"Miraculously, impossibly, The God of Day is like a vision of the ocean as the ocean might see itself..."-Paul Arthur, Film Comment

Part III of the Vancouver Island Trilogy. "The master of...lyrical montage is, of course, Stan Brakhage, who...premieres his first long, fully photographic work since the early nineties. (His) return to photography brings with it a return, however painterly, to narrative. The God of Day takes the form of a short sea voyage to some scarcely populated land.... For the better part of an hour, his camera contemplates a range of floating organisms-from seaweed and leaves to seals and (distant) kayaks-or, more often, the rolling surf. The film has a slight stutter–step progression, a reminder perhaps that memory is integral to perception. Brakhage is always rediscovering creation. His main interest here is the quality of light reflected on water. Some shots manage a half–dozen distinct shades of blue. Others show the surface of the sea as a startling Monet-like pattern of purple and pink....The film's title (taken from David Copperfield) and Brakhage's notes suggest that it is a melancholy reverie on mortality; the result, however, is quietly ecstatic.

-J. Hoberman, Village Voice

Plus a selection of his recent abstract films from the The Persian Series: The Persian Series 13 - 18 (2001, 11 mins, Silent, Color, 16mm)