Kenneth Anger (1927-2023) embodied the love-hate relationship between underground art and mass culture. Few other avant-garde filmmakers borrowed so liberally or so subversively from popular iconography. And with his sensuous, mystical imagery and pioneering use of pop soundtracks, perhaps none saw their work so readily absorbed back into the mainstream.

An elegantly dressed figure (Carmilla Salvatorelli) walks purposely through the water gardens at the Villa d’Este in Tivoli, as the music of Vivaldi’s Winter movement of The Four Seasons plays. Heavy red filters give a blue cast to the light; water plays across stone, and fountains send it into the air. No words are spoken. Baroque statuary and the sensuous flow of water are back lit. A hand fan is opened, each frame of which (on all prints) has been hand-tinted by Anger. He called it water games.

Gartenberg Media distributes Anger’s early classic EAUX D’ARTIFICE (1953), shot in the fountain-filled gardens of the Villa d’Este in Tivoli, Italy, part of MASTERWORKS OF AMERICAN AVANT-GARDE EXPERIMENTAL FILM 1920-1970, made while he worked as an assistant to Henri Langlois, the director of the Cinémathèque Française.

Anger also appears in films distributed by GME, including Boris Lehman’s STORY OF MY HAIR: ON THE SHORTNESS OF LIFE (France, 2011) and Jonas Mekas’ opus HE STANDS IN A DESERT COUNTING THE SECONDS OF HIS LIFE (US, 1969-1985)

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GME Notes with Sadness the Passing of Legendary Underground Filmmaker Kenneth Anger