Rather astonishing news from the fashion and film world. Dangerous Minds’ fave filmmaker Kenneth Anger has released a two-and-a-half-minute film dealing with the fall/winter collection of the Varese-based house of Missoni, produced by filmmaker/Anger manager/Dangerous Minds pal Brian Butler and scored by French composer Koudlam.

Vogue Italia‘s Mariuccia Casadio provides some details:

A man of few words, this fascinating former actor who still takes care of his appearance first filmed the settings for his film “Missoni”: mostly locations near bodies of water in the Sumirago countryside and part of Rosita and Ottavio’s garden. For the indoor sequences, he built a set in the Council Room of the Sumirago Town Hall, a basement room with a vaulted ceiling. The mood of the film and the poses and movements of Margherita, Jennifer, Angela, Rosita, Ottavio, Ottavio Jr. and all other [Missoni] family members are reminiscent of Sergei Parajanov’s “The Color of Pomegranates”, a 1968 film that inspired Anger to create his Chinese box-style storyboard.

Do yourself a favor and go full-screen with this one. And if you’re unfortunate enough to not be familiar with Anger, do yourself another favor and click one or both of the links below. You’ll be glad you did.
 

 
Get: The Films of Kenneth Anger Vol. 1 [DVD]
 
Get: The Films of Kenneth Anger Vol. 2 [DVD]
 
Thanks to Ian Raikow for the heads-up!

Abstract non-narrative filmmakers deserve all the attention they can get, if only because so many of their techniques are absorbed into more conventional films. Moviemaker Jeff Keen only started making his own 8mm films in his late 30s, as his native Britain entered the adventurous ‘60s. His work was soon discovered by art journalists and ended up in the National Film Theatre, garnering funding support for his activities into the ‘80s.

Now in his late 80s, Keen lives in Brighton and is actively creating, although he’s reportedly sick with cancer. Thankfully, the British Film Institute released the Blu-Ray collection GAZWRX: the Films of Jeff Keen last year as a lasting document of his work. Below is his 1967 short film Marvo Movie, in which Keen backs his rapid-fire, Kenneth Anger-cum-Stan Brakhage romp through the areas of nature, decay, consumption and pop culture with a soundtrack that resembles the early chant-work of British occultist group Current 93.

Gazwrx: Films of Jeff Keen (3pc) [Blu-ray]