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
2012
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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
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Song of the Mushroom
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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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Persian Series
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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
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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
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Cornell's Portrait of June
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 #2
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Persian #3
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Persian #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
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1996
Actor Noon Sr.
Cannibal! The Musical
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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 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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1990
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Visions in Meditation
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Glaze of Cathexis
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Visions in Meditation #3: Plato's Cave
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Visions in Meditation #4: D.H. Lawrence
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Passage Through: A Ritual
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City Streaming
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Babylon Series #2
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Babylon Series #3
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Vision of the Fire Tree
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The Thatch of Night
1989
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1981
Actor Self
Stan & Jane Brakhage
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The Garden of Earthly Delights
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Murder Psalm
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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 (Jane’s Memory)
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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
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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
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Dog Star Man
Actor Man
The Art of Vision
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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/Bloodstone/Vein
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15 Song Traits
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Black Vision
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Dog Star Man
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The Art of Vision
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The Art of Vision
Cinematography
The Art of Vision
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The Female Mystique and Spare Leaves (for Gordon)
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Dog Star Man
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Dog Star Man
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Dog Star Man
1964
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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
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Reflections on Black
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Reflections on Black
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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
Cinematography
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
