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Notes on Marie Menken

Experimental • 1h 37m

Directed by Martina Kudlacek • Documentary • 2007 • 97 minutes

Martina Kudlacek, director of the critically acclaimed "In the Mirror of Maya Deren," brings us the story of Marie Menken (1909-1970), one of New York's outstanding underground filmmakers, who inspired and worked with renowned artists Andy Warhol, Stan Brakhage, Jonas Mekas, Kenneth Anger and Gerard Malanga, and became known as "the mother of the avant-garde."

Originally an abstract painter and collage artist, Menken produced nearly two dozen experimental shorts, gracefully using a hand-held Bolex camera to create rhythmic patterns of light, color, form and texture, and compose exquisite visual poems. Rich in excerpts of Menken's work, the film also features the rare and fascinating footage of "The Duel of the Bolexes" she conducted with Andy Warhol on a New York rooftop.

The large, loud and tempestuous Menken, whose volatile relationship with husband Willard Maas reportedly inspired Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, became a Warhol superstar making memorable appearances in The Life of Juanita Castro and The Chelsea Girls.

Featuring interviews with Jonas Mekas, Kenneth Anger, Gerard Malanga, Peter Kubelka, Alfred Leslie, Billy Name, and the Chelsea Girls star Mary Woronov.

Music by John Zorn.

Tags
abstract painter, andy warhol, art and architecture, art history, artists, bolexes, communication and media studies, edward albee, excursion, experimental, experimental film, expository, film and video studies, film history, filmmakers, gender studies, gerard malanga, history, icarus films, john zorn, jonas mekas, kenneth anger, lights go go go bagatelle for willard maas arabesque for kenneth anger, marie menken, martha, non-narrative film, notes on marie menken, ovid, s_0019, s_0103, s_0107, s_0108, s_0289, s_0290, s_0501, sidewalks moonplay, stan brakhage, the factory, title_n, underground, warhol, warhol superstar, watts with eggs, who's afraid of virginia woolf, women's history, women's studies

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