Scott MacDonald (1) (1942–)

review of
Scott MacDonald's Avant-Doc — Intersections of Documentary & Avant-Garde Cinema
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - September 21 - October 2, 2019

For the full review go here: "Old MacDonald: Lifestyles—of the rich—in Cambridge": https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/1150122-old-macdonald?chapter=1

This review might seem to some to be 'sour grapes', maybe it is — but I don't think so. It's been tempting to just call this a review of Lifestyles of the Rich in Cambridge, wch really isn't that unfair, but not everybody's connected to Cambridge, MASS, (although the majority might be) & not everybody's rich (although the majority seem to be). Some of them might be of the variety of rich that thinks they're not rich b/c they've 'only' got a million or so to play w/ (or whatever).

Here's some personal backstory to help contextualize my annoyance w/ this bk. I started making films in 1975, 44 yrs ago as of this writing. My 1st film ( https://youtu.be/uraX7UhTmxc ) might be called a 'Materialist' film even though I was unaware of that term until probably decades later. I was making what I was making somewhat in isolation although I might've read Parker Tyler's Underground Film around this time.

It wasn't until I witnessed most of the programs of "The American Independent Film Series" that were screened at the Baltimore Museum of Art from October 7, 1976 to June 4, 1977, specifically that part of the series that was based around the bk entitled A History of the American Avant-Garde Cinema, that I finally got a chance to witness any films that I felt an affinity for. I liked most of the films but the ones that I remember liking the most from programs that I'm sure I attended were:

Program 2 (December 2, 1976):

"The Lead Shoes" by Sidney Peterson (1949)
"A Movie" by Bruce Connor (1957)
"Recreation" by Robert Breer (1956-1957)
"Anticipation of the Night" by Stan Brakhage (1958)

Program 3 (January 20, 1977):

"Science Friction" by Stan Vanderbeek (1959)

Program 4 (February 17, 1977):

"The Flicker" by Tony Conrad (1966)

Program 5 (March 17, 1977):

"Samadhi" by Jordan Belson (1967)
"Film in Which There Appear Sprocket Holes, Edge Lettering, Dirt Particles, etc." by George Landow (1965-1966)
"Lapis" by James Whitney (1963-1966)
"Wavelength" by Michael Snow (1966-1967)

Program 6 (April 21, 1977):

"T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G" by Paul Sharits (1968)
"Bleu Shut" by Robert Nelson (1970)

Program 7 (May 19, 1977):

"Nostalgia" by Hollis Frampton (1971)

I loved them all but I found myself most aligned w/ the films sometimes referred to as 'Structuralist': "The Flicker", "Film in Which There Appear Sprocket Holes, Edge Lettering, Dirt Particles, etc.", "Wavelength", "T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G", "Bleu Shut", & "Nostalgia". Whether the filmmakers themselves embraced this term or whether the aforementioned are even so categorized these days is a different story. I started programming films almost immediately & my 1st curation involved more work by Nelson & others in 1978. I even made a 16mm feature that riffed off of "Wavelength" ( http://youtu.be/nRqfWwHAdqA ). Just as I was finishing that feature I got to play w/ Michael Snow as a part of his group C.C.M.C. ( https://youtu.be/epsDAADK2XA ).

I made my 1st video (or, as I prefer, "vaudeo") in the summer of 1977 in collaboration w/ Steve Estes & w/ assistance from Kenny Klompus. Steve initiated the project but my input to it was substantial enuf for me to think of it as 'my' vaudeo too. It was called "Computer Interview" ( https://youtu.be/WTnMBakpHP8 ).

My 9th movie was shot on May 22, 1979, & it was called "Quasi-Documentation of Testes-3's End of Library K & M Series" ( https://youtu.be/0toRU7wYDvQ ). Note the importance of the terminology here: I call this "Quasi-Documentation", I was already realizing that my documentaries were enuf outside the box of conventional documentary making to not be "documentaries", per se, but, rather things that were partially documentaries & partially something else.

Even though I considered myself to be an experimental moviemaker (& still do) I realized that my inclination was to document experiments in 'real life' in an experimental way — thusly making the form of the document reinforce the nature of the content. Take, e.g., the "3 Mile Island" movie that I worked on in April of 1979 ( https://youtu.be/WFnEj9c35fE ).

As of today, September 21, 2019, I've made 482 experimental documentaries ( http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/tENTDocs.html ). My work has been screened in at least 65 cities in at least 16 countries ( http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/tENTScreenings.html ). Many (or, possibly, most) of these movies are online— making them accessible to billions of people. &, yet, Soctt MacDonald makes no mention of me. Why? IMO b/c I'm not one of his rich academic cronies that he's a PR person for. What possible you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-your-back action cd he possibly get from presenting an impoverished anarchist pornographer who heavily features truly experimental (m)usic instead of the drek that Phillip Glass composes?! Besides wch, my overall body of work is much more complicated than that of, say, Godfrey Reggio — who's essentially made the same film 4 times.

