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Scenes from Under Childhood

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Scenes from Under Childhood
Directed byStan Brakhage
Release date
1967–1970
Running time
Approx. 135 min. (Total)
CountryUnited States

Scenes from Under Childhood is a series of 16mm film in four independent sections by the American experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage produced between 1967 and 1970. All four sections are silent, though Brakhage made a version with sound available for the first section.

The film is often described as an attempt by Brakhage to visualize how his children saw the world.[1][2][3] In a 2008 Village Voice review, critic J. Hoberman wrote described the film as a "glorious, two-hour plus romantic epic."[4] In a 1992 poll for the British film magazine Sight & Sound, experimental filmmaker Michael Snow named Scenes from Under Childhood as one of the ten greatest films of all time.[5]

When asked to describe the film, Brakhage himself wrote that it was "a visualization of the inner world of foetal beginnings, the infant, the baby, the child – a shattering of the ‘myths of childhood’ through revelation of the extremes of violent terror and overwhelming joy of that world darkened to most adults by their sentimental remembering of it… a ‘tone poem’ for the eye – very inspired by the music of Olivier Messiaen."[6]

Sections

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Year Title Format Length
1967 Section One 16mm 2412 minutes
1969 Section Two 16mm 40 minutes
1969 Section Three 16mm 25 minutes
1970 Section Four 16mm 45 minutes

Archive

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Film elements for all four sections of Scenes from Under Childhood are held by the Academy Film Archive as part of the Stan Brakhage Collection.[7] Sections 1 and 3 were preserved by the archive in 2018.[8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Village Voice: Scenes from Under Childhood Review
  2. ^ Shooting Down Pictures: Scenes from Under Childhood (1967–1970, Stan Brakhage)
  3. ^ House Next Door: Scenes from Under Childhood
  4. ^ Village Voice: Scenes from Under Childhood Review
  5. ^ Directors' Top Ten
  6. ^ Scenes from Under Childhood at Anthology Film Archives
  7. ^ "Stan Brakhage Collection". Academy Film Archive.
  8. ^ "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive.