A postscript on those yakuza films: Bartok’s work as an actor for the Nikkatsu and Toho studios is vanishingly elusive. But by chance, one of her performances (as a crime boss!) is seen here projected larger than life in the background of a scene from Seijun Suzuki’s 1963 film YOUTH OF THE BEAST.
Bartok's films are preserved by Academy Film Archive, and distributed by Canyon Cinema, but the only way to see them is on 16mm. Take a rare chance to get to know one of Pittsburgh's most notable avant garde filmmakers on Thursday, 4/30 at Harris Theater.
trustarts.org/production/1...
Red white and blue streamers in the sky
Geese in flight
Sepia toned photo of a skydive signed by LeAnn
"Bartok went on to create a series of conceptual ‘SKYWORKS’ projects in the 1970s; a dramatic art form which consisted of gigantic and symbolic streamers of paper and fabric, dropped from airplanes to make towering, transitory drawings using the entire sky as her own personal canvas."
LeAnn Bartok
Canyon Cinema describes her astounding life:
“A visionary artist, painter, filmmaker, sculptor, poet, actress, and inventor (U.S. patent liquid crystal), LeAnn Bartok graduated from the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing, in Pittsburgh, PA. After appearing in early-1960s Japanese Yakuza films,
LeAnn Bartok in red and blue western attire stands against a barn
LeAnn Bartok stands at the edge of a desert horizon holding her arms out
While living in Pittsburgh in the 1970s, LeAnn Bartok made a series of films that garnered national recognition and controversy. Her life and work come back to light in the next edition of the Essential Pittsburgh series.
Pong Ping Pong as installed at Microscope Gallery in 2019
The following night, Brand's 360 degree film installation PONG PING PONG [pictured at Microscope Gallery in 2019] comes to Eberle Studios. It's 25 minutes, preceded by a ~20 minute "indoor garden party" sound and movement performance by local artists.
tickets.pghsoundandimage.com/schedule/69c...
More one-of-a-kind effects take the screen, with the legendary artist in person to recall their making, during AN EVENING WITH BILL BRAND. It’s this Thursday, April 16th at 7:30pm at Harris Theater.
trustarts.org/production/1...
Excerpt from Bill Brand's STILL AT WORK (1975).
It was while in Pittsburgh in the mid 1970s for a screening of his work at Carnegie Museum of Art that he learned the JK optical printer at Pittsburgh Filmmakers. This led to his now-trademark complex superimpositions and frames within frames.
One more hour of pre-orders for our first contribution to physical media
OK, all we can say is that we are working with Vinegar Syndrome on this, so you best pre-order by tonight!
The next night, we'll present Brand's 25 minute 360 degree projected installation PONG PING PONG at Eberle Studios. Tickets:
AN EVENING WITH BILL BRAND: tickets.pghsoundandimage.com/schedule/69c...
PONG PING PONG: tickets.pghsoundandimage.com/schedule/69c...
Bill Brand 1972
Frame from Split Decision
Dots reveal images of trees, a woman's face, and bookshelves
Cat behind halftone style dots
Bill Brand is a legendary experimental filmmaker and preservationist, but less known is that he first learned his signature tool, the JK Optical Printer, while at Pittsburgh Filmmakers. On 4/16, he joins us at Harris Theater for a survey of his work from the 1970s to present, on 16mm and digital.
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Instagram's reaction to our announcement that Bill Brand is coming back to Pittsburgh!
Triptych of Natalka Voslakov frames
Join us tomorrow, Thursday 3/12, at 7pm at Carnegie Museum of Art for Essential Pittsburgh: Natalka Voslokov!
tickets.pghsoundandimage.com/schedule/698...
Natalka Voslakov in character talking to a museum docent while blowing bubbles in front of a Rothko
But it's not lost entirely. Cobbled from a VHS copy of a public access show, Super 8 reels, a U-Matic tape, and more, we'll present the 18 minutes found so far of her comic psychodrama, shot entirely in Pittsburgh, from a Winky's dining room to the Carnegie Museum of Art's Scaife Galleries.
DIY 1982 flyer for TEENAGE LOVE with cutouts of Voslakov
Here at PSI, Voslakov's feature TEENAGE LOVE is our filmic holy grail, for which @fleamarketfilms.bsky.social has been on the hunt for eight years. Still, it remains a lost film; the fully edited Super 8 original is MIA and no copy of the full film has yet surfaced on any format.
Tomorrow, 3/12 at Carnegie Museum of Art, see our new restoration of “Time Capsule with True Bird Flight” funded by the National Film Preservation Foundation and Kickstarter backers. Plus a new print, supplied by Peggy Ahwesh, of “Current Autobiography According to Bargain Basement Sinatra.”
Natalka Voslakov was a poet, filmmaker and creative force in Pittsburgh in the late 70s and first half of the 80s. Described as "the nucleus of the Pittsburgh Filmmakers' punks," she organized her friends — including George Romero, Tony Buba, and Peggy Ahwesh — into working on her films.
my old notebook was ruined in the great crockpot backpack spillage of 2026 but good news is I copied everything over to an Arri notebook straight out the wrapper.
Check out the @aftermath.site + @pghsoundandimage.bsky.social stickers so far
The Voice of Hind Rajab
This Thursday at 7:00 at Carnegie Museum of Art, the urgent Best International Feature nominee THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB.
tickets.pghsoundandimage.com/schedule/697...
Jesse Jackson in Billy Jackson's "We Are Universal," preserved last year with local Kickstarter backers and the National Film Preservation Foundation.
plays Thursday at the Glitterbox here in Pgh compliments of @pghsoundandimage.bsky.social tickets.pghsoundandimage.com/schedule/697...
Tomorrow is today!
It's by remarkable chance that @fleamarketfilms.bsky.social acquired this print -- found in a Florida storage unit in 2020. Unlike the release based on a German TV version, it has original credits. We share it tomorrow, Thursday 1/29 at 8:00pm at @glitterboxtheater.bsky.social!
He got his start working for Tobe Hooper as a grip on THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, but Pennell's career was limited by drugs and alcohol. He describes missing his Hollywood chance in this clip from Media Burn Archive.
Two men at night in a truck
Tomorrow night we present what we believe to be the only complete print of Eagle Pennell's landmark indie comedy THE WHOLE SHOOTIN' MATCH. It was an influence on Robert Redford to start Sundance, and on Richard Linklater's career, and subject of a rating revision by Roger Ebert, from 3 to 4 stars.
A recurring collaborator of Peggy Ahwesh, Tippi Comden, Robert Haller, and Natalka Voslakov, he theorized that his fluid camera movement could lock onto a subject's personal wavelength.
Lock in with us for ESSENTIAL PITTSBURGH: J.T. VALE, Friday 12/12 at 8:00 at The Glitterbox.
Here's Forbes Avenue, in the heart of Pitt's campus, as seen in J.T. Vale's 1975 film "Why We Eat." A true maven of cinema povera, he had an eye for cataloging and dramatizing the oddball characters in his social orbit.
