In the course of making nearly 400 films over 50 years, Stan Brakhage (1933-2003) became synonymous with independent American filmmaking, particularly its avant-garde component.

This major collection of writings draws primarily upon two long out-of-print books: “Metaphors on Vision” and “Brakhage Scrapbook”. Brakhage examines filmmaking in relation to social and professional contexts, the nature of influence and collaboration, the aesthetics of personal experience, and the conditions under which various films were made. Brakhage discusses his predecessors and contemporaries, relates film to dance and poetry, and in “A Moving Picture Giving and Taking Book” provides a manual for the novice filmmaker. Lectures, interviews, essays, shooting scenarios, stills, narrative scripts and manifestos in this book document Brakhage’s personal vision and public persona.

Paperback, published in 2001, 232 pages.

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