The Illiac Passion

Gregory J. Markopoulos, The Illiac Passion, 1964-67, 92 min
Introduced by Mark Webber

Gregory J. Markopoulos (1928-92) was one of the most original filmmakers to emerge from the post-war avant-garde. His films, which often translated literary or mythological sources to a contemporary context, are celebrated for their extraordinary creativity, the sensuous use of colour and innovations in cinematic form. In the 1960s, Markopoulos was actively involved in New York’s vibrant film community – the same milieu in which landmark works such as Scorpio Rising (Kenneth Anger), Flaming Creatures (Jack Smith) and The Chelsea Girls (Andy Warhol) first enraptured audiences. It was here that Markopoulos made one of his most celebrated films, The Illiac Passion, an extravagant interpretation of ‘Prometheus Bound’ populated with fantastic characters from the underground scene. Warhol appears as Poseidon, alongside Beverly Grant, Taylor Mead, Jack Smith, and other important figures. The soundtrack of this visionary re-imagining of the classical realm features a fractured reading of Thoreau’s translation of Aeschylus and excerpts from Bartók.

This rare screening of The Illiac Passion celebrates the publication of “Film as Film: The Collected Writings of Gregory J. Markopoulos” (The Visible Press, 2014) and will be introduced by the book’s editor Mark Webber.

The projection will take place in the amazing Teatro Juarez in Guanajuato.

Gregory J. Markopoulos: Talk + Screening

Gregory J. Markopoulos, Twice a Man, 1963, 48 min
Preceded by an illustrated talk by Mark Webber

To celebrate the publication of Film as Film: The Collected Writings of Gregory J. Markopoulos, the book’s editor Mark Webber will give an illustrated talk to introduce Markopoulos’ work, his extraordinary writings of cinema, and his landmark film Twice a Man (1963).

TWICE A MAN
Gregory J. Markopoulos, 1963, USA, 16mm, colour, sound, 48 minutes
“Twice A Man is a fragmented re-imagining of the Greek myth of Hippolytus, who was killed after rejecting the advances of his stepmother. Markopoulos’ vision transposes the legend to 1960s New York and has its main character abandon his mother for an elder man. Employing sensuous use of colour, the film radicalised narrative construction with its mosaic of ‘thought images’ that shift tenses and compress time. One of the touchstones of independent filmmaking, Twice A Man was made in the same remarkable milieu as Scorpio Rising and Flaming Creatures by a filmmaker named ‘the American avant-garde cinema’s supreme erotic poet’ by its key critic P. Adams Sitney.” (Mark Webber)
Featuring Paul Kilb, Olympia Dukakis, Albert Torgesen. Music: Excerpt from Manfred Symphony, op. 58 by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Filmed in New York City, Staten Island, Long Island and Bear Mountain Park.

Presented by Courtisane, in collaboration with UGent – Vakgroep Kunst-, Muziek- en Theaterwetenschappen on the occasion of the course “Sleutelmomenten uit de geschiedenis van de experimentele film en videokunst” by Prof. Dr. Steven Jacobs.

Don’t miss the screenings of Markopoulos’ films at the ÂGE D’OR festival at Cinematek Brussels.

Film as Film: Three Films by Gregory J. Markopoulos

Gregory J. Markopoulos, Ming Green, 1966, 7 min
Gregory J. Markopoulos, Twice a Man, 1963, 48 min
Gregory J. Markopoulos, Through a Lens Brightly: Mark Turbyfill, 1967, 14 min
Introduced by Mark Webber and Robert Beavers

Celebrating the publication of Film as Film: The Collected Writings of Gregory J. Markopoulos (The Visible Press), filmmaker Robert Beavers, and the book’s editor Mark Webber will present a very rare screening of three early Markopoulos films that were made in the United States in the mid-1960s.

Co-presented by Basilica Hudson and the Film and Electronic Arts Department at Bard College.

MING GREEN
Dedicated to Stan Brakhage. Music: Traumen / Wesendonck Lieder by Richard Wagner. Filmed in New York City.
“An extraordinary self-portrait conveyed through multiple layered superimpositions of the filmmaker’s sparsely furnished room in Greenwich Village.” (Mark Webber)

TWICE A MAN
Based on the story of Hippolytus. Featuring Paul Kilb, Olympia Dukakis, Albert Torgesen. Music: Excerpt from Manfred Symphony, op. 58 by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Filmed in New York City, Staten Island, Long Island and Bear Mountain Park.
“Twice A Man is a fragmented re-imagining of the Greek myth of Hippolytus, who was killed after rejecting the advances of his stepmother. Markopoulos’ vision transposes the legend to 1960s New York and has its main character abandon his mother for an elder man. Employing sensuous use of colour, the film radicalised narrative construction with its mosaic of ‘thought images’ that shift tenses and compress time. One of the touchstones of independent filmmaking, Twice A Man was made in the same remarkable milieu as Scorpio Rising and Flaming Creatures by a filmmaker named ‘the American avant-garde cinema’s supreme erotic poet’ by its key critic P. Adams Sitney.” (Mark Webber)

THROUGH A LENS BRIGHTLY: MARK TURBYFILL
Featuring Mark Turbyfill. Filmed in Chicago.
“The life of painter, dancer and poet Mark Turbyfill, seen in his 70th year, is evoked through traditional portraiture and personal objects.” (Mark Webber)

Basilica Screenings is a film series that presents an array of works from new and repertory narrative features, documentaries, experimental films, to video and media art, often with filmmakers and special guests in attendance for a discussion following the screenings. Programmed by Basilica Hudson’s film curator Aily Nash, and creative directors Melissa Auf der Maur and Tony Stone.