Direction: Stan Brakhage

The best movies, series, and documentaries directed by Stan Brakhage. Explore exceptional titles that showcase a unique filmmaking vision.


Visions in Meditation

1990 · Documentary · 75 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

Plot After a difficult personal period for the filmmaker, Brakhage's marriage to his second wife Marilyn Jull and the couple's subsequent travels around the US and Canada inspired this series of...

8.4

34 votes

8.4

34 votes

Anticipation of the Night

1958 · Documentary · 42 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

8.0

104 votes

8.0

104 votes

23rd Psalm Branch: Part II

1967 · Documentary · 30 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

Plot The second part: Brakhage’s layering of images spends less time with images of war, and begins filtering in scenes of Vienna and his home in Colorado. He sets up a...

7.7

27 votes

7.7

27 votes

Dog Star Man

1964 · Documentary · 78 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

Plot A lyrical film following a cycle of seasons as well as the stretch of a single day as a man and his dog slowly ascend a mountain.

7.7

25 votes

7.7

25 votes

23rd Psalm Branch: Part I

1967 · Documentary · 33 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

Plot In this haunting but lyrical meditation on war, Brakhage intercuts 8-mm footage of Colorado with imagery from WWII newsreels. He responds to the violence and nightmare of war by painting...

7.6

35 votes

7.6

35 votes

Chartres Series (S)

1994 · Documentary · 9 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

Plot "Marilyn's sister died; and I, who could not attend the funeral, sat down alone and began painting on film one day, this death in mind... Chartres in mind. Eight months...

7.6

22 votes

7.6

22 votes

The Mammals of Victoria

1994 · Documentary · 34 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

7.6

34 votes

7.6

34 votes

Seasons... (S)

2002 · Documentary · 16 min. · United States

7.6

38 votes

7.6

38 votes

Visions in Meditation #3: Plato's Cave (S)

1990 · Documentary · 16 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

7.5

63 votes

7.5

63 votes

Desert (S)

1976 · Documentary · 11 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

7.5

35 votes

7.5

35 votes

Visions in Meditation #4: D.H. Lawrence (S)

1990 · Documentary · 18 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

7.5

50 votes

7.5

50 votes

Star Garden (S)

1974 · Documentary · 21 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

Plot The sun makes its way across the screen to portray “one of those days I would not trade for anything under heaven”.

7.5

105 votes

7.5

105 votes

Visions in Meditation #2: Mesa Verde (S)

1989 · Documentary · 16 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

7.3

60 votes

7.3

60 votes

Scenes from Under Childhood #1 (S)

1967 · Documentary · 25 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

7.3

77 votes

7.3

77 votes

Visions in Meditation #1 (S)

1989 · Documentary · 16 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

7.3

66 votes

7.3

66 votes

The Riddle of Lumen (S)

1972 · Documentary · 14 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

Plot “The Riddle of Lumen” presents an evenly paced sequence of images, which seem to follow an elusive logic.

7.3

57 votes

7.3

57 votes

The Cat of the Worm's Green Realm (S)

1997 · Documentary · 18 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

7.3

36 votes

7.3

36 votes

Window Water Baby Moving (S)

1959 · Documentary · 13 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

Cast Jane Brakhage · Myrrena Brakhage · Stan Brakhage

Plot On a winter's day, a woman stretches near a window then sits in a bathtub of water. She's happy. Her lover is nearby; there are close ups of her face,...

7.2

441 votes

7.2

441 votes

For Marilyn (S)

1992 · Documentary · 11 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

7.2

65 votes

7.2

65 votes

I... Dreaming (S)

1988 · Documentary · 8 min. · United States

Direction Stan Brakhage

Plot Phrases of Stephen Foster, set to music by Joel Heartling, are set to film in this autobiographical piece: a solitary female voice, occasionally joined by a chorus, sings phrases of...

7.2

80 votes

7.2

80 votes