Kenneth Anger was born in Santa Monica, California in 1927, and went to school with Shirley Temple and Judy Garland. He always said that his first cinematic experience was at the age of nine, but those films have never been seen.

He first gained fame and notoriety from the publication of the French version of Hollywood Babylon in Paris in 1959, a tell-all book of the scandals of Hollywood's rich and famous. The book is still a best seller and influenced Albert Goldman and John Waters amongst others.

The first film that he directed to see distribution was Fireworks, filmed in Los Angeles in 1947, which gained the attention of Jean Cocteau, who then invited him to go to Paris. 

In 1949, Anger directed The Love That Whirls which, according to the 1972 book Experimental Cinema, contained (faked) nudity, and was thus confiscated by the film lab. Most of his films are short subject (ranging from 3.5 minutes to 30 minutes) mood pieces.

Anger became fascinated with the supernatural and Aleister Crowley, as well as becoming an adherent of Crowley's religion of Thelema, sometime in his late teens. Many of his films reflect occult themes.

He is also a major figure in rock and roll, becoming friends (and subsequently falling out with) the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. Jagger and Jimmy Page feature in his films both as actor/models and as musicians, and many of his films feature a rock and roll soundtrack.

THE MAGICK LANTERN CYCLE 

The Magick Lantern Cycle is a collection of Anger’s principal works, covering a period from 1947 to 1980. 

The Star and Shadow has managed to source eight of these films on lovely 16mm film: Rabbit’s Moon, Inauguration, Scorpio Rising, KKK , Invocation, Eaux D’artifice, Fireworks and Lucifer Rising.
Although Anger was not have been prolific, his influence has been widespread, particularly on later gay filmmakers like Derek Jarman…and also on such mainstream directors as Martin Scorsese, who took inspiration from Anger’s use of pop music as a counterpoint to his images. 

The films are generally non-narrative mood pieces with no dialogue. They are not silent films as such: they are always conceived to be accompanied by music, either classical or 50s and 60s pop/rock. 

Anger’s films are generally conventionally composed and lit, often displaying a bold use of colour. Although out of the Magick Lantern Cycle only Fireworks and Scorpio Rising (which attracted lawsuits for obscenity) are explicitly homoerotic, there’s a distinctly camp sensibility, in the old sense, at work, in the elaborate costumes and interest in ritual. Later films draw on an interest in the occult, particularly the work of Aleister Crowley. 

Another key influence on Anger was classic Hollywood, especially the films of the 1930s and 1940s. His grandmother was a costume mistress in silent days, and at the age of five he played the small role of the Indian Prince in the 1933 film of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. With a background like this, it was probably inevitable that Anger should begin to make films himself.

While these films are not for everyone, Anger’s films are a must for students of film, lovers of Hollywood, and for those interested in Queer and/or rock and roll subculture.

Anger’s work covers a variety of moods: there’s the homoeroticism and camp, but there’s a playfulness as well, and at times music and image come together to produce something quite beautiful.

Official Website: http://www.kennethanger.org/ Kenneth Anger
Interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTRFAJxCJwA 
DVD trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CHLsN29AEA