Documentary Educational Resources - Filmmaker / Gardner, Robert / All Films

Forsaken Fragments

Thu, 14 Feb 2019 12:58:00 GMT

This collection of short films and “uncompleted” fragments made by renowned filmmaker Robert Gardner spans his life and career, and reflects his interests, from ethnography to the art world. Though presented as a set, the pieces stand on their own as riveting cinematic experiences, offering insight into Gardner’s personality and curiosity.

Among the works on the DVD are finished pieces broadcast on local television, such as Gardner’s “non-commercials,” focusing on ordinary life and created as a challenge to broadcast audiences. Other works are unfinished fragments, cherished by Gardner for capturing a tone or a moment. Yet other pieces are constructed from footage gathered while working on other films. These include Supplicating Women and Life Keeps On Passing, which were filmed in Benares while making Forest of Bliss, and The Old Lady, which was filmed while working with the Marshall family in Namibia.

The DVD comes packaged with a full-color 28-page booklet and extra features including selectable director's commentary tracks and an audio recording from Gardner's in-person appearance when an earlier incarnation of Forsaken Fragments screened at the Harvard Film Archive in Cambridge MA in October, 2010.

“Because of Gardner's wide range of fascinations, the sequence of 'fragments' creates considerable cinematic surprise. Several reveal dimensions of Gardner's filmmaking that even some familiar with his career might not be aware of; others reference Gardner's better-known films or offer additional insight into earlier work. Altogether, this is an engaging compilation that exceeds the implications of its title; each film is less a fragment than a cine-haiku; and if these pieces were 'forsaken' during the busy-ness of Gardner's production career and his years of teaching at Harvard, they are not forsaken now."

– Scott MacDonald, Hamilton University

Includes the following films:

The Old Lady, aka A Human Document (4 min, 1958)
In 1957, Gardner visited the Kalahari with John Marshall to help film The Hunters. This short, observing an elderly !Kung woman, was made by Gardner alone while there.

Tide (6 min, 1966)
In the late 1960’s, Gardner visited the tidal flats of Nova Scotia where he filmed this short piece. The film follows an elderly farmer as he directs his horse and carriage across the beach, eventually stopping to fish a weir.

The Photographer (3 min, 1966/2007)
While traveling in Nova Scotia in 1966, Gardner and still photographer Len Gittleman found an old view camera which proved the inspiration for this short homage to the silent film era.

Salt (3 min, 1966)
While traveling northeastern Ethiopia in 1968, Gardner rode with a caravan of Afar camel herders plying the salt trade between the highlands and the salt flats of the Dallol Depression, which he called a “wondrous environment of unbearable heat and intense color.”

Creatures of Pain (5 min, 1968)
Gardner visited Nigeria in 1968, hoping to make a film about sheepherders. Civil war intervened, and he was only able to film this short piece about the “sharo” ritual in a small village near Kano.

Three Non-commercials: Policeman, Lobsterman, Farmer (4 min, 1973)
In the 1970’s, Gardner was involved in the programming of WCVB, an ABC affiliate TV station in Boston. He took this opportunity to make what he called “non-commercials” – short vignettes of people in their ordinary lives – to be shown between programs.

Anthem (2 min, 1973)
In the days of Gardner’s involvement with Boston Broadcasters, Inc and Channel 5, TV stations stopped transmitting for the night – sometime in the early morning. Traditionally stations “signed off” with a clip of the American flag waving as the national anthem played. Bob asked filmmaker Richard Rogers to make a more interesting variation on this theme. Channel 5 declined to use it.

Healing (9 min, 1978)
This film arose from a trip to Ladakh, India, as Gardner searched for a shaman. There, he encountered this tradition of Buddhist healing, which involved trance and music.

Supplicating Women (3 min, 1985)
While shooting in Benares for Forest of Bliss, Gardner stumbled upon a temple frequently visited by women who suffered from ailments including love sickness and familial problems. This fragment details their pleading for healing.

Life Keeps on Passing (4 min, 1985)
Also filmed while on location for Forest of Bliss, this short was Gardner’s attempt to see and hear what local poets had to say about their surroundings. This beautiful short recounts some of their thoughts.

Hauling Sharks (10 min, 1988)
Upon returning to Ethiopia in 1988, Gardner visited the coastal Danakil. There he filmed communities who had developed an environmentally suitable way of netting sharks far out at sea, which they exported to southern Arabian states.

