FILMOGRAPHY

This is a selected filmography I only have listed the films that I feel were of any consequence

REVOLVE
This was the first 16mm film that I ever made. It remains to this day one of the shortest films of my career. It consists of one single shot taken of what was once Mt. Saint Helens less than a year before it blew its stack. I rigged a special camera tripod that would allow me to shoot and revolve the camera at the same time. The viewer sees the reflection of the mountain in the now non-existent Spirit lake below. I turned the camera a complete 360 degrees vertically, giving this film its name.
1979, 16mm, color, sound, 55seconds

PUNK ROCK SPHINKTER
This film came together in Oct of 1979 when I was lucky enough to get a ticket to see the CLASH play their first show in Seattle at the Paramount Theater. The film consists of live silent footage of the band playing that I had shot from the front of the stage. I then added more footage that I had shot on other dates of punk rockers hanging out around Seattle in the rain at places that are now for the most part long gone. Shortly after I cut the film together I was originally going to use reggae music for the film's sound track but I later found a bootleg recording of the Seattle show that was made by a friend and used it. The sound is not by any means in sync but for its punk rock theme it all seems to fit. I tried my best to at least make it seem somewhat in sync. 1979, 16mm, color, sound, 10min

THE MOON IN MOTION This film consists of found footage and footage that I shot myself. The found footage is of the moon taken by the astronauts during the Apollo missions. All the shots the moon is in motion fly bys and time laps cinematography ex. The footage that I shot is of the moon taken through a telescope that I had fitted with a special c-mount adapter for my Bolex. I cut the film together into a rhythmic pattern that fit in well with the opera music that I later added. 1980, 16mm, color, sound, 5 min

BLEACH This film as well as Subversive Cinema is made up from found scraps of footage. This time I used Clorox bleach to literally bleach the emulsion off of the film, I never rinsed the bleach off of the film I just let big clumps of goo dry were they happened to be. When I had print made I printed every frame twice the end result was a very hypnotic and electric visual experience. 1981,16mm,color, silent, 5min

DIRT This film was very much inspired by Stan Brakage's film Mothlight I used clear film leader as a canvas. I then took fine grain dirt, dried flower peddles, blades of grass and even the wings off of dead house flies and scotched taped them on to the clear film. Because film is generally projected at 24fps you wouldn't really have a chance to see all the images that I had taped to the film, so I had every frame printed three times.  1981,16mm, b/w, silent 3min

STATIK This film was created using about 90 rolls of 35mm slide film. I took pictures of lots of interesting things like buildings, trees, flowers, bugs, water, rocks and what ever interested me at the time over a 2 year period. When I processed the film I instructed the lab not to cut the film and mount the slides but to simply give me the processed strips of film uncut. I then spliced all the rolls together onto one big roll. This film took years to make. After I completed the photography I added hand tinting and experimented with scratching of the emulsion. When projected this film has a riveting effect that leaves the viewer in a daze. 1982, 35mm, color, silent, 12min,

CLOUD MOVEMENTS # 1 I made this film while on vacation to Cannon Beach Oregon in the summer of '82. I shot it on a borrowed Ariflex camera. The film consists of one static shot taken over a cliff overlooking the Pacific. The wind was blowing really hard that day and I was able to photograph the clouds in motion and their reflection on the water below. 1982, 16mm, color, silent, 3min.

CLOUD MOVEMENTS # 2 This film was made immediately after CLOUD MOVEMENTS # 1. This film consisted of one static shot of the Seattle skyline time laps of the cloud formations above. This film completed my study of clouds and their place in the world and in my films.
1982, 16mm, color, silent, 3min

PUNK ROCK SUMMER I made this film towards the end of the summer of 1982 it was my first straight documentary film featuring live concert performance’s of some of Seattle's finest punk bands like The Fastbacks, The Fartz, The Refuzers,The Fags,The Pudz,Student Nurse and many more at the time that I made this film it did not seem as interesting as it does today. Many of the bands and clubs and even some of the people are now gone forever but part of their spirits are captured forever in this film and will never be forgotten.   1982,16mm, color/bw, sound, 45min 

ANDY WARHOL When Andy Warhol came to Seattle as part of a book signing tour for a book of portraits that he had done I asked him if he minded if I filmed him he said that he loved to be filmed and that he didn't mind at all. So I documented the event as it happened.  1983, 16mm, color, silent, 3min

