you have been here sometime

Sunday, July 19, 7:30

"Beautiful, erotic, phantasmagoric, the films of Kenneth Anger are a national treasure. Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Marianne Faithfull, Anton Lavey, and a parade of other 60s luminaries collaborate on this collection of short films . They range from rich mystcal imagery and visual essays of psychedelic color to insider documentary footage of bikers and a glittering love letter to early black and white film. Please join us under the stars for this very special screening with one of our most legendary filmmakers."

Hollywood Forever Cemetery
directed by kenneth anger (1965-1979)
Kenneth Anger in person. (sometimes i feel so lucky to live in L.A.)

“I turned the house into a studio and invited over a bunch of sailors, who were actually students I'd met at USC. They were studying cinema to become technical cameramen. They weren't real sailors picked up off the street, but they were very happy to play these roles in my film.”
-Kenneth Anger

The first thing to note about Anger's films is that they are designed to be seen over and over again. They are typically cyclic in structure: their endings return to their beginnings, inviting replays. By accident or design, this trait echoes both the picture-palace tradition of continuous performances and the notion of magic rituals that have to be performed again and again, rather like keeping a battery charged.

Most of the films begin with the act of waking, opening the eyes, and then follow the protagonist through a quest of some kind... the clear implication is that they'll go through it again the next day. Anger's characters are certainly goal-oriented, but they don't follow learning curves: they're fated to repeat their successes and failures indefinitely."

taken from here..