It Could Be Good, It Could Be Bad (6 min, 1997)
In 1997, Gardner joined his friend Robert Fulton to shoot aerial photography in the Southern Chilean Andes. Microphones were rigged to record their conversations as they flew among these extraordinary formations.

Deus Ex Boltanski (11 min, 2010)
In 2010, Gardner and photographer Michael Hutcherson travelled to Paris to make a film about French artist Christian Boltanski as he installed a piece entitled PERSONNES within the immense confines of the Grand Palais.

Still Journey On (20 min, 2010)
In his last years, Gardner worked at intervals constructing a film intended to weave together threads of thought and meaning that ran through his life and films. He took the title from “Keep Right On Till the End of the Road” a song by the Scottish singer, Harry Lauder – a favorite song of Robert’s father, who would play it on the record player every year as the family left the island in Maine where they spent much of the summer. Still Journey On remains a fragment.

Visit Gardner, Robert to see additional products in this category.

Pleasing God Series

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

Pleasing God Series
Buy Now: $755.00

The Pleasing God film series is comprised of three documentaries about how Hindus worship - Loving Krishna, about the worship of Krishna and the meaning of devotion; Sons of Shiva, a sustained attempt to film a four-day ceremony concerned with the worship of the God Shiva; and Serpent Mother, about devotion to the Goddess of Snakes and the importance of divine female power in West Bengal Indian life.

These films are studies of the devotional practices associated with three major deities of the Hindu pantheon. They were made in the small, historic town of Vishnupur, West Bengal - a town of temples, crafts and markets, the center of an old kingdom, and a place where daily life and worship are closely intertwined.

Films in the Pleasing God Series:

Loving Krishna

Sons of Shiva

Serpent Mother

Visit Gardner, Robert to see additional products in this category.

Screening Room Collection: Animation Series

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

Screening Room Collection: Animation Series
Buy Now: $1,960.00

Screening Room was a 1970s Boston television series that for almost ten years offered independent filmmakers a chance to show and discuss their work on a commercial (ABC-TV) affiliate station. The series was developed and hosted by filmmaker Robert Gardner (Dead Birds, Forest of Bliss), who was Chairman of the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies and Director of the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts at Harvard for many years.

The Screening Room Animation Collection includes the following episodes:

Robert Breer (color, 75 min, 1976/2005)

Since the 1950s, American animator Robert Breer has been well-known for his films exploring shape, color, perspective and motion. In November 1976, he appeared on the program to Recreation, A Man and His Dog Out for Air, 69, Gulls and Buoys, Fuji, and Rubber Cement.

George Griffin (color, 71 min, 1976/2006)

Independent animator George Griffin has dedicated himself to the pursuit of animation as an art form. In October 1976, he appeared on Screening Room to show and discuss his animation work.

John & Faith Hubley (color, 64 min, 1975/2005)

Academy Award winning husband and wife John and Faith Hubley worked as a team over many years to set standards for creative animation. They appeared on Screening Room in April 1973 to discuss and screen their films.

Derek Lamb (color, two DVDs 75 min/75 min, 1973 & 1975/2008)

In a remarkable career spanning more than four decades, Academy Award winning director, producer, and animator Derek Lamb contributed to over two hundred film and video productions. He appeared on Screening Room in June 1973, and returned for a second visit in September 1975.

Caroline Leaf & Mary Beams (color, 75 min, 1975/2005)

Academy Award nominee Caroline Leaf's animated work springs from her expert storytelling and pioneering animation techniques. Accomplished animator Mary Beams' hand-drawn films carry themes of memory, erotic fantasy and feminism. Both women visited Screening Room in July, 1975.

Jan Lenica (color, 80 min, 1973/2005)

In addition to being a celebrated experimental animator, Jan Lenica (1928-2001) was a multi-talented artist known for his poetic and surreal graphic art in many forms. He appeared on Screening Room in April, 1973.

Suzan Pitt (color, 71 min, 1975/2005)

Independent animator and painter Suzan Pitt, whose surreal and psychological films have gained her worldwide acclaim, continually pushes the boundaries of the animated form, sometimes working with live actors or using animation in opera stagings. She appeared on Screening Room in July, 1975.

John Whitney, Sr. (color, 68 min, 1972/2005)

Abstract computer animator, inventor and digital pioneer John Whitney, Sr. (1917-1995) is widely considered the "father of Computer Graphics." He was a guest on the inaugural episode of Screening Room in November, 1972.

Visit Gardner, Robert to see additional products in this category.