SISTER SOCIETY I made this film in collaboration with my long lost friend Ellen Rancher. This film was actually shot on videotape but finished in film. It consisted of an interview with a woman who is being accused of something that she knows nothing about. All of the sound for this film was piped through an eco chamber to add effect, and the lighting was all done with strobe lights. Ellen dubbed this film as incoherent cinema,  1984, 16mm, color, sound, 14min

SILENCE IS GOLDEN I made this film on a Sunday morning in Jan of 1985 I filmed snowflakes falling onto the street from my apartment window. The streets were totally silent and I wanted to capture to moment. 1985, 16mm, color, silent, 3min

A BADGE OF EVIL This film was made by taking clear film leader and painting it black then I took footage off of the television of President Regan and superimposed the two together.  1986, 16mm, color, silent, 4min

KODACHROME REVISITED I made this film by shooting around 180 rolls of 35mm slide film. I then hand processed the film in a very sloppy manner. I never mounted the film into slides I simply took the 35mm strips of film and spliced them together. Some of the rolls used in this film were shot by random people I sent a roll of film to that they shot and sent back to me. The Throbbing Gristle provided the films soundtrack. 1987 35mm, color, sound,

CHROME I made this film by shooting and editing all of my images on videotape. I then took my rough cut of the film and played it on a monitor; I then re video taped the images off of the screen. I did this process over and over about 17 times. I then did my final version onto 16mm with my Bolex. This process gave the film a very pixley and grided effect. 1987, 16mm, color, silent, 3min

RECEPTION This film was shot the same way as CHROME, only this time I used images that were of structures under construction adding an element of dimension.The Throbbing Gristle provided the films sound track.  1988, 16mm, bw/ tint, sound, 4min

TEXTURE Again using the same technique as the two previous films. This time I did a close up study of a woman's body, using friend and fellow artist Kelley K Vance as a model. The viewer is drawn in to the abstract and ultra grainy imagery-trying figure out what it is that they are looking at. This film has an original soundtrack by Mary Lake. 1989, 16mm, bw/tint, sound, 35min
 
ORANGE CINEMA This film was shot while I was on vacation in Las Vega$ Nevada in June of 1990. We drove around all day long and photographed everything that we thought was interesting. The film was shot in black and white and printed on color stock with an enhanced orange tint; lending the film it's title. 1990, 16mm, bw/tint, silent, 3min

SYMMETRY This film was the first and to this day is one of very few of my films that are considered to be narrative I think you could call this film an experimental/narrative hybrid and stars Underground superstar Pony Mourice. It is the sad and psychedelic tale of the spiral like downfall of a young woman following the breakup with a boyfriend. The film's theme revolves around the symmetry of things and the symmetry of things to come. Duane Wright wrote the screenplay for this film. 1991, 16mm, color/bw, sound, 13min

REFLECTIONS This film was the second installment of what I call the URBAN LANDSCAPE SERIES. The film is more like an extension my earlier film Exposures, but this time I made a much more valiant attempt to say what I wanted to say. By the time I made this film I felt that I had mastered the art of cinematography. This was the first film in which I collaborated with long time friend and music composer RUBATO.
1992, 16mm, bw/tint, sound, 22min
LIQUID I made this film with the help of friend Timmi Harrop she graced the screen in this liquid like atmospheric industrial performance piece. Multiple exposures, water, and weird underwater cinematography shots that create the environment drowning the viewer in a symphony of sight and sound. 1993, 16mm, bw/tint, sound, 4min,

NOCTURNAL I made this film with assistance of David Larew, we set out on a summer evening in 1993 to photograph the city at night and the nocturnal events that happen on any given night in any given city. Parts of this film were used in a later film that I made with Steve Creson The Movement Of Light At Night; however, this is this first version of that film.  1993, 16mm, color, sound, 5min
DIFFICULT CINEMA This film was made by taking scraps of film from other projects and some found footage, then chopping it up into very short sections and then cutting it all back together again at random. I then added hand painting sections and some sections that I bleached the emulsion off of the film. I showed this film to a friend and he said that it was a very difficult piece to watch, and that's what I decided to call this film. The Zoviet France provided the films sound track. 1993, 16mm, color/bw, sound, 12min

UNDERCURRENTS This film was the third and final installment of my Urban Landscape Series and is my personal favorite of the three. In this film I utilized all the techniques that I had learned over the years and put them all into this film. I finally felt that my mission was complete regarding structures and that I could move forward and try other ideas. RUBATO provided the films sound track. 1994, 16mm, bw/tint, sound, 10min

