes to accuracy on this stuff), or more likely the synchronizer was being funky and added an extra hundred onto the footage (which can happen with those things if you’re not careful!)
Film stock notes: The original for this film comprises numerous different stocks, including some original hand-painting. Perhaps besides the hand-painted material, it is possible that this film was put together by Brakhage from entirely pre-existing material. Included are Kodachrome KM, Eastman 7291 and 7296 color negative, 7272 Eastman color internegative, 7384 and 7386 Eastman color print, Eastman 7252 Ektachrome Commercial, and 7250 Ektachrome VNX stocks.

“…” REEL ONE (1998)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 22m (21:53)
The onscreen titlecard for this film consists only of an ellipsis, with no quote marks, and no designation of “reel one”. However, print references have instead observed the more standard convention as I have it here, and the remaining four reels of this series do follow the quotes+reel number form in their onscreen titlecards.
Film stock notes: This film was finished as a positive original picture roll, created from a mix of color print, bw print, color negative, bw and color black leader, and miscellaneous found “found” color print material. The film mixes actual scratched/abraded material with duped and optically manipulated footage of this kind of material.

“…” REEL TWO (1998)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 14.5m (14:43)
This film features a Sam Bush credit at the end, reading, “This film is to be considered a collaboration with Sam Bush, optical printer at Western Cine, in the sense that I was the composer, he the visual musician.”
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Eastman 7272 color internegative stock.

“…” REEL THREE (1998)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 14.5m (14:33)
Film stock notes: This film was finished as a set of positive A/B rolls, comprising a mix of color print material and actual scratched material. The scratched material is on a variety of stocks, including Kodachrome, color print, b/w black leader, and even at least one instance of 1969 Eastman 7387 Kodachrome print.

“…” REEL FOUR (1998)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 19.5m (19:42)
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Eastman 7244 color intermediate stock.

“…” REEL FIVE (1998)
16mm, bw & color, sound, 14m (14:07)
Sound by James Tenney: “Flocking”, taken from his album Bridge & Flocking (released 1996 on hat ART).
Film stock notes: This film was finished as a positive picture roll on various color print stocks, and then printed to Eastman 7244 color intermediate. Brakhage’s instruction for the sound synchronization with Tenney’s track is that the last note of the track should be synched with the last frame of the film, and then for the lab to add however much black was needed at the head (which ended up being about 80ft., or slightly more than two minutes) to make the film match the length of the music.

THE BIRDS OF PARADISE (1998)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2.5m (2:24)
This film features a Sam Bush credit at the end, reading, “This film is to be considered a collaboration with Sam Bush, optical printer at Western Cine, in the sense that I was the composer, he the visual musician.”
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Eastman 7272 color internegative stock.

TWO FILMS: THE FEMALE MYSTIQUE AND SPARE LEAVES (FOR GORDON) (1998)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2.5m (2:39)
Female Mystique: 0.5m (28 seconds)
Spare Leaves: 2m (1:55)
These two films were shot ca.1973, but not assembled, printed, or released until 1998.
Film stock notes: Female Mystique is on 1973 Kodachrome II, and Spare Leaves is on Anscochrome 2311, which is likely from the same era or slightly earlier (this stock was produced between 1968-76, but earlier is more likely than later, as Brakhage didn’t really shoot Ansco after the late 1960s and Ansco was really winding down production and availability of their stocks even in the early 1970s).

COUPLING (1999)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 4.5m (4:35)
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Eastman 7272 color internegative stock.

CLOUD CHAMBER (1999)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 3m (2:58)
Optical printing by Stan Brakhage and Mary Beth Reed.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Kodachrome KMA stock, with titles on Eastman 7240 Ektachrome VNF stock.

CRICKET REQUIEM (1999)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2.5m (2:43)
This film features a Sam Bush credit at the end, reading, “This film is to be considered a collaboration with Sam Bush, optical printer at Western Cine, in the sense that I was the composer, he the visual musician.”
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Eastman 7244 color intermediate stock.

THE DARK TOWER (1999)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2.5m (2:20)
Optical printing by Stan Brakhage and Mary Beth Reed.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Kodachrome KMA stock, with titles on Eastman 7240 Ektachrome VNF stock.

THE EARTH SONG OF THE CRICKET (1999)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2m (2:02)
In many print references, this film’s title has been given as “Earthsong” rather than “Earth Song”, although it’s the latter form that is actually used on screen.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Eastman 7272 color internegative stock.

THE LION AND THE ZEBRA MAKE GOD’S RAW JEWELS (1999)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 6m (5:50)
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Eastman 7244 color intermediate stock.

MOILSOME TOILSOME (1999)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 5.5m (5:29)
Film stock notes: This film was shot on Kodachrome KM stock, with titles on Eastman 7240 Ektachrome VNF stock.