Screening Room Collection: Documentary Series

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

Screening Room Collection: Documentary Series
Buy Now: $1,960.00

The Screening Room Documentary series includes the following episodes:

Les Blank (75 min, 1975/2005) Known for his films about indigenous southern music and various other topics, award-winning filmmaker Les Blank, along with music writer Peter Guralnick, appeared on Screening Room in January 1973 to discuss his recent work and screen several films, including footage from a then work in progress.

Emile de Antonio (79 min, 1973/2005) watch a preview One of America's most influential political and avant-garde filmmakers Emile de Antonio, along with visual anthropologist Edmund Carpenter, appeared on Screening Room in June 1973 to screen and discuss excerpts from his films.

Robert Fulton (two DVDs, 83 min/72 min, 1973 & 1979/2005)

Extraordinary non-fiction filmmaker and gifted aerial cinematographer Robert Fulton appeared on Screening Room in April 1973 and returned for a second visit in April 1979.

Hillary Harris (two DVDs, 75 min/76 min, 1973 & 1979/2007)

In March 1973, Oscar-winning filmmaker Hilary Harris visited Screening Room to screen and discuss his pioneering films as well as footage from a work-in-progress about New York City. He visited again in January 1979 to screen his recent films, and to demonstrate his sound mixer and image generator designs.

Peter Hutton (72 min, 1977/2005)

Peter Hutton's contemplative, meticulously composed films, primarily minimalist, silent portraits of cities and landscapes, have been shown at important festivals in major museums across Europe and the United States. He visited Screening Room in March 1977.

Ricky Leacock (64 min, 1973/2005)

One of the main figures of the "direct cinema" movement, Ricky Leacock visited the program on June 15, 1973, with Al Mecklenburg and Jon Rosenfeld, to demonstrate super-8 sync technology and screen excerpts from his films, as well as rare footage of Indira Ghandi.

Alan Lomax (75 min, 1975/2005)

Alan Lomax spent over six decades working as a musicologist, author, record producer, filmmaker, concert promoter, singer, photographer, and network radio host to promote knowledge and appreciation of the world's folk music. He appeared on Screening Room in August 1975 to discuss the theory of Choreometrics and show the film Dance and Human History.

Richard P. Rogers (76 min, 1975/2007)

Renowned producer and director of nonfiction films Richard P. Rogers (1944-2001) appeared on Screening Room in June 1975 to show and discuss his films and some excerpts.

Jean Rouch (64 min, 1980)

Considered one of the most influential documentary makers of the twentieth century, Jean Rouch appeared on Screening Room in July 1980 and screened Les Maitres Fous (Mad Masters) as well as several film excerpts.

Visit Gardner, Robert to see additional products in this category.

Screening Room Collection: Experimental Series

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

Screening Room Collection: Experimental Series
Buy Now: $1,960.00

The Screening Room Experimental Collection includes the following episodes:

Bruce Baillie (color, 72 min, 1975/2005)

One of the founders of the San Francisco avant-garde film movement, Bruce Bailie's works are in the Library of Congress collection and are considered national treasures. He appeared on Screening Room in April 1973.

James Broughton (color, 75 min, 1977/2005)

Often called "the father of West Coast independent cinema," James Broughton (1913-1999) considered himself to be, first and foremost, a poet. He visited Screening Room in April, 1977.

Ed Emshwiller (color, 77 min, 1975/2005)

Ed Emshwiller started out as an abstract expressionist painter and an award-winning science fiction illustrator before becoming a major figure in avant-garde cinema and the experimental film movement of the 1960s and '70s. He visited Screening Room in July 1975.

Hollis Frampton (color, 74 min, 1977/2006)

A major figure in the American experimental film movement of the 1960s and '70s and a widely published theorist, celebrated American experimental filmmaker Hollis Frampton appeared on Screening Room in January 1977, to discuss his work and screen his films, as well as some excerpts and footage from a work in progress.

Standish Lawder & Stanley Cavell (color, 74 min, 1973/2005)

Professor of art history, photographer, and inventor Standish Lawder and distinguished philosopher Stanley Cavell visited Screening Room in January 1973. Here, Lawder demonstrates his home-made optical printer and screens his films as he, Gardner, and Cavell discuss the intellectual and psychological implications of his filmic manipulations.