GIRL AND A BICYCLE This film was made in collaboration with fellow filmmaker and friend Rasha Refaie.The film was inspired by a dream that Rasha had about a girl and a bicycle and a silver colored egg. The viewer sees Rasha peddling all over Seattle through city streets, parks, all over and ultimately ending up a graveyard were she begins to experience the nosebleed of her life. This film was going to be the first in a series of films based on Rasha's dreams; however, shortly after this film was completed Rasha moved to New York City and this was the only film that was made. Rubato composed the films sound track.  1995, 16mm, bw/tint, sound, 15min

A LITTLE SPLINTER OF TIME There was once a wonderful cinema in Seattle Wash called the Pike St. Cinema. It was owned and operated by Dennis Nyback for about 3 1/2 years this cinema played the best films no one else would show. This film is just a little splinter of time captured on film--a very special place in my life that will never be forgotten. I simply documented the cinema as it was including Nick the theater Cat. 1995, 16mm, bw, silent, 2min

7 MINUTES IN MAY I made this film using friend Kitty the fire eater doing her fire eating routine at the Pike St. Cinema. I then took all the footage and cut it up into section not more than 11inches long. I then added footage that I had taken earlier of an organic nature and repeated the process. I then took all the footage and put it into a garbage bag and cut it all back together again at random. This film was inspired by the early cut up poems of WM.S Burroughs. The film is not 7 minutes long and was not shot in May. I wanted the title to be done the same way, I cut up a page out of a magazine and pasted a few words together and came up with Seven Minutes In May. 1996, 16mm, bw/tint silent, 2min

THE MOVEMENT OF LIGHT AT NIGHT This was the first film that I collaborated with fellow filmmaker and friend Steve Creson. We each shot a 100ft roll of film and we did not know what each other were shooting. The only thing that our footage had in common was the fact that it was all shot in color and at night. At the time that we did this we were each experimenting with new techniques of our own. This took place on a nice summer evening in July of 1996. This film sparked the beginning of a very prolific partnership. Film score by RUBATO.  1996, 16mm, color, sound, 5min

DESERT ABSTRACTIONS This is a film that I had wanted to make for many years. It was not until the summer of 1996 that I actually got it together and shot it. Again with the help of Steve Creson we packed up all our equipment and loaded on to a plane and flew to Arizona were we rented a car and drove around the desert for week and filmed everything that we thought looked interesting. This film is similar to the films in my urban landscapes series, only this film was shot in eye popping full color and there are no man made elements in this film at all. Lots of rock formations, colors, and shapes only things made my mother nature. This film also has a film score by RUBATO  1997, 16mm, color, sound, 10min

STANS SALON I was in Boulder Col. on a film shoot when I attended one of Stan Brakhage's film salons that he hosted. I saw some very incredible images that night and got to meet the grand master himself. I was so inspired by what I saw and the people that I met that the moment that I returned home to Seattle I made this film. My first fully hand painted motion picture, and the techniques that I used in this film are the beginning of an entirely new faze of my filmmaking and I hope to master this technique some day. 1997, 16mm, color, silent, 3min

FLUFFY FLUFFY CALM CALM Is sort of a film poem it is the story of the week in the life of an eyeball. The viewer sees the eyeball darting around and also sees what the eyeball sees as well. The week has been condensed down to 9 min. This film was an experiment that worked. I shot all the eyeshots using my friend Letitia Tyler on 200ft of film and shot all the other shots on another 200ft. I then cut the negative together without ever seeing what the film looked like projected. I just wanted the editing process to be all part of the eye theme. I was hoping that it would all say something, and it does.  1998, 16mm, bw/tint, silent, 10min

PROUSTIAN NEUROSIS This film is a collaboration with friend-filmmaker, Mia Roozen Separately filming footage, unknown to the other, and splicing it together to create an abstract prosaic, a symphony of sight and sound, a subconscious exploration of neurotic origins. Music by Rubato  1999, 16mm, b/w/ tint, sound, 5min

THE LAST TEN MINUTES OF EXISTENCE This is a film that I had planed on making for more than two years before I began to shoot it. The Idea was to shoot an entire 400 ft. magazine of film from start to finish without stopping. When news came that they were going to destroy the King County Domed Stadium I thought that this would be a perfect subject for this film. I got up at 3:45 am on that faithful morning and loaded up my beloved Auricon Pro 600 movie camera and made my way to the location that I had seeked out weeks prior. I set up my camera and framed up my shot and began shooting exactly 5 minutes before the Stadium was due to be imploded. My Idea was to document the last moments before destruction, the moments during destruction and the moments after destruction, a full 400ft of film shot in one take from one angle with out stopping. The film was shot in black and white and printed on color stock with a royal blue tint. I had always wanted to make a film this  way and pay homage to one of my early film influences the late great Andy Warhol. 2000,16mm,b/w/tint,silent,10min

