Stan Brakhage
Known For: Directing
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: January 14, 1933
Day of Death: March 9, 2003 (70 years old)
Place of Birth: Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Stan Brakhage is one of the most influential filmmakers in American avant-garde cinema, noted for his unflinching social commentaries and technical innovations. Over his nearly 40-year career, he has made over 200 films of varying length. He made his first film, Interim (1952) at age 18 after dropping out of college. Brakhage films seek to change the way we see. They encourage viewers to eschew traditional narrative structure in favor of pure visual perception that is not reliant on naming what is seen; rather his goal is to create a more visceral visual experience, for he believes that a "stream-of visual-consciousness could be nothing less than the pathway of the soul." To this end, his films are shot in highly sensual colors and utilize minimal soundtracks. His work can be divided into distinct periods. His first short films explored the properties and possibilities of light. In many of his experimental ventures, Brakhage has forgone traditional cinematography in favor of working directly with the film stock itself. He has occasionally painted, inked, scratched and dyed images onto it; he has also tried pasting organic objects on the film. His most famous example is the 1963 short Mothlight in which he glued moth wings onto the stock. Some of his early films were based on his most intimate experiences that included making love to his new bride--depicted on negative film--in Wedlock House: An Intercourse (1959), and an attempt to bring his dead dog back to life with a camera in Sirius Remembered (1959). During the 1960s, Brakhage's iconoclastic views were celebrated for their poetry, but during the '70s, his focus changed to social issues and he alienated many supporters with such disturbing film series as the "Pittsburgh documents" in which he presented many gruesome views of inner city life with films such as Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (1971) which was shot in a morgue. He also continued with autobiographical material with the "Sincerity/Duplicity series. During the 1980s, Brakhage's focus again changed--this time he became intrigued with creating truly "abstract" films such as Arabics (1982) which consists of brilliant bursts of colored light which he claims, represent "envisioned music." In addition to filmmaking, Brakhage also wrote books about films and filmmaking and also served as a teacher.
2022
2013
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2002
Actor Himself
In the Mirror of Maya Deren
Actor Himself
Vakvagany
Actor Himself
Stan Brakhage Exits the Cinema and Enters the Light of Day
Actor
Life with Stan #4: Stan Painting
Director
Song of the Mushroom
Director
Max
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Seasons...
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Ascension
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Panels for the Walls of Heaven
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Resurrectus Est
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SB (One Minute for Vienna)
2001
Actor
Garden Path
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Lovesong
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Rounds
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Garden Path
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Persian Series #17
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Persian Series #13
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Persian Series #14
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Persian Series #15
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Persian Series #18
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Persian Series #16
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Dark Night of The Soul
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Lovesong 4
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Lovesong 5 & 6
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Lovesong 3
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Occam's Thread
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Micro Garden
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Very
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Night Mulch
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Lovesong 2
2000
Actor Self
As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
Actor Himself
Looking at Forest of Bliss
Director
The God of Day Had Gone Down Upon Him
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Water for Maya
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Persian Series #11
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Persian Series #7
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Persian Series #6
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Persian Series #12
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Persian Series #8
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Persian Series #10
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Persian Series #9
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Jesus Trilogy and Coda
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Dance
1999
Actor Himself
Keepers of the Frame
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The Dark Tower
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The Birds Of Paradise
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Stately Mansions Did Decree
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Coupling
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Persian Series #2
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Persian Series #3
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Persian Series #1
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Persian Series #4
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Persian Series #5
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The Lion and the Zebra Make God's Raw Jewels
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Cloud Chamber
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Worm and Web Love
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Moilsome Toilsome
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Cricket Requiem
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The Earthsong of the Cricket
1998
1997
1996
Actor Noon Sr.