Jonas Mekas (color, 75 min, 1975/2005)

Filmmaker, film critic, archivist, poet, lecturer and curator Jonas Mekas is one of the leading figures of American avant-garde film and video. He appeared on Screening Room in October 1981 to discuss the film preservation efforts of Anthology Film Archives and show and discuss his own work as well as that of other filmmakers, including Bruce Bailie, Maya Deren, and Joseph Cornell.

Yvonne Rainer (color, 74 min, 1977/2005)

In March 1977, honored avant-garde coreographer, dancer and filmmaker Yvonne Rainer appeared on Screening Room with film scholar and author Deac Rossell, to screen and discuss excerpts from her film Kristina Talking Pictures.

Michael Snow (color, 74 min, 1975/2005)

Canadian Michael Snow has worked in painting, sculpture, and music as well as film, where he has proved one of the most renowned and influential of all experimental filmmakers. He visited Screening Room in March 1977.

Visit Gardner, Robert to see additional products in this category.

Dances of the Kwakiutl

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:04:00 GMT

Dances of the Kwakiutl
Buy Now: $295.00

Dances of the Kwakiutl is composed of fragments filmed in 1950 in Fort Rupert, British Columbia. They were made during a performance by those still familiar with the tradition of 'Hamatsa' or cannibal dancing. This type of dance was brought to impressive artistic heights by the Kwakiutl people of the Northwest coast.

Visit Gardner, Robert to see additional products in this category.

Dead Birds

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:04:00 GMT

Dead Birds
Buy Now: $34.95

Robert Gardner's seminal 1964 film Dead Birds is a portrait of the lives, beliefs, practices and ritual warfare of the Hubula people of the remote Baliem Valley in western New Guinea, now part of Indonesia. In 1963 Dead Birds won the prestigious Robert Flaherty Award and in 1998 was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Dead Birds is considered a pivotal work in the history of the discipline of visual anthropology and continues to be used frequently in university lectures and seminars to engage students in wider questions and debates.

Filmmaker Robert Gardner, in describing the experience making the film, comments, “Dead Birds is a film about the Dani*, a people dwelling in the Grand Valley of the Baliem high in the mountains of West Irian. When I shot the film in 1961, the Dani had an almost classic Neolithic culture. They were exceptional in the way they focussed their energies and based their values on an elaborate system of intertribal warfare and revenge. Neighboring groups of Dani clans, separated by uncultivated strips of no man's land, engaged in frequent formal battles.

When a warrior was killed in battle or died from a wound and even when a woman or a child lost their life in an enemy raid, the victors celebrated and the victims mourned. Because each death had to be avenged, the balance was continually being adjusted with the spirits of the aggrieved lifted and the ghosts of slain comrades satisfied as soon as a compensating enemy life was taken. There was no thought in the Dani world of wars ever ending, unless it rained or became dark. Without war there would be no way to satisfy the ghosts. Wars were also the best way they knew to keep a terrible harmony in a life which would be, without the strife they invented, mostly hard and dull.

Dead Birds has a meaning which is both immediate and allegorical. In the Dani language it refers to the weapons and ornaments recovered in battle. Its other more poetic meaning comes from the Dani belief that people, because they are like birds, must die. In making Dead Birds certain kinds of behavior were followed, never directed. It was an attempt to see people from within and to wonder, when the selected fragments of that life were assembled, if they might speak not only of the Dani but also of ourselves.”

Digitally Remastered 2-DVD Set

The special edition 2-disc DVD of Dead Birds includes the remastered film and the following extra features:

6 sequences of edited scenes cut from the first answer print of Dead Birds with original narration and a commentary by Robert Gardner and Lucien Taylor
An audio track of commentary by Robert Gardner and Ross McElwee
A French language track narrated by Jean Rouch
A gallery of photographs shot during the making of Dead Birds and accompanied by excerpts read by Robert Gardner from his field journals
An excerpt from a television interview featuring a conversation about Dead Birds between Octavio Paz, William Alfred and Robert Gardner
2 sequences from a black and white print of Dead Birds made at the timeof the film 's release. These are accompanied by a conversation byRobert Gardner and Lucien Taylor
Previously unreleased outtakes from the archive of footage shot for Dead Birds

“A cinematographic interpretation of the life of a group of Grand Valley Dani, who are mountain Papuans in West New Guinea (Irian Barat, Indonesia), studied by the Harvard-Peabody Expedition (1961-1963). This film was made by Gardner in 1961, before the area was pacified by the Dutch government. The film focuses on Weyak, the farmer and warrior, and on Pua, the young swineherd, following them through the events of Dani life: sweet potato horticulture, pig keeping, salt winning, battles, raids and ceremonies.” —Karl G. Heider

*Note on term “Dani”

The preferred name for the community in this film is Hubula. The name "Dani" as used in this film is an exonym used by Moni, a neighboring group of people living west of the Baliem Valley. The name has been reproduced in many colonial and postcolonial texts, even until today.

