Kenneth Anger Interview and Speech.
 

A youtube find I've not noticed before.

Q&A at last year's London Film Festival:

The sound improves midway through the third part, when Kenneth is finally handed a microphone!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qoc2v...e=user&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2al4Q...elated&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFzqg...elated&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyUSh...elated&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTwIC...elated&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4gFC...elated&search=

Receiving an 'Outfest Achievement Award':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2g-v...elated&search=

Apologies in advance if this stuff has already been posted.

a brilliant find, this needs watching!
i repped demonrail and so should everybody else!

the history of mickey mouse & how he hates his sister-- ha ha ha

I had a chance to go to that Q&A and never bothered. KA is a bit of a hero of mine and I didn't want anything to spoil this hugely inflated idea of him. Watching him talk about Mickey Mouse though, I really wish I'd been there.

why is he a hero of yours?
\

i don't meant to speak for demonrail, but kenneth anger is/was a very original & singular filmmaker. whether you enjoy his movies or they bore you to tears, he broke important ground, influenced a lot of people, and you have to recognize his place in movie history. watch him being mentioned in that wonderful love letter to no budget film, "cecil b. demented." (i know some people don't like cecil b. demented but i do).

Ah, bless the Anger and his fabulous cosmetic-surgery enhanced features.

Kenneth Anger means as much (if not more) to me than a band like Sonic Youth or Pussy Galore. One of the greatest filmmakers ever to have walked the earth. Another one of those people who make using the word genius a little harder after you've watched his stuff.

Anger reminds a bit of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, in a genius film-maker/monstrous human being way. I'm sure Anger wouldn't have it any other way, too.

fassbinder is a god.

Anger and Fassbinder in the pantheon of true genius? Love Fassbinder to bits but he was never no Anger. And I'm sure he'd say the same were he alive today.

The Film Pantheon according to DR666:

Kenneth Anger
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergo Paradjanov
Stan Brakhage

That's it for me.

You forgot Lucio "Joy Trail" Fulci. What an oversight!

Ah, MSD: the only man I know who can quote New York Ripper.

maybe, but both anger and brakhage put me to sleep (im sorry! it's true!), whereas fassbinder... such enthralling films!!

see i need plot and character in film. i enjoy a good story. i don't ask for conventional means to tell it, but i can't get into shit that's too abstract or symbolic. i love their footage, both of them, but to me the long form does not suit them. i love kustom kar kommandos & scorpio rising but his longer movies well i struggled to stay awake. im not trying to mock anybody here, it's a true fact, and maybe i'm just exposing myself as a vulgar ignoramus but that's what's happened-- also with brackage's films-- i fall asleep in about 15'. marvellous stills, but stitched together they are soporific to my mind.

about fassbinder: the first time i saw one of his movies it was chinese roulette; it was a dank basement i was seventeen and i never recovered. nope. he has so many incredible movies-- veronika voss, the marriage of maria braun, mother kusters goes to heaven, satan's brew!! he is awesome and maybe his cinematography was not up to par with some of the fascinating things you mention but what characters, what stories & what merciless skewering of society-- that's probably very 70's, as political films have tended to fall out of fashion since the 80s maybe? but genius, genius work. and i want to see it all. they day i finally get my hands on berlin alexanderplatz will be a happy one.

i have never seen any paradjanov but you've piqued my curiosity and i'm rejoining greencine this month, so...

http://www.greencine.com/character?pid=16231

See Shadows of Our Ancestors if you're curious about Paradjanov but don't want to potentially get put off by his more abstract stuff. If you do want to see that kind of stuff though, The Colour of Pomegranates is, IMHO, one of the greatest pieces of art that the 20th Century has produced.

Fassbinder is an incredible filmmaker, don't get me wrong. One of my faves actually.

Sorry, I can get a bit carried away when I think about stuff like this.

hm see, i dont know where i'd find shadows of our ancestors. greencine is my last recourse when it comes to unusual films...


sorry about what? this is a most enjoyable conversation (to me anyway). please continue getting carried away!

Going back to Anger, has anyone else here read the biography of him by Bill Landis? If so, what d'you reckon?

