Bruce Conner, one of the greatest experimental filmmakers this country has ever known, died. A Tribute. He specialized in assembling political and social commentaries from found footage (sometimes in public domain, but not always). His seminal piece A Movie was admitted into the National Film Registry in 1994, and his piece on the JFK assassination *Report* is perhaps the most haunting visual essay ever made on the former president.
But my favorite is *Cosmic Ray*, a breakneck phantasmagoria of images from Vietnam to Disney to nudie pinups, all set to a blistering performance of Ray Charles’ What I Say?. Truly amazing stuff, sadly most of it is not available on any kind of home video format because of copyright issues. He is a regular at screenings of short films and avant-garde material (I saw his most recent film just this last year at the SFIFF), however, and I imagine a retrospective or two will start emerge soon.
For those interested, the PFA in Berkeley currently has in its gallery a collection of his photographs of the punk scene at Mabuhay Gardens in the late 1970s. If you can, check it out.
A legend. RIP.