 

BLACK GREEN AND PURPLE This is a film that I made by hand painting strips of clear film. and then step printing it. I also used a variety of objects to use as stamps such as, patatos,sponge’s, fingers and many other things  to give the film elements of texture and contrast. The viewer see’s a strobeing montage of the colors BLACK,GREEN and PURPLE lending this film its name  I did not shoot one single foot of film on this project, it is entirely made up of hand painted and manipulated image’s.  2000,16mm,color,silent,10min

 

 

CINEMATIC ABSTRACTIONS  This film was created with some found scraps of  film and footage that I shot of different things over the years that up until the time I made this film where un used.  I used a lot of techniques that I have learned over the years such as hand painting directly on to film, the scratching of the emulsion, bleaching of the emulsion  I also punched hole’s in the film with a hole puncher, and replaced the hole’s with hole’s that I had punched out of other found scraps of film. There is one technique that I have discovered while I was making this film and that is taping down strips of regular 8mm film to the 16mm.This film had an extremely long production period. Every time I thought that it was complete and I was ready to print it, I started adding more images, changing things around, cutting things in, cutting things out ext. ext. It was driving me out of my mind I could not let it go 2000,16mm,color,sound,5min

ALL SAINTS DAY This film is a collaboration with filmmaker Joel Schlemowitz , on ALL SAINTS DAY 2000 we each shot 100 ft of film, at the same time of the day , 3000 miles apart, and we did not tell each other what we shot. The film was hand processed and cut up into 2ft length’s and then cut back together alternating from Joel’s footage to Jon’s until all the film was gone. The soundtrack for this film was done the same way. 2001 16mm color/bw 5min

THE FLICKERING OF THE MINDS EYE This film is made up of hand painted and batik sections of film that I then step printed on an optical printer. I also used fingers, potatoes, sponges to print textures and patterns. The film was then cut into a rhythmic pattern that may play a few tricks on your brain. 2001 16mm color 10 min

FRAGMENTS OF A PAST LIFE

A collection of found footage that I hand painted / batik I also used Crisco, wax, human/dog/bee hair. I also used insects living and dead, blood and other bodily fluids To tell this story of a past life .  2001 16mm color 10min

HOMAGE TO DEVON DEMONTE I took this wonderful workshop on Direct Animation, Mr. Demonte was the instructor and he showed me more things about what you can do with film with regular household items in two short days than I learned in my entire filmmaking career. This film started out as a class assignment but quickly evolved into a finished film.  2001 16mm color 6min

CINEMATIC ABSTRACTIONS # 4 This film is collaboration between filmmakers Jon Behrens and Ryan Keith Adams. This Cinematic experiment was done using what is called a mat box. The two filmmakers each shot different Image’s, one shooting out side of the star the other shooting inside the Star. The also used stripe shaped mat shots alternating between the two. This film was shot, the sound design created and edited and printed in three days. This is the first film collaboration between these two veteran Seattle Filmmakers.  2002 16mm color sound 7min.

ALL SAINTS DAY II This film is a collaboration with filmmaker Joel Schlemowitz , on ALL SAINTS DAY 2001 we each shot 100 ft of film, at the same time of the day , 3000 miles apart, and we did not tell each other what we shot. The film was hand processed and cut up into 2ft length’s and then cut back together alternating from Joel’s footage to Jon’s until all the film was gone. This film is the follow up to ALL SAINTS DAY which was done using the same techniques the year prior   soundtrack for this film was done the same way. 2002 16mm color/bw 5min

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED This film was made up from footage of a discarded film project of Marc Burgio. The two of us Founded and ran the Seattle Underground film festival aka SUFF. When we were planning the festivals 4th and what ended up being the festivals final year we thought that it was high time that we had a film trailer for our festival. This film was hacked together after several beers and a few hours work. I provided the films sound design. 2002 16mm b/w sound, 1&1/2 min.

