WOW! Who knew that the Anthology Film Archives offers highlights from its collection via a Vimeo Channel?
https://vimeo.com/anthologyfilmarchives.
Anthology Film Archives was founded by filmmaker Jon Mekas in the East Village when it was seedy as hell and was reaching its first apogee of boho-creative-craziness in the 60’s. This was a period where the crossover between practicing occultists (EGC Bishop, Harry Smith), LGBTX culture (Jack Smith), avant garde musicians (Tony Conrad, LaMonte Young and all those they influenced), and filmmakers like Jonas, Harry, Jack, Stan Brakhage hit critical mass. Mekas and Archives encouraged and supported this scene as much as their precarious finances allowed, serving as repository and rental distributor for Smith’s seminal abstract films (and some of his artwork as well).
Yeah, this can be considered ancient history, especially at a time when subsequent waves of art culture (think the scenes that CBGBs was the locus of and the moment when filmmakers became “musicians” in No Wave ) are a faded memory as well. Feel free to ignore all this.