Cannibal! The Musical
Actor self
BRAKHAGE ON BRAKHAGE
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Comingled Containers
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Shockingly Hot
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Prelude 3
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Prelude 4
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Prelude 1
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Prelude 2
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Prelude 9
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Prelude 11
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Prelude 7
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Prelude 5
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Prelude 12
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Prelude 8
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Prelude 13
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Prelude 6
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Prelude 10
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Prelude 14
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Prelude 15
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Prelude 16
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Prelude 21
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Prelude 22
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Prelude 24
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Prelude 17
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Prelude 19
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Prelude 20
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Prelude 23
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Prelude 18
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Blue Value
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Sexual Saga
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The Fur of Home
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Beautiful Funerals
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Polite Madness
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Through Wounded Eyes
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Concrescence
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Two Found Objects of Charles Boultenhouse
1995
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1981
Actor Self
Stan & Jane Brakhage
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The Garden of Earthly Delights
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Arabic Numeral Series 12
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Unconscious London Strata
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Arabic Numeral Series 3
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Arabic Numeral Series 6
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Arabic Numeral Series 1
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Arabic Numeral Series 2
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Arabic Numeral Series 4
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Arabic Numeral Series 5
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Arabic Numeral Series 11
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Arabic Numeral Series 0 + 10
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Arabic Numeral Series 13
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Arabic Numeral Series 9
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Arabic Numeral Series 7
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Arabic Numeral Series 8
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Made Manifest
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RR
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Nodes
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Aftermath
1980
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1975
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Short Films 1975: #1 (Jane’s Memory)
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Short Films 1975: #3 (Hollis Frampton)
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Short Films 1975: #2 (Dante’s Styx)
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Short Films 1975: #5 (Niagara Falls)
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Short Films 1975: #4 (Lady in Glass)
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Short Films 1975: #8 (Small Town Streets)
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Short Films 1975: #6 (Stars, Chickens, Eyes, Candles)
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Short Films 1975: #7 (Turning the Raccoon Loose)
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Short Films 1975
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Sincerity II
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Short Films 1975: #10 (Painted Lightning)
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Short Films 1975: #9 (Forest Love Scene)
1974
Actor Narrator (voice)
The Stars Are Beautiful
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The Stars Are Beautiful
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The Text of Light
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Star Garden
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Skein
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Aquarien
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Clancy
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The Stars Are Beautiful
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The Stars Are Beautiful
Cinematography
The Stars Are Beautiful
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Flight
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Hymn to Her
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“He was born, he suffered, he died.”
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Sol
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Dominion
Director of Photography
The Text of Light
1973
1972
Actor Himself
Reality's Invisible
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The Wold-Shadow
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The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes
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The Process
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The Riddle of Lumen
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Wecht
Director
Sexual Meditation: Hotel
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The Shores of Phos: A Fable
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Sexual Meditation: Office Suite
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Sexual Meditation: Faun's Room, Yale
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Eye Myth Educational
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Eye Myth Educational
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The Presence
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The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes
Director of Photography
The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes
1971
1970
1969
Actor Himself
Filmmakers
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Scenes from Under Childhood, Section Three
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Scenes from Under Childhood, Section Two
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Window Suite of Children's Songs
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American 30s Song
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My Mtn. Song 27
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My Mtn. Song 27 Part II: Rivers
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Song 28
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Song 29
Director of Photography
Nuptiae
1968
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1965
Actor Man
The Art of Vision
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Dog Star Man
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The Art of Vision
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Two: Creeley/McClure
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Fire of Waters
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Song 10
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Song 12
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Song 14
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Song 13
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Song 9
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Song 11
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Three Films: Blue White/Blood's Tone/Vein
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15 Song Traits
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The Art of Vision
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The Art of Vision
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The Art of Vision
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Black Vision
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Blood's Tone
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Dog Star Man
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Dog Star Man
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Dog Star Man
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Dog Star Man
1964
1963
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1959
Actor Self
Cat's Cradle
Actor Self (uncredited)
Window Water Baby Moving
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Wedlock House: An Intercourse
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Window Water Baby Moving
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Cat's Cradle
Director
Wedlock House: An Intercourse
Director of Photography
Window Water Baby Moving
Director
Sirius Remembered
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Window Water Baby Moving
Cinematography
Pittsburgh
1958
1957
1956
1955
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Untitled Film of Geoffrey Holder's Wedding
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The Wonder Ring
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Centuries of June
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Reflections on Black
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In Between
Cinematography
In Between
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In Between
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In Between
Writer
Reflections on Black
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Reflections on Black
Cinematography
The Wonder Ring
Cinematography
Reflections on Black
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The Wonder Ring
1954
Actor
The Extraordinary Child
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Desistfilm
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The Way to Shadow Garden
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The Extraordinary Child
Cinematography
The Way to Shadow Garden
Sound Designer
The Way to Shadow Garden
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The Extraordinary Child
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The Extraordinary Child
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The Way to Shadow Garden
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Desistfilm
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Desistfilm
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The Extraordinary Child
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Desistfilm
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The Way to Shadow Garden
