Film Culture (Spring 1964)

said details, is indeed an unintelligent way of looking at things. The detective from the District Attorney’s office, who arrested us with Flaming Creatures, told us that he was not interested in the film as a work of art; he also admitted that he was not competent to judge it; he said he was looking at it strictly as a matter of “duty”; he was looking only for “objectionable” images according to his interpretation of the law. That is O.K., as far as the duty of a hired man is concerned — but what the hell does this have to do with truth or justice? The meaning and essence of a detail in a work of art can be understood only if grasped in the context of the whole. You may ask why, with already one “obscenity” charge against me, | am screening another film which in the eyes of the police is considered “obscene.” I am doing so because I consider the police actions unlawful, unconstitutional and contrary to man’s spiritual growth. It is my duty as an artist and as a man to show the best work of my contemporaries to the people. It is my duty to bring to your attention the ridiculousness and illegality of the licensing and obscenity laws. The duty of the artist is to ignore bad laws and fight them every moment of his life. The duty of the citizen and artist is not to let the police and the law abuse the rights of the people, both the Constitutional rights and the unwritten, moral rights. We say that the courts, by taking these decisions into their own hands, are abusing man’s basic freedom of expression as described in the Constitution and gained by man in the thousands of years of his spiritual development. All works of art, all expressions of man’s spirit must be permitted, must be available to the people. Who — when even the best of our artists, the best of our art critics disagree about art (and I am certainly a better authority on this than any policeman or any court) — who among you dares pose as judge of our art, to the degree of dragging our art into the criminal courts? In what times do we live, when works of art are identified with the workings of crime? What a beautiful insanity! Jonas Mekas March 7th, 1964 New York City 2 FILM CULTURE On April 9th, the following announcement was published in The Village Voice by the Film-Makers Cooperative: TO OUR FRIENDS You have noticed that our butterfuly has disappeared from The Village Voice. One after another, the independent and avantgarde film showcases have been closed, either by the District Attorney, the Police, the State Division of Motion Pictures, or the Department of Licenses. Our equipment, projectors and screens have been seized. Our films (Jack Smith’s “Flaming Creatures’’ and rushes from his yet unfinished “Normal Love,” Andy Warhol’s ‘“Newsreel,’’ and Jean Genet’s “Un Chant D‘Amour”) are lying on the police shelves. Film-makers have been arrested and charged with acts of crime for showing their work. Ken Jacobs (author of “Little Stabs at Happiness’’ and “Blonde Cobra’), Jonas Mekas (editor of “Film Culture’ magazine, film critic for “The Village Voice’ and author of “Guns of the Trees” and ‘‘Fool’s Haikus’), Pierre Cottrel (film critic, “Cahiers du Cinema’), Florence Karpe (artist), Jerry Sims (artist) and the Film-Makers’ Cooperative have been charged with showing and distributing unlicensed and ‘obscene’ films. As of now, there are four different trials coming up in the courts. We are not alone: various poetry readings have been harassed or closed; off-Broadway theatre groups, coffee houses and dance halls are being closed; Lenny Bruce has been arrested, The city is beginning to look like Toronto on a cold winter day. “Will Spring ever come,’ we ask, as We walk the cold night. On the corner, George Lincoln Rockwell is making a speech, protected by the police. Somewhere, something went completely wrong. The City and the State have turned against the avantgarde in the arts; the most sensitive budding points of spiritual and esthetic activity are being hurt. Bureaucracy is triumphing. Civic “duty” is running amok. Kafka keeps writing, his pen screeching. This is what this is all about: An important shift in the ways of life, in moral attitudes, is about to take place in America, Really, the shift has been going on for some time: what's lacking is the official stamp. That's what this is all about. The clash between a going-away generation and a coming generation. Much of what the Old Generation calls immoral and obscene; much of what it calls non-or anti-art—to us is Beauty, beacuse it is part of our life. Old ways of life to us seem full of false morality; much of the art of Yesterday begins to look like a lot of nothing. Film-makers got caught in this clash, in_ this wheel of eternally shifting generations, values, esthetics, ways of life. Maybe it’s good that we got caught in it: many things will become clearer to us and to others. But we see a long and difficult struggle ahead of us. There will be much dirty water thrown on our heads before things will be understood for what they are, Literature has done much during the last few years to free itself from censorship. The cinema, however, is still tied down by licensing, censorship, obscenity and other laws that have nothing to do with art. They have nothing to do with liberties either. We intend to put all these matters in question, The law says a certain amount o “obscenity” is permissible in works of art. But who is to decide where art begins? What about the works which are only the first, however magnificent, steps of young artists? : “In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking.” We are not looking for a fight. We are not interested in winning this or any other case. All that we want is to make more beautiful films and share them with others. But we are being pushed against the wall, we are being threatened with imprisonment and our films are no longer safe; the Muse is being strangled. We need your help. Stay close. Send your contribution to the Anti-Censorship Fund, c/o Film-Makers’ Cooperative, 414 Park Avenue South, New York. We do not intend to give up making films; we do not intend to hide our work under ground; we do not intend to give up what man has gained in the long centuries of his spiritual development. Although we too like circuses and fairs. Film-Makers’ Cooperative Anti-Censorship Fund April 8th, 1964