Director
Shirley Clarke
October 2, 1919 · New York City, New York, USA
A major figure of the American avant garde, Shirley Brimberg Clarke (1919-1997) was born into privilege as the daughter of Polish-Jewish immigrants who made their fortune in manufacturing. Rebelling against a repressive bourgeois upbringing, Clarke turned first to dance, and later film and video, to express her distinctive vision of the world.
Moving freely across genres and media throughout her career (and often within a single work), Clarke’s cinema explores the porous boundaries between narrative and documentary filmmaking, and film and other media, such as painting, dance, performance and video. Her 1960s features The Connection (1961), The Cool World (1963) and Portrait of Jason (1967), for which she is arguably best remembered, address issues of urban alienation, poverty, addiction and racism, focusing on lives lived at the margins of American society. Fearless in both her personal and creative life, Clarke produced a body of work that is as formally innovative as it is rooted in social protest.
Often works with
Viva
2 titles together
Lions Love, Ornette: Made in America
Carl Lee
2 titles together
The Connection, The Cool World
Ornette Coleman
2 titles together
Ornette: Made in America, Ornette Coleman: A Jazz Video Game
- W
Wendy Clarke
2 titles together
In Paris Parks, Butterfly
- J
Joe Chaikin
2 titles together
Tongues, Savage/Love
Full filmography · 32
Fear Flight
Director
2016
A Short Lecture and Demonstration on the Evolution of Ragtime as Presented by Jelly Roll Morton
Director
2016
Home Movies #20: Dance Tests
Director
2016
Ornette: Made in America
Director
1986
As Kineastas
cast
1986Ornette Coleman: A Jazz Video Game
Director
1984Tongues
Director
1982
Savage/Love
Director
1981A Visual Diary
Director
1980
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Trans
Director
1978
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: One Two Three
Director
1978
Four Journeys Into Mystic Time: Initiation
Director
1978