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The Pittsburgh Documents

In the early 1970s, Stan Brakhage, the American filmmaker, made a series of films on three institutions in the city of Pittsburgh that are partially connected as instruments that control bodies: the police, the hospital and the morgue. United under the collective title The Pittsburgh Documents (sometimes also entitled The Pittsburgh Trilogy), the three films mark an epistemological break in Brakhage's work.

The Pittsburgh Documents

In the early 1970s, Stan Brakhage, the American filmmaker, made a series of films on three institutions in the city of Pittsburgh that are partially connected as instruments that control bodies: the police, the hospital and the morgue. United under the collective title The Pittsburgh Documents (sometimes also entitled The Pittsburgh Trilogy), the three films mark an epistemological break in Brakhage's work.
3 movies 1970 – 1972 1h 42m total
Documentary
Directed by Stan Brakhage
View on TMDB

Movies in this collection

Eyes
Eyes

Eyes

1970 35m Dir. Stan Brakhage

“After wishing for years to be given the opportunity of filming some of the more “mystical” occupations of our Times – which the average imagination turns into “bogeyman”… viz: Policemen, Doctors, Soldiers, Politicians, etc. – I was at last permitted to ride in a Pittsburgh police car, camera in hand” - Stan Brakhage.

Eyes

“After wishing for years to be given the opportunity of filming some of the more “mystical” occupations of our Times – which the average imagination turns into “bogeyman”… viz: Policemen, Doctors, Soldiers, Politicians, etc. – I was at last permitted to ride in a Pittsburgh police car, camera in hand” - Stan Brakhage.
Deus Ex

Deus Ex

1971 35m Dir. Stan Brakhage

I have been many times very ill in hospitals; and I drew on all that experience while making DEUX EX.

Deus Ex

I have been many times very ill in hospitals; and I drew on all that experience while making DEUX EX.
The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes
The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes

The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes

1972 32m Dir. Stan Brakhage
Documentary

At a morgue, forensic pathologists conduct autopsies of the corpses assigned. "S. Brakhage, entering, WITH HIS CAMERA, one of the forbidden, terrific locations of our culture, the autopsy room. It is a place wherein, inversely, life is cherished, for it exists to affirm that no one of us may die without our knowing exactly why.

The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes

At a morgue, forensic pathologists conduct autopsies of the corpses assigned. "S. Brakhage, entering, WITH HIS CAMERA, one of the forbidden, terrific locations of our culture, the autopsy room. It is a place wherein, inversely, life is cherished, for it exists to affirm that no one of us may die without our knowing exactly why.