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.

Film as Film: Gregory J. Markopoulos

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

The meticulously crafted films made by Gregory Markopoulos encompass mythic themes, portraiture and studies of landscape and architecture. Employing spontaneous in-camera superimposition and complex editing techniques, he sought to unlock the mystery and energy contained within the single frame. This rare opportunity to encounter a true cinematic visionary celebrates the publication of his collected writings and will be introduced by the book’s editor Mark Webber.

MING GREEN
Gregory J. Markopoulos, USA, 1966, 16mm, colour, sound, 7 min
An extraordinary self-portrait conveyed through multiple layered observations of the film-maker’s sparsely furnished room in Greenwich Village.

THROUGH A LENS BRIGHTLY: MARK TURBYFILL
Gregory J. Markopoulos, USA, 1967, 16mm, colour, sound, 14 min
The life of painter, dancer and poet Mark Turbyfill, seen in his 70th year, is evoked through a unique form of cinematic portraiture that encompasses the person, their environment and personal objects.

TWICE A MAN
Gregory J. Markopoulos, USA, 1963, 16mm, colour, sound, 49 min
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 film-maker named ‘the American avant-garde cinema’s supreme erotic poet’ by its key critic P. Adams Sitney.

Texts by Mark Webber. Presented by Cinecity 12th Brighton Film Festival, and supported by the University of Sussex Centre for American Studies in collaboration with the University of Brighton.

Gregory Markopoulos: Film as Film

Gregory J. Markopoulos, Xmas-USA-1949, 1950, 13 min
Gregory J. Markopoulos, Swain, 1950, 20 min
Gregory J. Markopoulos, Ming Green, 1967, 7 min
Gregory J. Markopoulos, Twice a Man, 1963, 46 min

Introduced by Mark Webber

Gregory J. Markopoulos is acknowledged as one of the pioneers of independent filmmaking. Born in Toledo, Ohio, in 1928, he became a key figure in the New York avant-garde film scene of the 1950s and 1960s before leaving for Europe and withdrawing his work from public screenings until after his death in 1992. Tied to the remarkable book Film as Film: The Collected Writings of Gregory J. Markopoulos, this program of short films ranges from the precious early psychodramas that he made in Cleveland to his acclaimed 1964 film Twice a Man, starring Olympia Dukakis in a radical, modernist reworking of the Greek myth of Hippolytus.