Uma Introdução ao Cinema Underground Americano

by Sheldon Renan, Carlos Primati (Translator)

Há décadas o cinema underground é uma realidade estabelecida na produção audiovisual mundial. Existem pesquisas, escolas, obras canônicas, diretores consagrados e fortuna crítica acerca desta vertente do cinema que prima tanto pela liberdade quanto pela transgressão. Em 1967, quando An Introduction To The American Underground Film foi lançado, a história era bem diferente. Naquele momento, o filme underground esboçava suas primeiras experiências em solo norte-americano, e foi o escritor Sheldon Renan o responsável pelo primeiro livro sobre o tema.
Sheldon foi testemunha ocular do fenômeno e teve a sensibilidade de compreendê-lo como um acontecimento novo e revolucionário no campo das artes. Em seu tratado, discute o que de fato é o filme underground, além de construir uma história do cinema de vanguarda na América. Nomes hoje consagrados como Kenneth Anger, Ken Jacobs, Marie Menken e Andy Warhol fazem parte da galeria de cineastas elencada na obra, que ainda discute o establishment do underground, além de lançar as bases do que viria a ser o cinema expandido.
Com uma única edição no Brasil – lançada em 1970 e fora de catálogo desde então –, Uma introdução ao CINEMA underground americano finalmente retorna ao nosso mercado editorial, em mais uma parceria entre a MMarte e a Leite Filmes (do lendário cineasta e produtor cultural mineiro Sávio Leite). Mais do que uma obra paradigmática sobre o cinema underground, o livro é o resgate histórico do registro de um movimento que se mostrou amplamente influente, feito no calor do momento.

Genres: Film, Reference

244 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2022

Reviews

[Zac Hawkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an incredible resource! I'm intimately familiar with the British underground and European avant-garde but, for reasons that often escape me, vast portions of the New York and West Coast independent movements of filmmakers are completely alien to me.
Oh of course, the ongoing write ups of Deren, Brakhage and Mekas where familiar territory (and take a shot every time Renan mentions Jack Smiths seminal 'Flaming Creatures') but so much of this was new to me. What a trove, many hours of happy watching ahead.

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this used in the late 70's when access to underground film screenings was limited. However, I lived in Berkeley, CA. The Pacific Film Archive, Canyon Cinema and several San Francisco arts groups made it easier to see underground works at the time. The book traces film back to the earliest film directors whose work was classified as "avant-garde". There are profiles of key directors and stars of underground and expanded cinema.
The appendix lists 34 pages of underground films with directors and where to purchase or rent them. Written in 1969, the sources are outdated. However, many of the films are available on YouTube. The book is an incredible source.

[Craig Rowland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I acquired An Introduction to the American Underground Film by Sheldon Renan over thirty years ago as an unwanted donation to the old Mississauga Central Library. As with The Trials of OZ, which was another donations reject to the same location, I have finally decided to read it and weed it from my personal library. Why did I wait three decades to read these books? They were both wonderful! I suppose that with the Renan work the cover was unappealing and some of the film stills inside were a bit–dare I say–frightening. It surprised me how rapidly I got through it. I was genuinely disappointed when I finished it.

As a fan of Andy Warhol’s cinematic oeuvre, and a viewer of many of his films from the black-and-white times in the early sixties when it really was him behind the camera, I anticipated his section in the Gallery of Film-Makers chapter. This book was published in 1967 and references material up to 1966. Thus Warhol’s later work, like the infamous 25-hour movie **** from 1967, was not covered. That the book came out at a time when Warhol was still making movies was one of its appeals. I also believe that the author’s age–Renan was 26–contributed to its accessibility.

Bruce Conner, a director profiled in the Gallery of Film-Makers, gave me a double-take when I realized that a short film he made entitled Breakaway, about Antonia Christina Basilotta, was about none other than one of my favourite choreographers and recording artists, Toni Basil. As a fan of the dancer and singer I immediately recognized her full name. And this was in 1966. I wonder if Renan recognized her stage name when Basil burst into international fame in the early eighties.

Renan spent the first half of the book defining the term “underground” film, and writing about the history of the genre before this specific name took hold. Whether “avant-garde” or “experimental”, the name may have changed with the times but the end product was often the same. In the past I had always found books that talked about films to be boring reads if I hadn’t seen the films under discussion. With this book however I drank up all of the descriptions as Renan discussed experiments in film editing, speed, projection, lighting and even film manipulation through painting and scratching. The future was in computers and the catch-all term “expanded cinema”, which combined media such as television, dance, projection methods and could involve audience participation–even using the audience to project the movies onto.

[Jacob Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real rogues gallery. Literally the lot of them nutcases. You have to be in this Underground. Once borrowed this book in uni thinking it would lead me to more exploitation pictures, wrong Underground, son. This was the first book to really document these avant garde filmmakers and it takes you through every movement. Acting as a sort of hangout with all their styles being looked in to, how one in this game makes their money and where one exhibits these films/how thats changed. Belson, Deren, Anger, Brakhage, Bunuel. All the greats are covered as well as dudes you may have missed. Going from cinemas birth, even pre cinema and it's future. Surprisingly captures the scene perfectly and it's predictions on the expansion of the medium were fantastic considering the time it was written. Then again, as the final line says, "it is only light and time that link all forms of cinema, past, present and future".

[Martin Raybould · Rating 4 out of 5]

A happy discovery in a second hand bookshop (next to a guide to The Sound of Music!) Written when most of the underground directors were alive and kicking against the mainstream film culture. An insightful guide to the main players - a good read and a valuable refernce source.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little jewel of a book for art in film enthusiasts.