Walter Gutman

This is the most complete evocation of my raison d'etre—at least my avowed raison d'etre as a filmmaker. The star of the film is Claudia Wilbourn who you may have seen on TV. She is one of the founding mothers and champions of Women's Body Building. She is a sculptor and writer and felt as I did that the effect of body building when filmed nude as I did makes it look in frequent sections like antique Greek sculpture. The effect of filming a body building performance repetitively is to create a dance of the body. —Gutman

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A short documentary featuring those that live in work in Sarasota, FL, the circus capital of the world.

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Bolex is about a simple experiment with a rented Bolex which resulted surprisingly in a somewhat magical apparition. What sort of magic? It is the magic that every man in some degree experiences during his life at the sight of a young woman. The film talks about Achilles and the daughter of the Priest of Apollo but since then I read an 1841 account of how George Washington was smitten when unexpectedly he saw a young woman sitting under a tree in the wilds of what is now western Pennsylvania reading a poem. He was young, too, and if the story is true he must have forgotten Martha, to whom he was then engaged. But the story of the magic is true - through thousands of years it has been the same surprising story.

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Among the dancers I especially admired – probably the one I admired the most – was Trisha Brown, and she let me film the [March 30, 1971] rehearsal of her remarkable dance at the Whitney Museum. What I admired about her was her absolute courage, and this was shown by the concept and execution of her dance at the Whitney. Most dancers hesitate a little when they are called upon to do something which might involve a disconcerting accident, but Trisha always did whatever was called for without that moment of hesitation. – Walter Gutman

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A short documentary exploring the enduring (and erotic) appeal of the female circus performer.

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An extrapolation of an erotic experience I once had, but it also wanders into pockets of American history.

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An avant-garde exploration of a photographs of young circus performer.

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Presents an intimate view of four decades of the Swiss-born artist Robert Frank who has had an extraordinary influence on contemporary photography and filmmaking. This documentary which examines his life through his films and photographs, includes interviews with many of his collaborators and contemporaries. Written, directed and edited by Philip Brookman, Amy Brookman

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Seadrift is based on a story The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft, and was shot partially in Marblehead Mass. Each section represents a synthesis of the various aspects and moods of the story. The sum total of the fragments expresses the atmosphere of the whole.

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An extrapolation of an erotic experience I once had, but it also wanders into pockets of American history.

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Exhausted by a sexually frustrating home life in the Bronx, portly, 65-year-old Uncle Bojo tosses aside all responsibilities, leaves his wife, Stella, and sets out in search of adventures.

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Having nothing to do with racial tensions, HOUSE OF THE WHITE PEOPLE is actually a chunk of film removed from a bigger chunk called UNSTRAP ME. It is a documentation of George Segal creating the basic elements for one of his statues preceded by rare glimpses into his own private museum. Donna Kerness serves as his live model. Walter Gutman sits on a chair and walks around a bit, being that he produced the film. Helen Segal, personifying the ageless saying, "behind every man there stands a woman," stands behind her man and also stands in front of him occasionally. The film is a unique invitation to view the hidden rituals of a famous artist and his infamous model, half naked, snowbound together on a lonely farm, with a silent wife and a notorious guest.

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An extrapolation of an erotic experience I once had, but it also wanders into pockets of American history.

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Exhausted by a sexually frustrating home life in the Bronx, portly, 65-year-old Uncle Bojo tosses aside all responsibilities, leaves his wife, Stella, and sets out in search of adventures.

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