It's really good, but did you know that Kenneth Anger told his friends that he'd put a hex on any of them if they agreed to speak to Landis when he was doing interviews and stuff. Consequently a lot of important people never appear in the book. He also put a hex on Landis when the book was finally published.

demonrail666 - No, I asn't aware of that stuff. Mind you, considering that Landis beat a crippling heroin habit to get the book finished and published, and that "Sleazoid Express" is going strong again, I reckon that Anger's curses aren't as good as he thinks they are.

Hmm, does this mean he's going to put a curse on me, now? Yikes.

Well (true story) I know someone personally who won't publish an interview he did with Anger because a third party told him that he wouldn't be 'wise to do so.'

Kenneth Anger - The Darth Vader of the film world.

Well, we know he's fond of a bit of leather.

Yeah, of course - "Scorpio Rising". That film still has one of my favourite pieces of musical uses, with "My Boyfriend's Back". Scorsese owes Anger a huge debt just for that, if nothing else.

The scene when DeNiro walks into the bar to the strains of Jumpin Jack Flash in Mean Streets is about as Scorpio Rising as you can get. Scorsese always namechecks Anger as a massive influence.

Well, it's good that Scorsese acknowledges that. I used to think that Marty S pretty much invented that usage of pop music in films, due to reading a lot of simplistic film articles and books.

Funnily enough, the last time I remember noticing a piece of music in a film was the usage of Beethoven's 6th Symphony in "Irreversible". It really helps to underpin the scene it's used in.

In the interview, Anger talks about messing around with films like "Rabbit Moon". I've seen a version of "RM" that has a truly terrible piece of faux-glam rock music in it. It pretty much ruined my experience of the film.

Yeah, I've seen that version too. Horrible.

But the fucker made Fireworks when he was 17! Think of that.

I know, and it was pretty explicit for the time too. Very brave film-making. For visuals alone, I still love "Eaux D'Artifice".

God, if you didn't know I was gay, the evidence would really be building up now.

Scorsese's good when it comes to acknowledging his influences. He also does a lot behind the scenes to raise the profile of people like Anger, Michael Powell and even studios like Hammer. A typical example are the numerous introductions he's provided for DVDs of often quite marginal films. He did one for The Creature of the Black Lagoon, explaining how he ripped it off for a scene in Cape Fear.

Scorsese's also been at the forefront of film restoration. He's one of those one-off guys who's not simply obsessed with film, his whole life is film and everything else filts around it. I can only admire such dedication to his art, even if I don't like some of the stuff he's put out.

At least you are. I don't even have THAT excuse. :)

The amazing thing is how few of his films are alike but how they all have something that makes them unmistakably his. Kustom Kar Kommandos and then Eaux D'Artifice. Totally different but somehow the same.

Yes, there's a coherent vision there that runs throughout his best work, both sexually charged and yet also almost androgynous at times too (c.f. "Invocation Of My Demon Brothers").

I know Anger though ubuweb videos and Scorsese's name-checking remarks in the past, so not tremendously well, but I am familiar.
Jimmy Page's unused "Lucifer Rising" score is pretty nuts.

atari2600 - try and check out as much as you can. It's all worth seeing.

I don't know. I've seen a few...Kustom Kar Kommandos, Scorpio Rising, Lucifer Rising & a bunch of others that were at ubu...& I can appreciate some of the diy mechanics and ideas, but...(trailing off)

check this out


Kenneth Anger been removed from ubuweb...
http://www.ubu.com/film/

The Anger Curse strikes again.

Yeah, that Jimmy Page score is bonkers. They've recently released two CDs of music that Bobby Beausoleil did for Lucifer Rising.

I know a lot of people don't like Lucifer... but its like an attempt to bring all of his work to some kind of a climax. That said, I think Invocation of My Demon Brother will always be my favourite. But I can honestly say that I love all of the Magick Lantern Cycle.

Yeah, dude's last name is fucking "Anger." haha

Next time I hear of a screening of Lucifer Rising, I'll go and check it out. Somehow, I feel that I should give it another look.

I have a feeling that his removal from the site has less to do with a supposed lack of money and more with his legendary control-freakary. He's notorious for filing lawsuits against anyone he thinks might be 'exploiting' him.

In constant rotation at the DR666 Picture House. Free tickets and a complimentary can of Kronenburg and box of Pringles on request. ;)