Film as Film: The Collected Writings of Gregory J. Markopoulos

Film as Film: The Collected Writings of Gregory J. Markopoulos contains some ninety out-of-print or previously unavailable articles by the Greek-American filmmaker who, as a contemporary of Kenneth Anger, Stan Brakhage and Andy Warhol, was at the forefront of a movement that established a truly independent form of cinema. Beginning with his early writings on the American avant-garde and auteurs such as Dreyer, Bresson and Mizoguchi, it also features numerous essays on Markopoulos’ own practice, and on films by Robert Beavers, that were circulated only in journals, self-published editions or programme notes. The texts become increasingly metaphysical and poetic as the filmmaker pursued his ideal of Temenos, an archive and screening space to be located at a remote site in the Peloponnese where his epic final work could be viewed in harmony with the Greek landscape. Gregory J. Markopoulos (1928-1992) is a unique figure in film history, one whose life’s work stands in testament to his strength of vision and commitment to the medium.

“This collection of writings by a key figure of the New American Cinema complements, illuminates and extends an incomparable body of work. Equal parts theory, criticism and mythical prose, the texts reflect the charisma and originality of its author – and his enduring romanticism. Brandished by the same absolutes and passion that fuel his films, Film as Film is a seminal addition to film scholarship and film history, and includes some of the most original writing on the art of cinema, not unlike that of Jean Cocteau and Pier Paolo Pasolini.” —– Andréa Picard, Toronto International Film Festival

“For the first time the full depths of Gregory Markopoulos’ rigorous imagination can be fathomed. Film as Film is an indispensable companion to Markopoulos’ unique cinema and a fascinating chronicle of his probing thoughts on filmmaking.” —– Haden Guest, Harvard Film Archive