Storm de Hirsch

"'Storm de Hirsch was a very important player in the New York Avant-Garde film scene of the 1960s, though her biography and work are generally left out of the history.

Like many experimental filmmakers at the time, she did not begin her artistic career as a filmmaker. She had been a poet and published a number of works in the early 60’s. She wanted to find a new mode of expression for her thoughts that went beyond words on the page, which is when she turned to filmmaking. Despite lack of recognition, she was very present in the underground film movement and socialized with every big name on the scene, filmmakers such as Stan Brakhage, Jonas Mekas, Shirley Clarke and others.

Much of her work is abstract and employs a number of experimental techniques.She creates images by painting directly onto the film and scratching onto the film, creating abstract animations. Sometimes these animations stand on their own while sometimes they are superimposed over live-action footage. Her films are clearly influenced by her poetic background as well as an interest in eastern religious practices and rituals. Her work explores the possibilities of light and is concerned with spatial elements. In one film, Third Eye Butterfly, she uses a two-screen projection with split-screen frames to create a kaleidoscopic effect.

Filmography:

Journey Around A Zero (1963)Goodbye In The Mirror (1964)The Color of Ritual, The Color Of Thought (1964-1967)Divinations (1964)Peyote Queen (1965)Shaman, A Tapestry For Sorcerers (1967)Newsreel: Jonas In The BrigSing Lotus (1968)Third Eye Butterfly (1968)The Tattooed Man (1969)An Experiment In Meditation (1971).

References

Rosenberg, Jan. Women’s Reflections: The Feminist Film Movement. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1979, 1983.

Dixon, Wheeler, W. The Exploding Eye. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1997.