This program explores the film work of the painter, abstract artist, engineer, animator and film artist Oskar Fischinger, with many examples of his work. Writer William Möritz and Fischinger’s widow Elfriede discuss his work with film animator and historian John Canemaker.
Tag: CAM3
This program presents excerpts from German plays written in the 1920s that illustrate tensions that contributed to the rise of Nazism. The plays are “Gas” by George Kaiser, “Hoopla! Such is Life!” by Ernst Toller, and “The Private Life of the Master Race” by Bertolt Brecht.
Filmed study of Bunraku, the classical Japanese puppet art, which uses three-quarters life-sized figures, handled by black-clothed manipulators who remain in plain view of the audience, convention rendering them invisible. These scenes trace Bunraku from the making of the puppets and the way in which their limbs are articulated, to their costuming and reflections on their relationship to kabuki theater. It includes complete performances of traditional Bunraku plays. Commentary by the well-known authority on dance and Asian arts, Faubion Bowers.
Gisela May, star of Bertolt Brecht’s East German theater, “The Berliner Ensemble” sings songs on texts by Brecht to music by Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler, and Paul Dessau. May introduces each song with an English explanation.
A “primer” or explanation of the basic plot, themes, sources and meanings in Stanley Kubrick’s widely praised and often misunderstood epic motion picture, released in 1968. Film clips illustrate the scenes as interpreted in a script narrated by Keir Dullea, one of the stars of the film. Includes some behind-the-scenes information and references to material not included in the final cut. Stanley Kubrick’s controversial science-fiction film classic is analyzed for its technical and visual pioneering role in viewing human history.
In the second part of this program, English director Peter Brook talks to Margaret Croyden about the recent tour of his international theater company through Africa.
This two-part program is aimed specifically at the nature, styles and forms of the experimental theatre as demonstrated by the creative designs -and philosophies of two directors of international note. In the first part, avant garde director of the Polish Laboratory Theater, Jerzy Grotowski, talks to theater critic Margaret Croyden about his work and his reactions to wandering about the U.S. on foot and by car.
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Composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim whose works include such Broadway hits as “A Little Night Music”, “Company” and “Follies”, talks about the origin of a song from his latest Broadway musical, “Pacific Overtures”. On camera with him are film critic Frank Rich and John Weidman author of “Pacific Overtures” as a straight play who expanded it to the musical book for the show. A highlight of the program is the performance of the song “Someone in a Tree.” with Sondheim at the piano sung by Mako, James Dybas, Geddie Watanbe and Mark Hsu Syers the men who sing it on the Broadway stage.