Shirley Clarke
A major figure of the American avant garde, Shirley Brimberg Clarke (1919-1997) was born into privilege as the daughter of Polish-Jewish immigrants who made their fortune in manufacturing. Rebelling against a repressive bourgeois upbringing, Clarke turned first to dance, and later film and video, to express her distinctive vision of the world. Moving freely across genres and media throughout her career (and often within a single work), Clarke’s cinema explores the porous boundaries between narrative and documentary filmmaking, and film and other media, such as painting, dance, performance and video. Her 1960s features The Connection (1961), The Cool World (1963) and Portrait of Jason (1967), for which she is arguably best remembered, address issues of urban alienation, poverty, addiction and racism, focusing on lives lived at the margins of American society. Fearless in both her personal and creative life, Clarke produced a body of work that is as formally innovative as it is rooted in social protest. Clarke initially trained as a dancer, immersing herself in New York’s vibrant post-war avant-garde dance scene. Although her dance career never quite earned her the critical acclaim she’d hoped for, it had a lasting impact on her subsequent filmmaking and video work, informing an interest in how movement is recorded formally, while introducing her to key avant-garde dancers and choreographers. Source: https://denniscooperblog.com/shirley-clarke-day-2/
Lions Love
(Shirley)
Sex Stars
(Self)
As Kineastas
Alien Blood
(second alien mother / MIB soldier)
Galaxie
(Self)
Portrait of Jason
(Interviewer (voice))
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
(Self (archive footage))
Birth of a Nation
(Self)
Underground New York
(Self)
Happy Birthday to John
(Self)
Bill's Hat
Shirley Brimberg Home Movies (When She Was Young)
(Herself)
Home Movies #10 Wedding and Pregnancy
(Herself)
Home Movies #18 Florida
(Herself)
Home Movies #15 Shirley with Camera
(Herself)
Shirley Clarke: The Artist with the Lens
(Self (archival footage))
Rome Is Burning: Portrait of Shirley Clarke
(Shirley Clarke)
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
(Self)
The Modnar Machine
Portrait of Jason
(Director)
The Cool World
(Director)
The Connection
(Director)
Ornette: Made in America
(Director)
Ornette Coleman: A Jazz Video Game
(Director)
Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World
(Director)
Bridges-Go-Round 1
(Director)
A Scary Time
(Director)
Bullfight
(Director)
Skyscraper
(Director)
In Paris Parks
(Director)
The Cool World
(Writer)
Butterfly
(Director)
The Cool World
(Editor)
Dance in the Sun
(Director)
A Moment in Love
(Director)
A Visual Diary
(Director)
Savage/Love
(Director)
Tongues
(Director)
Portrait of Jason
(Producer)
Portrait of Jason
(Editor)
Bridges-Go-Round 2
(Director)
Carl Lee, Max and Friends at the Hotel Chelsea
(Director)
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Trans
(Director)
24 Frames Per Second
(Director)
Brussels Loops
(Director)
Christopher and Me
(Dialogue)
Skyscraper
(Producer)
Skyscraper
(Editor)
Fear Flight
(Director)
A Short Lecture and Demonstration on the Evolution of Ragtime as Presented by Jelly Roll Morton
(Director)
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: One Two Three
(Director)
For Life, Against the War
(Director)
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Initiation
(Director)
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Mysterium
(Director)
The Connection
(Editor)
Home Movies #20: Dance Tests
(Director)
Decroux Film
(Director)
Tongues
(Editor)
Bullfight
(Camera Operator)
Dance in the Sun
(Editor)
Outtakes for 'In Paris Parks'
(Director)
This Is Not 'In Paris Parks'
(Director)
Bullfight: The C and D Rolls
(Director)
Rose and the Players – Part 1
(Director)
Rose and the Players – Part 2
(Director)
A Moment in Love
(Camera Operator)
A Moment in Love
(Editor)
Home Movies #15 Shirley with Camera
(Director)
Bullfight
(Editor)
Love Nest
(Stand In)
Ornette: Made in America
(Editor)
Bridges-Go-Round 1
(Director of Photography)
Bridges-Go-Round 1
(Producer)
Ricky Leacock Visit, April 15, 1971
(Director)
Carl Lee on Joe Franklin Show
(Director)
Morris at Ornette's Art Show
(Director)
Yoko and John Party
(Director)
The Arrest
(Director)
Ricky Leacock Visit, evening, April 19, 1971
(Director)
Ricky Leacock Visit, daytime, April 19, 1971
(Director)
Ricky Leacock Visit, April 17, 1971
(Director)
Makeup Magic
(Director)
The Tee Pee Video Space Troupe: The First Years
(Director)
Bridges-Go-Round 2
(Producer)
Bridges-Go-Round 2
(Cinematography)