& what about the term "Avant-Doc"? Well, it'll probably catch on in thought-free academic circles but there are those of us, such as Jackson Mac Low & myself, who've largely rejected the term "avant-garde" b/c of its military origin. After all, some of us are anti-war so why associate ourselves w/ the military except for under specific, often parodistic, circumstances? I honestly prefer "Quasi-Documentary" better, a term I coined 30 yrs earlier, apparently, than when "Avant-Doc" appeared.

You get the idea. Onward to the actual bk:

Avant-Doc came out in 2015. I cynically state in the intro to my "tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Documentaries" website ( http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/tENTDocs.html ) that:

"One thing that I can be fairly certain of is that by the time programmers & historians finally get excited about the genre of Experimental Documentary, any & all kudos will go to a cute young rich woman who's made one or 2 such things starting 40 years later than me & I will be completely unmentioned. Sigh."

Now, that was overly cynical of me. Avant-Doc features 12 women out of a total of 26 filmmakers mentioned. I'd call such an almost even distribution of the sexes to be good scholarliness. The 12 are:

Annette Michelson (actually a critic)
Jane Pincus
Nina Davenport
Susana de Sousa Diaz
Amie Siegel
Jennifer Smith
Betzy Bromberg
Jennifer Proctor
Jane Gillooly
Ilisa Barbash
Stephanie Spray

Pincus started making movies in 1971 & made one movie (by 2015)
Davenport started making movies in 1995 & made 5 movies (by 2015)
de Sousa Diaz started making movies in 1988 & made 8 movies (by 2015)
Siegel started making movies in 1997 & made 27 movies (to date as of 2019)
Smith started making movies in 1996 & made 8 movies (by 2015)
Bromberg started making movies in 1977 & made 9 movies (by 2015)
Proctor started making movies in 2003 & made 26 movies (by 2015)
Gillooly started making movies in 1984 & made 11 movies (by 2015)
Barbash started making movies in 1990 & made 4 movies (by 2015)
Spray started making movies in 2007 & made 6 movies (to date as of 2019)

SO, you see, I was totally wrong, I admit it. Pincus made her ONE movie 4 yrs before I started; Davenport only started 20 yrs later than me; de Sousa Diaz only started 13 yrs later than me; Siegel started 22 yrs later than me; Smith started 21 yrs later than me; Bromberg started around the same time as me; Proctor started 28 yrs later than me; Gillooly started 9 yrs later than me; Barbash started 15 yrs later than me; Spray started 32 yrs later than me — not a single one of them started 40 yrs later than me!. That probably has something to do w/ the bk coming out 40 yrs after I started making movies. Anyway, the average length of time that these folks started making movies after me is a mere 14 yrs — it's makes perfect sense that I'd be excluded.

Now, the total number of movies they made collectively is 105. Contrast that to the 603 that I've made to date (they're not all documentaries). Sheesh, again, it makes total sense that my mere 603 movies shd be excluded — I mean how cd anyone decry this as classism?! Anyway, my movies must be crap — I cdn't've been so prolific b/c I work constantly & know how to do things w/o grants. Well, just as a little test, why don't I provide you w/ links to 105 of them & you can check all of them out & get back to the review. You won't, of course. Scott MacDonald certainly won't, I'm not rich & in his academic tour circuit.

