Underground Film Journal

Flashback: 2nd Annual New York Underground Film Festival

Ed Halter has graciously donated to the Underground Film Archive the program books for almost every edition of the New York Underground Film Festival.

While this donation does not include the still-elusive program for the first edition of the fest in 1994, it does begin with the 2nd edition held in 1995 at the Anthology Film Archives. This was the first year that Halter worked at the festival, as a volunteer, before he would take over and run the whole thing a few years later.

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Blazes — Robert Breer

Blazes by Robert Breer (1961)

Robert Breer is one of the few filmmakers who rose to prominence during the 1960s underground film movement who worked exclusively in animation. After graduating from Stanford with a degree in painting in 1949, Breer moved to Paris where he started making films a few years later.

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Sparks

In this ambitious period film, a young superhero joins a covert team of masked vigilantes to bring justice to a crime-ridden city only to be framed for a murder for which he must go to extreme lengths to clear his name.

Where To Watch

1945: Maya Deren Wins Honorable Mention For Meshes Of The Afternoon

In 1945, Maya Deren was awarded an Honorable Mention for her first film, Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), by the Amateur Cinema League. This film, co-directed with her husband Alexander Hammid, would go on to become one of the most influential avant-garde films of the 20th Century.

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Issue 24

Index of Film Culture issue 24 that has articles on the New American Cinema, Italian filmmakers, Spoleto Film Exposition, the fourth Independent Film Award, and more.

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