Window Water Baby Moving

Last updated
Window Water Baby Moving
WindowWaterBabyMoving.png
Screenshot showing the cutting of the newborn's umbilical cord
Directed by Stan Brakhage
StarringJane Brakhage (Jane Wodening)
Myrrena Brakhage
Stan Brakhage
Release date
  • 1959 (1959)
Running time
12 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent

Window Water Baby Moving is an experimental short film by Stan Brakhage, filmed in November 1958 and released in 1959. The film documents the birth of the director's first child, his daughter Myrrena, by his then-wife Jane Brakhage, later known as Jane Wodening.

Contents

Production

Stan Brakhage's wife, Jane, had insisted that Brakhage be present at the birth of their daughter; however, Brakhage felt he would faint if he weren't focused on filming the event. [1] The hospital initially gave permission for filming, but this was later reneged. [1] Instead, Brakhage transferred the birth to their home, hiring a nurse and some expensive emergency equipment. [1] Jane was originally "very, very shy" about being filmed, but eventually relented after Brakhage made "a big dramatic scene and said 'All right, let's forget it!'" [1] Most of the film was photographed by Brakhage himself, but Jane occasionally took the camera to capture her husband's reactions. [2] Jane Brakhage later recalled of the birth:

He [Brakhage] calls the hospital and gets the nurse who says she'll be right there... Stan starts worrying. I continue roaring and panting. Stan stops filming he's so upset. He gets nervous. He tells me to relax and pant. He needs to relax; I'm doing fine. I tell him how much I love him and ask him if he's got my face while I'm roaring and this sets him off again and reassures him, and he clickety-clackety-buzzes while I roar and pant. [2]

Editing of Window Water Baby Moving took place in the evenings over several months. [1] According to Brakhage, a further delay was caused when Kodak seized the film. Brakhage described the event thus: "When I sent in the film to be processed, Kodak sent a page that said, more or less, 'Sign this at the bottom, and we will destroy this film; otherwise, we will turn it over to police.' So then the doctor wrote a letter, and we got the footage back." [1] Brakhage later felt that Window Water Baby Moving had insufficiently captured his emotions at the birth of his child, [2] and, during the birth of his third child, he filmed Thigh Line Lyre Triangular (1961) as an improvement.

Reception

Window Water Baby Moving was often screened on a double-bill with George C. Stoney's 1953 educational film, All My Babies. [1] Brakhage was worried that his film's frank depiction of childbirth would embroil him in legal trouble, remarking "you could definitely go to jail for showing not only sexuality but nudity of any kind - though the idea of childbirth being somehow pornographic has always been offensive and disgusting to me." [1] Nevertheless, Window Water Baby Moving has become one of Brakhage's best-known works. [3] Critic Archer Winsten described the film as being "so forthright, so full of primitive wonder and love, so far beyond civilization in its acceptance that it becomes an experience like few in the history of movies." [4] Scott MacDonald credited Window Water Baby Moving with making delivery rooms more accessible to fathers, a view with which Brakhage concurred. [1]

Preservation

The Academy Film Archive preserved Window Water Baby Moving in 2013. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Dog Star Man</i> Series of short American experimental films

Dog Star Man is a series of short experimental films, all directed by Stan Brakhage, featuring Jane Wodening. It was released in installments between 1961 and 1964 and comprises a prelude and four parts. In 1992, Dog Star Man was included in its entirety in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and recommended for preservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stan Brakhage</span> American filmmaker and writer (1933–2003)

James Stanley Brakhage was an American experimental filmmaker. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th-century experimental film.

