This is the inspiring story of The Flaherty, one of the oldest continuously running nonprofit media arts institutions in the world, which has shaped the development of independent film, video, and emerging forms in the United States over the past 60 years. Combining the words of legendary independent filmmakers with a detailed history of The Flaherty, Patricia R. Zimmermann and Scott MacDonald showcase its history and legacy, amply demonstrating how the relationships created at the annual Flaherty seminar have been instrumental in transforming American media history. Moving through the decades, each chapter opens with a detailed history of the organization by Zimmermann, who traces the evolution of The Flaherty from a private gathering of filmmakers to a small annual convening, to today's ever-growing nexus of filmmakers, scholars, librarians, producers, funders, distributors, and others associated with international independent cinema. MacDonald expands each chapter by giving voice to the major figures in the evolution of independent media through transcriptions of key discussions galvanized by films shown at The Flaherty. The discussions feature Frances Flaherty, Robert Gardner, Fred Wiseman, Willard Van Dyke, Jim McBride, Michael Snow, Hollis Frampton, Erik Barnouw, Barbara Kopple, Ed Pincus, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Bruce Conner, Peter Watkins, Su Friedrich, Marlon Riggs, William Greaves, Ken Jacobs, Kazuo Hara, Mani Kaul, Craig Baldwin, Bahman Ghobadi, Eyal Sivan, and many others.

Patricia R. Zimmermann is Professor of Screen Studies at Ithaca College. She is the author of Reel Families: A Social History of Amateur Film (IUP, 1995) and Open Spaces: Openings, Closings, and Thresholds of International Public Media, among many other titles.

Scott MacDonald is Professor of Art History at Hamilton College. He is author of many books including, most recently, Avant-Doc: Intersections of Documentary and Avant-Garde Cinema and Binghamton Babylon: Voices from the Cinema Department (a nonfiction novel).

AcknowledgmentsIntroduction Patricia Zimmermann: Imagining a History of the Flaherty Seminar Scott MacDonald: The Logistics of Transcribing and Editing Flaherty Discussions

1. The Flaherty Way 1959 Francis Flahertyopening remarks at the Seminar

2. A Seminar, 1955-1959 1958 Robert Gardner with John Marshallon The Hunters (1957)

3. An Organization, 1960-1969 1963 Francis Flahertyon Nanook of the North (1922) and Moana (1926) 1967 Fred Wisemanon Titicut Follies (1967) 1968 Willard Van Dykeopening remarks at the Seminar 1968 Jim McBride and L. M. Kit Carsonon David Holzman's Diary (1967) 1969 Michael Snowon Wavelength (1967)

4. Politics, Cultural and Formal, 1970-1980 1970 Hollis Framptonon Zorns Lemma (1970) 1970 Erik Barnouw, Paul Ronder, and Barbara Van Dykeon Hiroshima-Nagasaki, August 1945 (1970) 1977 Barbara Kopple and Hart Perryon Harlan County USA (1976)

5. Shock of the New, 1981-1989 1981 Ed Pincuson Diaries (1971-1976) (c. 1980) 1983 Trinh T. Minh-haon Reassemblage (1982) 1984 Bruce Conneron Ten Second Film (1965), Permian Strata (1969), Mongoloid (1978), and America Is Waiting (1981) 1987 Peter Watkins and otherson The Journey (1987) 1987 Su Friedrichon Damned If You Don't (1987)

6. Crises, 1990-1999 1990 Marlon Riggson Tongues Untied (1989) 1991 William Greaveson Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1972) 1992 Ken Jacobson XCXHXEXRXRXIXEXSX (many performances after 1980) 1992 Kazuo Haraon Extreme Private Eros (1974) 1994 Nick DeoCampoon Revolutions Happen Like Refrains in a Song (1987), Memories of Old Manila (1993), and Isaak (1993) 1994 Mani Kaulon Uski Roti ("A Day's Bread," 1969) and Dhrupad (1982) 1995 Craig Baldwinon Sonic Outlaws (1995)

7. The Brand, 2000-2015 2000 Sergey Dvortsevoyon Paradise (1995); Vicky Funarion Paulina (1998) 2008 Bahman Ghobadion Life in Fog (1997), A Time for Drunken Horses (2000), and Half Moon (2006) 2013 Eyal Sivanon The Specialist (1999) 2015 Mounira Al Sothon Rawane's Song (2006); Marie-Hélène Cousineauon Before Tomorrow (2008, co-made with Madeline Ivalu); Hassan Khanon Fuck This Film (1998) 2015 Tariq Teguiaon La Clôture ("The Fence," 2002), Inland (2008), and Révolution Zanj (2012) 2016 Luke FowlerOn To the Editor of Amateur Photographer (2014, comade with Mark Fell), and Luis OspinaOn Aggarabdo pueblo (Vampires of Poverty, 1978, comade with Carlos Mayolo)

Index