Films by photographers

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NABOB OF NOWHERE · #1 Post by **NABOB OF NOWHERE** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 12:22 pm

In the wake of the announcement of the Klein eclipse set and the forthcoming complete series of Robert Frank here.

Are there any other contenders in this department??? I would have thought that Weegee's 16mm shorts could make a neat little bundle.

Rsdio · #2 Post by **Rsdio** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 12:39 pm

There's the MK2 Henri Cartier Bresson set too, I've been hesitant to take the plunge on it as I'm not sure if there are English subs or not.

Michael Kerpan · #3 Post by **Michael Kerpan** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 12:46 pm

Mika Ninagawa's "Sakuran". She is an art and fashion photographer -- and this is her first film. Visually more impressive than dramatically.

miless · #4 Post by **miless** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 3:04 pm

there's also, of course, all those early films from Man Ray.

#5 Post by **zedz** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 4:50 pm

Moholy-Nagy made some experimental shorts.

Cindy Sherman directed a single feature, Office Killer.

Then there's David Hamilton's notorious (and reportedly awful) Bilitis et al.

MichaelB · #6 Post by **MichaelB** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 5:05 pm

Ken Russell and Stanley Kubrick started out as photographers, and both have had gallery retrospectives recently.

Polybius · #7 Post by **Polybius** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 1:20 am

Gordon Parks was a photographer of great stature during his tenure at Life.

#8 Post by **domino harvey** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 1:28 am

Richard Kern lol

jaredsap · #9 Post by **jaredsap** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 5:10 am

Jerry Schatzberg was a very successful photographer. I don't think his debut -- PUZZLE OF A DOWNFALL CHILD -- is too good, but it has its fan and is conspicuously absent on DVD.

EDIT: Apparently it was never released on VHS either.

NABOB OF NOWHERE · #10 Post by **NABOB OF NOWHERE** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 5:28 am

jaredsap wrote:Jerry Schatzberg was a very successful photographer. I don't think his debut -- PUZZLE OF A DOWNFALL CHILD -- is too good, but it has its fan and is conspicuously absent on DVD.

EDIT: Apparently it was never released on VHS either.

Of course. Shatzberg! ....I have included Scarecrow in my alternative AFI list as well.

It's fascinating to see the pointers to other photographers but on this thread I was more wondering what other contenders a la Klein there are for a package or box set. That's why I was thinking of Weegee or maybe stretching to a 'New York Street' Anthology. Burckhardt,Frank, Shirley Clarke, Parks et al ???
Have I just bumped myself to Eclipse speculation???

ptmd · #11 Post by **ptmd** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 12:54 pm

In addition to being one of the key photographers of the twentieth century, Paul Strand was also an important filmmaker, making Manhatta in 1921 and then giving up still photography entirely for cinema from 1936 to 1945. During that time, he shot The Wave and The Plow That Broke the Plains and directed films like Native Land.

Chris Marker did two interesting photo-books in the 1950s before he met Robert Frank, decided he could never be as good a photographer as him, and turned to filmmaking. Agnes Varda also started out as a photographer, working for Harcourt and taking professional portraits of actors and other celebrities in France in the 1950s.

Other important photographer/filmmakers who haven't been mentioned yet include Raymond Depardon, Hollis Frampton, Michael Snow, Helen Levitt (who made the influential 1952 documentary "In the Street"), Eikoh Hosoe (who made the seminal Japanese experimental film "The Navel and the H-Bomb" at the height of his powers in 1960), Ralph Steiner, Johan van der Keuken, Ed van der Elsken, Helmar Lerski, Paolo Gioli, and Wim Wenders.

jdcopp · #12 Post by **jdcopp** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 2:02 pm

Robert Bresson
Ruth Orkin Engel
Raymond Depardon
Sarah Moon

miless · #13 Post by **miless** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:02 pm

Dennis Hopper has published a few photo books.

Oedipax · #14 Post by **Oedipax** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:22 pm

Larry Clark. Bully is terribly underrated.

colinr0380 · #15 Post by **colinr0380** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:57 pm

AgnÃ¨s Varda

miless · #16 Post by **miless** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 2:07 am

Gus Van Sant has a photo book, and has a photo at the Portland Art Museum (it's of William S. Burroughs, and for a while it was right next to a Larry Clark photograph)... I also believe he went to RISD for photography, but I could be wrong on that.

I think that Gregory Crewdson should make a film, as he hires film crews and builds sets to realize his mammoth surreal images (and even hires actors, such as Dylan Baker, to appear in them).

Adam · #17 Post by **Adam** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 9:05 pm

Danny Lyon did some very good documentaries. I recently screened "El Mojado" about an illegal immigrant and it definitely holds up as a strong direct cinema doc. I'll probably be doing a screening with more of his films sometime in 2008. I think maybe one is on DVD; teh rest only as VHS or 16mm prints from MOMA or Facets.

Oh, the venue is Los Angeles Filmforum.

Solaris · #18 Post by **Solaris** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 7:19 am

zedz wrote:Then there's David Hamilton's notorious (and reportedly awful) Bilitis et al.

His films do contain some beautiful soft photography that is rare and unique in feature films. Bilitis has an magnificent soundtrack, but the plot and dialogue is dreadful. It is a shame the transfer on DVD is so atrocious.

Russ Meyer also began as a photographer in WWII.

zombeaner · #19 Post by **zombeaner** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 8:36 am

Most recently, Anton Corbijn's Control is a pretty impressive debut.

Lino · #20 Post by **Lino** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 3:56 pm

Solaris wrote:
zedz wrote:Then there's David Hamilton's notorious (and reportedly awful) Bilitis et al.

His films do contain some beautiful soft photography that is rare and unique in feature films. Bilitis has an magnificent soundtrack, but the plot and dialogue is dreadful. It is a shame the transfer on DVD is so atrocious.

I'm a big fan of Hamilton's work, both photographic and filmic. Have seen pretty much all his movies (I believe he made 5) and he still is a touchy subject, or rather, he still deals with touchy subjects - the Lolita. But I've never felt his work to touch on pedophilia. He clearly has a thing for younger maidens but the way he portrays them is never exploitative. He has a style all his own, one of sheer elegance and dream-like fantasy. Deeply rooted in bourgeoisie, though. But that's another story altogether. Maybe he has a thing for debutantes, who knows?

About the bad quality of his movies on DVD: don't forget that he always photographs with soft focus and big grain film stock. Haven't got any of his movies on DVD, though so I can't really make a criticism of them.

miless · #21 Post by **miless** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 4:33 pm

Abbas Kiarostami has been doing photography for quite a while.

Oedipax · #22 Post by **Oedipax** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 5:57 pm

Oh! How could I forget. Nuri Bilge Ceylan is an accomplished photographer and cinematographer in addition to directing and (sometimes!) acting.