<i>Destiny</i> (1921 film) 1921 film by Fritz Lang

Destiny is a 1921 silent German Expressionist fantasy romance film directed by Fritz Lang and inspired by the Indian folktale of Savitri. The film follows a woman desperate to reunite with her dead lover. It also follows three other tragic romances, set in a Middle Eastern city; in Venice, Italy; and in the Chinese Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marie Menken</span> American filmmaker (1909–1970)

Marie Menken was an American experimental filmmaker, painter, and socialite. She was noted for her unique filming style that incorporated collage. She was one of the first New York filmmakers to use a hand-held camera and trained Andy Warhol on its use. Her film Glimpse of the Garden was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

<i>Mothlight</i> 1963 American film

Mothlight is an experimental short film by Stan Brakhage, released in 1963. The film was created without the use of a camera.

Maternal death in fiction is a common theme encountered in literature, movies, and other media.

Thigh Line Lyre Triangular is an experimental short film by Stan Brakhage, released in 1961, which depicts the birth of the director's third child, a daughter named Neowyn. The film, which involves painting and hand-scratching over photographic images, is more abstract than the director's earlier Window Water Baby Moving, which documented the birth of Brakhage's first-born, a daughter named Myrrenna.

Cat's Cradle is an experimental short film by Stan Brakhage, produced in 1959. The film was described by Brakhage as "sexual witchcraft involving two couples and a 'medium' cat."

<i>The Dante Quartet</i> 1987 film by Stan Brakhage

The Dante Quartet is an experimental short film by Stan Brakhage, completed in 1987. The film was inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy, and took six years to produce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Film-Makers' Cooperative</span> Filmmaker organization in New York, US

The Film-Makers' Cooperative is an artist-run, non-profit organization founded in 1961 in New York City by Jonas Mekas, Andy Warhol, Shirley Clarke, Stan Brakhage, Jack Smith, Lionel Rogosin, Gregory Markopoulos, Lloyd Michael Williams, and other filmmakers, for the distribution, education, and exhibition of avant-garde films and alternative media.

<i>I... Dreaming</i> 1988 American film

I... Dreaming is an experimental short film by Stan Brakhage, released in 1988. The film features a soundtrack of Stephen Foster songs, composed by Joel Haertling.

Fire of Waters is an experimental short film by Stan Brakhage, produced in 1965.

<i>Commingled Containers</i> 1997 American film

Commingled Containers is an experimental short film by Stan Brakhage, produced in 1997.

<i>The Wold Shadow</i> 1972 American film

The Wold Shadow is an experimental short film by Stan Brakhage, produced in 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Wodening</span> American writer

Mary Jane Wodening was an American artist and writer. She is best known for her collaborations with experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage, to whom she was married from 1957 until 1987. During this period, she was known as Jane Brakhage. Wodening featured in Brakhage's short film Window Water Baby Moving, in which her husband filmed her giving birth.

Unglassed Windows Cast a Terrible Reflection is a 1953 American short film directed by Stan Brakhage. Shot while in Brakhage's native Denver, the film stars Larry Jordan who later went on to become a film director. Filming was done in Nevadaville, Colorado. Like his other films at the time, it was shot on 16mm film, is black and white and features no dialogue.

Anticipation of the Night is a 1958 American avant-garde film directed by Stan Brakhage. It was a breakthrough in the development of the lyrical style Brakhage used in his later films.

The Way to Shadow Garden is a 1955 American experimental film directed by Stan Brakhage.

Blue Moses is a 1962 American experimental film directed by Stan Brakhage, starring Robert Benson.

Sirius Remembered is a 1959 American experimental short film directed by Stan Brakhage. It captures the gradual decomposition of the corpse of Sirius, the Brakhage family's dog, over the course of several months.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 MacDonald, Scott (2005) A critical cinema: interviews with independent filmmakers, p64-66
  2. 1 2 3 Barr, William R. (1999) "Brakhage: Artistic Development in Two Childbirth Films," Film quarterly: forty years, a selection, University of California Press, p536-541
  3. ↑ Elder, R. Bruce (1997) Body of vision: representations of the body in recent film and poetry, Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, p141
  4. ↑ Winston, Archer: quoted in Dixon, Wheeler W. (2006) Visions of paradise: images of Eden in the cinema, Rutgers University Press, p19
  5. ↑ "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.