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Eye Myth

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Wikipedia article




'Eye Myth' is an experimental short film by Stan Brakhage, produced in 1967. The film has a running time of only nine seconds, but took about a year to produce.

Production



Brakhage described the film's title as follows:

In the eyes, constantly, the eyes are flaring with little...stories, little forms and shapes, some of which are quite disturbing, like the swastika...The little myth that's made up of bits and pieces of painted things onto a piece of film thats called an Eye Myth. In other words, its not a word myth; myth means mouth, actually...but an Eye Myth is kind of beautifully oxymoronic.Commentary by Stan Brakhage on 'By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume 1', taken from 2002 interview with Bruce Kawin


'Eye Myth's abstract style, achieved by painting images directly onto the film cells, was inspired when Brakhage was diagnosed with a condition causing rapid eye movement.[http://popmatters.com/film/reviews/b/by-brakhage-an-anthology.shtml Review of 'By Brakhage: An Anthology' by Jake Euker] PopMatters, 15 September 2003 accessed November 17, 2010 In producing the film, he hoped to achieve a nervous system feedback "through the physiology of the proximity of the eye and the brain". 'Eye Myth' took Brakhage about a year to produce.MacDonald, Scott (2005) 'A critical cinema: interviews with independent filmmakers,' p64-66 He attributes the film's lengthy production period to his being skeptical that "you could make a myth that was just vision, a doubt that was resolved only by actually "doing it." Brakhage described the film, despite its short length, as being "intrinsically epic." Brakhage has screened 'Eye Myth' alongside Jan Troell's 'The Emigrants', and argued that "if you give it a chance, the 'weight' of this nine-second film will balance the length of Treoll's film." Brakhage later re-edited images from 'Eye Myth' into the 26-minute work 'The Horseman, the Woman and the Moth' (1968), and the two-minute long 'Eye Myth Educational' (1972).

Release



'Eye Myth' was first released in 16mm format in 1972, but was not screened in its intended 35mm format until the Telluride Film Festival in 1981.Elder, R. Bruce (1998) 'The films of Stan Brakhage in the American tradition of Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, and Charles Olson,' Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, p133-4 The film is currently available in the DVD/Blu-ray collection 'By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume 1' from Criterion.[http://www.criterion.com/films/731-by-brakhage-an-anthology-volume-one 'By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume 1' listing] The Criterion Collection official website accessed November 17, 2010

Reception



Critic Jeremy Heilman writes that "every viewer will find their own interpretation, whether it be one thats profound, based entirely on the films aesthetics, or essentially meaningless."[http://www.moviemartyr.com/1967/eyemyth.htm Review by Jeremy Heilman] MovieMartyr.com accessed November 17, 2010 Jake Euker, writing from PopMatters, described 'Eye Myth' as "a key work in which Brakhage's abstract, painted film technique comes to the fore."

Preservation



The Academy Film Archive preserved 'Eye Myth' in 2012.

See also



* List of American films of 1967

References




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