Underground Film Journal

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Articles:

Blazes — Robert Breer

Blazes is one of Breer’s most well-known films and was created using 100 cards painted with “with bold, free-drawn shapes and rough calligraphic lines,” as described in Visionary Film by P. Adams Sitney.

ISM ISM — Manuel DeLanda

ISM ISM is a documentary chronicling director Manuel DeLanda’s own graffiti work. He focuses on his collage manipulation of public advertisements — primarily cigarette ads — as well as spray-painted philosophical text.

Jammin’ The Blues — Gjon Mili

Jammin’ the Blues by Gjon Mili. Completed in 1944. Gjon Mili is primarily known for his work as a photographer, particularly his portraits and experimental use of strobe lighting, much of which appeared in Life magazine.

Slippery Jim — Ferdinand Zecca

Slippery Jim by Ferdinand Zecca. The completion/release year of Slippery Jim varies among sources. The catalog for the 1947 Art in Cinema program dates the film as circa 1906. However, Richard Abel, a silent movie historian, gives two dates for the film.

Classic Experimental Short Film: Lullaby

Video memories and nostalgia blur together in Jennifer Reeder’s classic installation piece, Lullaby, in which personal footage of ’80s cheerleading tryouts and ballet classes is set to a heavily slowed down and distorted version of Madonna’s early hit, Lucky Star.

Short Film: The Sleuth Incident

Don’t let the fuzzy ears fool you. A cuddly teddy bear strolls through the mundanity of suburban living until he snaps in the most interesting — and completely disgusting — of ways in the disorienting short film The Sleuth Incident by Jason Kupfer.

Classic Underground Short Film: Portland

A trip to hell and back is recounted in Greta Snider’s classic underground short film, Portland. Living the ultimate punk lifestyle, a group of friends relive the disaster that was hopping the rails from California to Portland, crashing at a not-so-abandoned house and fighting to reclaim their belongings.

Short Film: Baggs: The Movie

Prepare yourself for the best ’80s movie made in the mid-aughts: Jon Clark’s Baggs: The Movie. Imagine an alternate past in which the hackey sack fad of the ’80s -inspired a low budget exploitation feature.

Short Film: Tanabe

What’s it like to watch a man get beaten to death? Hopefully, not many of us will ever have to witness such a thing. But, we can experience that horror vicariously through the vivid verbal imagery painted by L.A. poet Doctor Mongo in the short film Tanabe, directed by Michael Rouse.