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Friday, Jun 30, 2023
9 PM (81 mins)
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BAMPFA
The Magick Lantern Cycle, Part 2
In Memoriam Kenneth Anger (1927–2023)
The Magick Lantern Cycle, Part 1, screens at 7 PM.
The Magick Lantern Cycle is one of the essential bodies of work of the American avant-garde, made by one of its most eccentric characters. Raised in Hollywood, Kenneth Anger (born 1927) has spent his entire life both enthralled and appalled by the film industry. And while Hollywood is an important influence on Anger’s filmmaking, the philosophy of Magick, practiced by British occult master Aleister Crowley, is equally influential. Anger embraces Crowley’s interests, most notably the themes of transfiguration and transformation, and the films in The Magick Lantern Cycle are laden with occult symbolism: images of fire, water, and light. Anger’s flare for pageantry—the graceful, often trancelike movements of his actors on set—and his use of vivid colors and campy art direction are trademarks of his visual style. His editing is masterful and belies a debt to his cinematic hero Sergei Eisenstein. Scorpio Rising, which was named to the National Film Registry in 2022, is filled with counterculture iconography and mass media heroes, sharply exposing the death wish of American males. Anger described Scorpio Rising as “a death mirror held up to American society.
Films in this Screening
Scorpio Rising
Kenneth Anger, United States, 1963
FILM DETAILS
Print Info
- Color
- 35mm
- 29 mins
source
- UCLA Film & Television Archive
permission
- Canyon Cinema
Kustom Kar Kommandos
Kenneth Anger, United States, 1965
FILM DETAILS
Print Info
- Color
- 35mm
- 4 mins
source
- UCLA Film & Television Archive
permission
- Canyon Cinema
Invocation of My Demon Brother
Kenneth Anger, United States, 1969
FILM DETAILS
Print Info
- Color
- 16mm
- 11 mins
source
- Canyon Cinema
Rabbit’s Moon
Kenneth Anger, United States, 1950/72
FILM DETAILS
Print Info
- Color
- Digital
- 7 mins
permission
- Canyon Cinema
Lucifer Rising
Kenneth Anger, United States, 1980
FILM DETAILS
Print Info
- Color
- Digital
- 30 mins
Event Accessibility
If you have any questions about accessibility or require accommodations to participate in this event, please contact us at bampfa@berkeley.edu or call us at (510) 642-1412 (during open hours) with as much advance notice as possible. More information on accessibility services.