STATELY MANSIONS DID DECREE (1999)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 5.5m (5:33)
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Eastman 7272 color internegative stock. Based on lab paperwork for some of the production elements for this film, there was an initial finished optical negative for the film that Brakhage was apparently unsatisfied with. Extra optical steps were then taken to mute the colors more, among other things, to create the actual finished film.

WORM AND WEB LOVE (1999)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 3.5m (3:42)
Film stock notes: This film was shot on color negative, the footage printed to 3383 Eastman color print stock, and the film’s A/B rolls then edited from that print material. Because 3383 stock is polyester and can’t be cement spliced, this is also a very rare example of Brakhage editing a film entirely with tape splices.

PERSIAN SERIES (1999-2000)
This is a series of 18 short films, released in three groupings of multiple films each. Although each film has discrete integrity as an individual work, and were sometimes shown by Brakhage individually or in slightly different groupings, these films are by far most commonly shown in the groupings Brakhage canonically released them in. In print and parlance, these films are sometimes referred to simply as PERSIANS, such as “Persian 12“, etc.

PERSIAN SERIES 1-5 (1999)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 16m (15:47)
The five films making up this reel have individual titlecards. Each is named “Persian #1”, “Persian #2”, etc., except Persian #4 is subtitled “Floral Persian”.
This film features a Sam Bush credit at the end, reading, “This film is to be considered a collaboration with Sam Bush, optical printer at Western Cine, in the sense that I was the composer, he the visual musician.”
Film stock notes: These films were finished via optical printer to Eastman 7244 color intermediate stock.

PERSIAN SERIES 6-12 (2000)
The onscreen titlecard for this film is actually PERSIANS 6-12, but for consistency, the standardized form of the title as established in 1-5 is typically employed.
Optical printing by Stan Brakhage and Mary Beth Reed (though Reed isn’t sure if she worked on #6).

PERSIAN SERIES 13-18 (2000)
The onscreen titlecard for this film is actually PERSIAN’S 13-18 [sic], but for consistency, the standardized form of the title as established in 1-5 is typically employed.
Optical printing by Stan Brakhage and Mary Beth Reed.

DANCE (2000)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 6m (6:13)
Film stock notes: This film was shot on Kodachrome KMA stock and edited as A/B rolls. Titles are on Eastman b/w hi-con negative.

THE GOD OF DAY HAD GONE DOWN UPON HIM (2000)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 48m (47:52)
Film stock notes: This film was shot on Kodachrome KM and KMA stocks.

WATER FOR MAYA (2000)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2.5m (2:25)
Optical printing by Stan Brakhage and Mary Beth Reed.
Film stock notes: This film was initially assembled by Brakhage as a set of hand-painted A/B rolls, then was apparently optically printed to Eastman 3272 internegative stock.

THE JESUS TRILOGY AND CODA (2000)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 20m (20:13)
durations of the individual sections:
In Jesus Name: 2:03
Baby Jesus: 9:11
Jesus Wept: 4:46
Christ on Cross: 3:47
This film consists of four parts, which were not officially released individually, but may have been shown by Brakhage as individual pieces on a few occasions. The four parts have individual titles preceding each one within the complete film: In Jesus Name, Baby Jesus, Jesus Wept, and Christ on Cross. These films had been printed individually, and only spliced together as a completed printing negative when they were all finished. There is some indication that one or more of them may have initially been conceived as discrete individual films, including the fact that Christ on Cross has individual main and end titles, unlike the other three parts, which only have main titles. Also, the “Jesus Trilogy and Coda” main and end titles are on hand-processed black and white negative stock, with flopped emulsion position, and spliced onto the negative, suggesting they were an addition late in the process.
Optical printing on these films was done by Stan Brakhage and Mary Beth Reed.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Eastman 3272 internegative stock, with main/end titles on hand-processed b/w negative.

ROUNDS (2001)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 13.5m (13:39)
Optical printing by Mary Beth Reed.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Kodachrome KMA stock and subsequently edited by Brakhage with tape splices. Titles are on Eastman b/w negative.

GARDEN PATH (2001) (w/ Mary Beth Reed)
16mm, bw & color, silent 24fps, 7.5m
Optical printing by Stan Brakhage and Mary Beth Reed.
I haven’t personally been able to inspect the materials for this film, so the information cited here is based on existing documentation.

LOVESONG (2001)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 11m (10:49)
Optical printing by Stan Brakhage and Mary Beth Reed.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Kodachrome KMA stock.

LOVESONG 2 (2001)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2m (2:05)
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Kodachrome KMA stock.

LOVESONG 3 (2001)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 9m (9:03)
Optical printing by Stan Brakhage and Mary Beth Reed.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Kodachrome KMA stock.

LOVESONG 4 (2001)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 3.5m (3:15)
Optical printing by Stan Brakhage and Mary Beth Reed.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Eastman 3383 color print stock, which was also hand-processed.

MICRO-GARDEN (2001)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 3m (3:10)
Optical printing by Stan Brakhage and Mary Beth Reed.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Kodachrome KMA stock.