ANOMALIES OF THE UNCONSCIOUS This is the second film of the Anomalies Cycle. It is a hand Painted and manipulated film. I also used the technique of bleaching and batiking of the film emulsion. The footage was then step printed on a J-K Optical Printer. Although similar in style to The Flickering of the Minds Eye I began to experiment more with other colors and different textures such as dried leaves and flowers, hair, insect parts, and a variety of different types of inks and paints. The sound track for this film was preformed by NEGATIVLAND  2003 16mm color/sound/12min

 

VERNAL OBEISANCE "The second collaboration I did with R.K. Adams, we proceeded to experiment with the Idea of using panels in our films. When we talked about doing this we decided that we wanted to pay homage to the upcoming spring, the result was this film." – Jon Behrens

 "This collaboration merges 5 elements of cinematic vision. Classic Jon Behrens hand painted elements frame a single image torn into four pieces. The mood alternates between color and black & white cinematography in this experimental homage to spring" - Ryan Adams Alpha Cine Labs

Vernal:

Vernal equinox (Astron.), the time when the sun crosses the equator when proceeding northward. -- Vernal grass (Bot.), a low, soft grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum), producing in the spring narrow spikelike panicles, and noted for the delicious fragrance which it gives to new-mown hay; -- also called sweet vernal grass. -- Vernal signs (Astron.), the signs, Aries, Taurus, and Gemini, in which the sun appears between the vernal equinox and summer solstice.

Obeisance:

Obeisance O*bei"sance (?), n. [F. obéissance obedience, fr. obéissant. 1. Obedience. [Obs.] Chaucer.  2. A manifestation of obedience; an expression of difference or respect; homage; a bow; a courtesy. Bathsheba bowed and did obeisance unto the king. 1 Kings i. 16.

2003, 16mm, color/b/w, sound, 6min

 

 

ANTIPODE POLYCHOMASIA  is 6 minutes of pure cinematic bliss. Hand painted textures and Parisian architecture are painterly composite in  brilliant color using almost forgotten film printing techniques. A hauntingly familiar soundtrack  punctuates this visual  collaboration. 2004 16mm color sound 6min
 

A FILM POEM FOR BARBARA EVANS I made this film for Barbara Evans who is the love of my life, my very best friend in the whole wide world and has been the wind under my wings for more than a dozen years. I captured images that reminded me of her and I also etched little poetic phrases that I thought fit in to the emulsion . This film went through several stages were I made changes - cut things in cut things out. before I finally settled on this version. 2005 16mm color/bw sound 2min

THE ASTRUM ARGENTIUM Is the third film in a series  that is being called the Anomalies cycle. It is mostly a hand painted and step printed film. This time I used stained glass dyes and also experimented with photographing growing crystals with time laps cinematograhy. I also created the sound design for  this film. 2006, 16mm, Color, Sound, 6 min

SIX ARMS - HOMAGE TO MEKAS I was asked to participate in a film program were filmmakers were asked to each  shoot a 100ft roll of film in the style of legendary filmmaker Jonas Mekas. This short burst cinematic film diary was shot on a  nice Saturday Afternoon at my favorite Pub The Six Arms, I documented my afternoon as it happened. Their was no editing at all on this  film it was all done in Camera. I liked the film so much that I decided to add a sound track and released it.     2006, 16mm, Color, Sound,  3 min

 

MOVING IMAGES OF THE STILL MEMORY  This is a film diary that I made of a place in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood called the Still. It was a very short lived meeting and drinking place were artists and artist types would hang out and talk about the government and art. I shot most of this film on a nice summer day in July of 2003. The Still only lasted a couple of years. and is now another place and the vibe is now gone forever but it's sprit will live forever in this film  2006,16mm, Color, Silent 3min

 

PSYCHORAMA This film is far different than all other films that I have made. I more less put this film together from existing footage. It is a collection of film trailers from the psychotronic film genre of the 50’s through the 70’s. I pieced together from my own personal collection of 35 and 16mm films along with collections of friends and even was even invited to take a trip down to LA to rummage through film vaults. I worked on this film secretly for more than 5 years . This film simply pays homage to all the great studios like AIP and Republic Pictures who cranked out loads of these films during the old drive-in days when film was cheep.   2006, 35mm,  sound, color/bw  97min

BEACHY HEAD I made this film with sections of hand painted strips of film that were originally made for other films that for one reason or another were never shot. Years later I decided to try and put something together with them, after I shot the sections on my optical printer  I hand processed the film and experimented with flashing the film negative during processing  2007, 16mm, sound, color, 4min

THE PRODUCTION AND DECAY OF STRANGE PARTICLES In this film I began to experiment more with creating mats with liquid latex directly on the film emulsion then bleaching of all the excess image around the latex and using the clear bleached sections of film as a canvas to paint my film poem I used special inks that were custom made just for me called Keneville Dyes I then to re-photographed it all on my beloved JK optical printer. I also created this films sound design.

2008, 16mm color sound 7 ½ min 

 

Be sure to check out my gallery of film still images

 

All images Copyright © 1979/09 by Jon Behrens. All rights reserved.