001. "Computer Interview" (1977) ( https://youtu.be/WTnMBakpHP8 )
002. "3 Mile Island" (1979) ( https://youtu.be/WFnEj9c35fE )
003. "Quasi-Documentation of Testes-3's End of Library K & M Series" (1979) ( https://youtu.be/0toRU7wYDvQ )
004. "Paper Dolls in Dava's Class" (1981) ( https://youtu.be/x0fkllvVAl4 )
005. "Tunnel T.Ore & Tiger" (1983) ( https://vimeo.com/160516148 )
006. "Apt 7" (1983) ( https://youtu.be/naU37TVUBRY )
007. "booed usic @ t he Telectropheremoanin'quinquennial"(1984) ( https://archive.org/details/BooedUsic )
008. "See-Saw" (1985) ( http://youtu.be/Y8MsA6Ezf70 )
009. "6 Fingers Crossed Country T.Ore/Tour" (1986) ( https://archive.org/details/6FingersCrossed )
010. "Philosopher's Union Member Mouthpiece # 00,002: Richard Tryzno Ellsberry" (1988) ( https://youtu.be/2HUG-L_ovHQ )
011. "Philosopher's Union Member Mouthpiece # 00,008: Casandra vonRinteln Hambleton" (1988) ( https://youtu.be/RcAICoZ7mmc )
012. "Philosopher's Union Member Mouthpiece # 00,015: Emma Elizabeth Downing" (1988) ( https://youtu.be/gVqpSGYVAbo )
013. "Philosopher's Union Member Mouthpiece # 00,022: L.A.W." (1988) ( https://youtu.be/SRMZdg1mp9A )
014. "Philosopher's Union Member Mouthpiece # 00,030: Stefan Szcezelkun" (1988) ( https://vimeo.com/114670259 )
015. "Philosopher's Union Member Mouthpiece # 00,051: Janor Hypercleets" (1989) ( https://youtu.be/udxqfuGvrwo )
016. "Philosopher's Union Member Mouthpiece # 00,070: David Franks (on temperance)" (1992) ( https://youtu.be/kOUigEfApi4 )
017. "Tent's Muir" (1988) ( http://youtu.be/oBBjSe3REHA )
018. "Homeless Movies" (1988) ( https://youtu.be/_OLEL-lHFbE )
019. "One Word per Person Party" (1990) ( https://youtu.be/cvgoTPwwCog )
020. "National Cancer Institute Documentary" (1993) ( https://youtu.be/iANO4bKId7E )
021. "Official Tour/Ture" (1992) ( http://youtu.be/EN5U7JANpRA )
022. "Boota" (1994) ( https://youtu.be/19_pe-nT9u0 )
023. "Anonymous Family Reunion" (1997) ( https://youtu.be/Igk75JaCTPw )
024. "Urban Myth of the Force That Prevents Building on the Railway Lands" (1998) ( https://youtu.be/ugZqSTGV9Rk )
025. "Don't Walk Backwards" (2000) ( https://youtu.be/kODzM_2_bRM )
026. "The Lab-Rats Explain Their Veggie-Oil Powered Van" (2000) ( https://youtu.be/X0RsOO9W0hs )
027. "Multiple Projections - 1978-2009" (2009) ( https://youtu.be/6smYCjQPuXM )
028. "Interspatiality" (1997) ( https://youtu.be/K5nsRUM90Bg )
029. "Anemia of the Paparazzi" (2000) ( https://youtu.be/HucBwEMz3AE )
030. "Harps & Angles ('performance' version)" (2003) ( http://youtu.be/Qk_UOY0c1bk )
031. "Anti-Neoist Rally" (2000) ( https://youtu.be/QX7963kyl2k )
032. ""Money Against Capitalism" on "Anarchist World This Week"" (2000) ( https://youtu.be/-yi9PTR99xE )
033. "I.A.C. Deer Head Sculpture @ former Rankin Steel Mill" (2000) ( https://youtu.be/6NMI-GwhPVs )
034. "A Slide Show by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE" (2002) ( https://youtu.be/tWqjOGPyf98 )
035. "History in the Making" (2005) ( https://youtu.be/Db1SXIFd4AI )
036. "B.T.O.U.C." (2006) ( https://youtu.be/_HxXGlMriKA )
037. "Steelers Fans Against War" (2005/2006) ( https://youtu.be/82EhacEns5I )
038. "¡Gran LIQUIDACION por CIERRE! (extended)" (2004/2007) ( http://youtu.be/6lldh74_ZUY )
039. ""HiTEC 024 A" (hybrid version)" (2008/2019) ( https://youtu.be/RmtaSPLef_w )
040. "HiTEC 051 - New Hazlett Theater" (2009) ( https://archive.org/details/HiTEC051full )
041. "The End of Television" (2009) ( https://archive.org/details/HiTEC059full )
042. "HiTEC @ the VAF" (2009) ( https://archive.org/details/HiTEC06163VAF )
043. "HiTEC 064 I" (2009) ( https://archive.org/details/HiTEC064I )
044. "Infnite Monkey Theorem" (2008-2010) ( https://archive.org/details/InfiniteMonkeyTheorem_201905 )
045. "Mark Dixon's Selectric Piano" (2010) ( https://youtu.be/3x6AJ6ssJsk )
046. "tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - School of Disembodied Poetics" (2010) ( http://youtu.be/f2puiVTPGYU )
047. "DEPOT (wherein resides the UNDEAD of Franz Kamin)" (2010-2011) ( https://archive.org/details/depot_201906 )
048. "COLONY" (2010-2011) ( https://youtu.be/7AgvRX4MJmA )
049. "North Deface" (2012) ( http://youtu.be/r8Dre9tTEyE )
050. "Titin" (2013) ( https://archive.org/details/Titin )
051. "Devival" (2014) ( http://youtu.be/FfDCnTR03dg )
052. "FOR EVERMOR" (2014) ( https://archive.org/details/forevermor )

For the full review go here: "Old MacDonald: Lifestyles—of the rich—in Cambridge": https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/1150122-old-macdonald?chapter=1… (más)

Alright, I can't resist. I'm certainly a critical cinema maker. There are something like 5 volumes of this series now. I'm not in any of them. Many yrs ago I sent a coupla VHS tapes to MacDonald. No reply. Why? If there's ever been a filmmaker blackballed from the world of critics, it's me. It's like I don't exist. I've made something like 268 movies to date. Nada mention in any film bk except for one catalog & a bk specifically about me published by San Francisco Cinematheque. Nonetheless, this is a great series that shd be studied by anyone interested in the subject. But Vivienne Dick?! Gimme a break. What'd she make? A few super-8 films in the late '70s? & they were crap! Ok, I got that out of my system.… (más)