NIGHT MULCH & VERY (2001)
35mm/16mm, color, silent 24fps, 5.5m (5:43)
Night Mulch: 1:28
Very: 4:00
Brakhage initially finished this pair of films with Very preceding Night Mulch on the reel, but soon after its completion, he switched the order to its current configuration.
This film was created and released in 35mm, as well as a 16mm reduction version.
Optical printing by Courtney Hoskins.
Film stock notes: These films were hand-scratched and painted over two different 35mm theatrical trailers for the 2000 feature film Quills. The results were then optically printed 2:1 to 35mm Eastman 5242 color intermediate stock.

OCCAM’S THREAD (2001)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 7m (6:47)
Optical printing by Stan Brakhage and Mary Beth Reed.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Kodachrome KMA stock.

DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL (2002)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 3m (2:57)
Optical printing by Stan Brakhage and Mary Beth Reed.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Kodachrome KMA stock.

LOVESONG 5 & 6 (2002)
16mm, color, silent, 4m (4:05)
Lovesong 5 = 1m (1:00); Lovesong 6 = 3m (3:05)
These two films were released together as a single unit, though it’s possible they were shown individually in Brakhage’s lifetime.
Optical printing by Stan Brakhage and Mary Beth Reed.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Kodachrome KMA stock.

SONG OF THE MUSHROOM (2002) (w/ Joel Haertling)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 2m
I haven’t personally been able to inspect the materials for this film, so the information cited here is based on existing documentation.

ASCENSION (2002)
16mm, color, silent, 2m (2:08)
Copyright year on film is given as 2001, but this film was not finished until March 2002 (according to lab paperwork).
Optical printing by Stan Brakhage and Mary Beth Reed.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Kodachrome KMA stock.

RESURRECTUS EST (2002)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 8m (7:51)
Optical printing by Stan Brakhage and Mary Beth Reed.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Kodachrome KMA stock.

MAX (2002)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 3m (3:08)
Film stock notes: This film was shot on Eastman 7279 500T color negative stock, with titles on b/w positive. This is one of only two films that Brakhage shot and actually cut on negative (as opposed to reversal or positive) film (the other being Daybreak and White Eye, from 1957).

[VIENNALE aka SB aka ONE MINUTE FOR VIENNA] (2002)
16mm, color, silent
This film was made by Brakhage as a trailer for the Viennale. No title appears on the film, and the above three titles are three variations of the title that have been used at various times.
Optical printing by Stan Brakhage and Mary Beth Reed.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Kodachrome KMA stock.

SEASONS… (2002) (w/ Phil Solomon)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 16m (16:11)
This collaborative film made with Stan Brakhage existed in at least one or perhaps more tentative initial versions starting in 1998, but only achieved its final form in 2002. Phil finished the film in the last months of Brakhage’s life, and was moved to be able to show it to him to get his approval before Brakhage’s death in March 2003. Phil would often talk about how meaningful it was for him that Seasons… was apparently the last film Brakhage ever watched on film before he died.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer to Kodachrome KMA stock.

PANELS FOR THE WALLS OF HEAVEN (2002)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 31m (31:12)
Optical printing by Stan Brakhage and Mary Beth Reed.
Film stock notes: This film was finished via optical printer on Eastman 7272 internegative stock.

STAN’S WINDOW & WORK IN PROGRESS (2003)
16mm, color, silent 24fps, 12.5m (12:18)
Stan’s Window: 5.5m (5:43)
Work in Progress: 6m (6:14)
Stan’s Window was the final film photographed and completed by Brakhage. Due to his ill health at the time, it was filmed on Kodachrome, transferred to video for him to view and make editing decisions, and the editing notes then given to Mary Beth Reed to execute. Two additional unedited camera rolls of material, along with a partial roll that had been in his camera, were initially appended to the film under the title Work in Progress, and the pair of films were briefly released as a single piece. However, Marilyn Brakhage soon after (ca.2004-05) had second thoughts about the circulation of the Work in Progress piece, as it represents only final raw material and not a conscious and complete artistic statement in the vein of the rest of Brakhage’s body of work. The compilation reel was removed from circulation, and Stan’s Window temporarily removed from distribution pending re-evaluation of the color timing of prints.
Film stock notes: Both films were shot on Kodachrome KM, with titles on Eastman b/w reversal stock.

CHINESE SERIES (2003)
35mm 1.85 / 16mm, color, silent 24fps
This film was initially produced as a 1.85 aspect ratio 35mm film, but was also reduced to hard-matted 16mm for distribution in that format as well.
Optical printing by Courtney Hoskins.
Film stock notes: This film was hand-scratched by Brakhage onto 35mm color print stock that Courtney Hoskins had provided to him with burned-in hard-matting for 1.85, as a way to make it simpler for him to be aware of the frame positioning. This hand-scratched original was then optically printed by Hoskins according to Brakhage’s instructions to Eastman 5242 intermediate stock.