Shirley Clarke
Known for: Directing
Born: October 2, 1919
Died: September 23, 1997
Place of birth: New York City, New York, USA
A major figure of the American avant garde, Shirley Brimberg Clarke (1919-1997) was born into privilege as the daughter of Polish-Jewish immigrants who made their fortune in manufacturing. Rebelling against a repressive bourgeois upbringing, Clarke turned first to dance, and later film and video, to express her distinctive vision of the world. Moving freely across genres and media throughout her career (and often within a single work), Clarke’s cinema explores the porous boundaries between narrative and documentary filmmaking, and film and other media, such as painting, dance, performance and video. Her 1960s features The Connection (1961), The Cool World (1963) and Portrait of Jason (1967), for which she is arguably best remembered, address issues of urban alienation, poverty, addiction and racism, focusing on lives lived at the margins of American society. Fearless in both her personal and creative life, Clarke produced a body of work that is as formally innovative as it is rooted in social protest. Clarke initially trained as a dancer, immersing herself in New York’s vibrant post-war avant-garde dance scene. Although her dance career never quite earned her the critical acclaim she’d hoped for, it had a lasting impact on her subsequent filmmaking and video work, informing an interest in how movement is recorded formally, while introducing her to key avant-garde dancers and choreographers. Source: https://denniscooperblog.com/shirley-clarke-day-2/
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Filmography
66 movies · 0 TV shows, newest first
NR
A Short Lecture and Demonstration on the Evolution of Ragtime as Presented by Jelly Roll Morton
2016
NR
Fear Flight
2016NR
Decroux Film
2016
NR
Home Movies #20: Dance Tests
2016NR
This Is Not 'In Paris Parks'
2016NR
Rose and the Players – Part 1
2016NR
Outtakes for 'In Paris Parks'
2016NR
Rose and the Players – Part 2
2016NR
Bullfight: The C and D Rolls
2016
NR
Shirley Clarke: The Artist with the Lens
2016
2.6
Alien Blood
1999
5.3
Happy Birthday to John
1997
7.0
Birth of a Nation
1997
8.4
He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life
1986
6.5
Ornette: Made in America
1986
NR
As Kineastas
19869.0
Ornette Coleman: A Jazz Video Game
19846.0
Tongues
1982
9.0
Savage/Love
19816.0
A Visual Diary
1980NR
The Beats: An Existential Comedy
1980NR
The Modnar Machine
1980
8.0
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Trans
1978
9.0
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: One Two Three
1978
NR
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Initiation
1978
NR
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Mysterium
1978
4.2
24 Frames per Second
1977
NR
Sex Stars
1976NR
Carl Lee on Joe Franklin Show
1973NR
Morris at Ornette's Art Show
1972NR
Yoko and John Party
1971
8.0
Up Your Legs Forever
1971NR
Makeup Magic
1971NR
Ricky Leacock Visit, evening, April 19, 1971
1971NR
Ricky Leacock Visit, daytime, April 19, 1971
1971NR
Ricky Leacock Visit, April 17, 1971
1971NR
Ricky Leacock Visit, April 15, 1971
1971NR
The Arrest
1971
7.5
Rome Is Burning: Portrait of Shirley Clarke
1970
5.9
Lions Love
19695.0
Carl Lee, Max and Friends at the Hotel Chelsea
1968
7.3
Diaries, Notes, and Sketches
1968
NR
Underground New York
1968
6.6
Portrait of Jason
19675.6
Butterfly
1967
6.0
For Life, Against the War
1967
NR
Bill's Hat
1967
10.0
Galaxie
1966
5.5
The Cool World
1964
6.5
Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World
1963
6.5
The Connection
1962
6.0
A Scary Time
1960
5.0
Christopher and Me
1960
7.2
Skyscraper
1959
6.9
Bridges-Go-Round 1
1958
6.0
Bridges-Go-Round 2
1958
10.0
Brussels Loops
1958
7.0
A Moment in Love
1956
NR
Bullfight
19557.0
In Paris Parks
1954
7.0
Dance in the Sun
1953
NR
Home Movies #15 Shirley with Camera
19502.0
Home Movies #18 Florida
1943NR
Home Movies #10 Wedding and Pregnancy
1943NR
Shirley Brimberg Home Movies (When She Was Young)
1927NR
The Tee Pee Video Space Troupe: The First Years
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