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"MacDonald's selections tread a pitch-perfect path between being comprehensive and making an engrossing and illuminating narrative. He has perfected his voice, and controls the entire history of U.S. avant-garde film with an easy and graceful confidence."—David E. James, author of The Most Typical Avant-Garde: History and Geography of Minor Cinemas in Los Angeles
List of contents
Introduction
1. Formation
2. Incorporation
Conversation with Edith Kramer
Portfolio
3. Revitalization
Conversation with Diane Kitchen, 3/02
Portfolio
4: Intellectualization
Conversation with Bruce Conner, 7/01
Portfolio
5: Maintenance
Conversation with Dominic Angerame, 8/02
Porfolio
Appendix 1: Canyon Cinema Employees, 1969 to the Present
Appendix 2. Canyon Cinema’s Gross Rentals and Sales, 1966–2005
Credits
Index
About the author
Scott MacDonald is author of the five volumes of the Critical Cinema series (UC Press), of The Garden in the Machine: A Field Guide to Independent Films about Place (UC Press), and of several other books on avant-garde film and on institutions that have kept avant-garde film alive. He is currently Visiting Professor of Film History at Hamilton College and at Harvard University.
Summary
Presents the story of how a small, backyard organization in the San Francisco Bay Area emerged in the 1960s and evolved to become a major force in the development of independent cinema. This book offers a chronicle of the life and times of this influential, idiosyncratic film exhibition and distribution collective.
Additional text
“Fills a major gap in our knowledge of the history of avant-garde film.”