Visit Gardner, Robert to see additional products in this category.

Dead Birds Re-encountered

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:04:00 GMT

Dead Birds Re-encountered
Buy Now: $320.00

In 1961, Robert Gardner organized an expedition to the Highlands of New Guinea to film the Hubula [known as Dani* outside of the community]. He stayed for six months to create an essay on the themes of violence and death most dramatically witnessed within the intense ritual warfare between rival Hubula villages, and ultimately on the role of violence in human life and culture. The end result was his seminal film, Dead Birds.

Twenty-eight years later, Gardner returned to the Hubula villages to see what had become of the people he had met and to show them the film. Dead Birds Re-encountered is a captivating, reflexive epilogue. The film observes the changes nearly three decades have brought to Hubula life and culture, raising questions about modernization, tourism, cross-cultural relations, and the meaning of friendship.

"I have been told by people who know better that it is a risky business returning to a place where you have enjoyed some remarkable experience. But I will say that going back to the Highlands of Western New Guinea (aka West Papua) was enormously engaging. I saw people I cared for deeply and who became part of my life wherever I lived. Making a film about all this was not at all difficult." — Robert Gardner

*Note on term “Dani”

Visit Gardner, Robert to see additional products in this category.

Deep Hearts

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:04:00 GMT

Deep Hearts
Buy Now: $320.00

Deep Hearts is a film about the Bororo Fulani, a nomadic society located in the central portion of the Niger Republic of Africa. The title is a reference to an important aspect of these people's thought and demeanor. The Bororo are immensely beautiful. They are also extremely envious of each other's looks. This envy accounts for their truly suspicious nature; one which leads quickly to feelings of fear. They are particularly fearful of being 'devoured' by both the eyes and mouths of those around them with whom they compete as beautiful creatures. The concept of a deep heart is useful because it accommodates their fears by providing a metaphysical space in which to hide their true feelings.

Deep Hearts describes the Gerewol, an occasion during the rainy season when two different and competing lineages come together at a designated watering place to choose the most 'perfect' Bororo male. It is close to being a physical and moral beauty contest in which the winner, selected by a maiden of the opposing lineage, is acclaimed the 'bull.' The film is also an attempt to let this ceremony of the Bororo be a way of speaking to the larger question of choice itself, something which confronts all human beings at all times.

Visit Gardner, Robert to see additional products in this category.

Forest of Bliss

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:53:00 GMT

Forest of Bliss
Buy Now: $340.00

Forest of Bliss is an unsparing yet redemptive account of the inevitable griefs, religious passions and frequent happinesses that punctuate daily life in Benares, India's most holy city. The film unfolds from one sunrise to the next without commentary, subtitles or dialogue. It is an attempt to give the viewer a wholly authentic, though greatly magnified and concentrated, sense of participation in the experiences examined by the film.

This Special Edition DVD includes:

The film optimally re-mastered for sound and image from a new 35mm blow up
Looking at Forest of Bliss (90 min) with Robert Gardner and Stan Brakhage, edited by Kristi Barlow
Photo gallery featuring still images and journal entries read by Robert Gardner

"In late 1984 and early 1985 I was back in Benares making Forest of Bliss, a film about which I had pondered at length since my first unsettling visit ten years earlier. I have shaped the film so that it occupies the time between two sunrises. It stands as an exclusively visual statement resorting neither to voiced commentary nor subtitles. It is about people being and also dying.

Of the multitude at work, at play and at prayer, three individuals are seen in somewhat greater detail than others. They are: a Healer of extraordinary geniality who attends pained and troubled people both in his modest home above Manikarnika, the main cremation ground, and the Durga temple late at night; the baleful and untouchable king of the cremation grounds, who vigorously exercises his hereditary rights to sell sacred fire and grass to mourners; and an unusually conscientious priest who performs sacred rites at a small shrine he maintains near the Ganges.

Seeing Forest of Bliss completed, I am quite certain that the animals, especially the dogs, have an importance I merely glimpsed as I was shooting. The dogs and, of course, the river." – Robert Gardner

Visit Gardner, Robert to see additional products in this category.