The Cockettes (2002) [Movie] WikiData TMDB IMDb

The Cockettes

director: Bill Weber / David Weissman actor: Larry Brinkin / Dusty Dawn …

Documentary about the gender-bending San Francisco performance group who became a pop culture phenomenon in the early 1970s.

Chappaqua (1966) [Movie] TMDB WikiData IMDb

Chappaqua

director: Conrad Rooks actor: Jean-Louis Barrault / Conrad Rooks …

Semi-autobiographical story of Conrad Rooks, who travels to France to undergo a drug-withdrawal cure. Flashbacks to the beginings of psychedelia in San Fran. Though initially confusing, as Rooks blends drug-illusion with reality, and cuts color with black-and-white and monochrome tinted shots, "Chappaqua" is conventionally constructed with a beginning, middle, and end.

Ballad of the Skeletons (1997) [Movie] TMDB IMDb

Ballad of the Skeletons

director: Gus Van Sant actor: Allen Ginsberg

A close-up of Allen Ginsberg reciting his “skeletons” poem is bluescreened and dissolved against archival film and video clips, and backed by musicians to create a sort of song that becomes an American anthem.

Hare Krishna (1967) [Movie] TMDB IMDb

Hare Krishna

director: Jonas Mekas actor: Srila Prabhupada / Barbara Rubin …

Jonas Mekas captures an afternoon in New York as a Hare Krishna group fills the streets with chanting and song. Filmed with his characteristic freewheeling style and later incorporated into Walden, the short stands as an impressionistic sketch of spiritual fervor and Mekas’s participatory approach to cinema.

Burroughs: The Movie (1984) [Movie] TMDB IMDb WikiData

Burroughs: The Movie

director: Howard Brookner actor: William S. Burroughs / Mortimer Burroughs …

An exploration of Burroughs’ life story, as told by Burroughs himself along with many of his contemporaries, including Allen Ginsberg, Brion Gysin, Francis Bacon, Herbert Huncke, Patti Smith, Terry Southern, and William Burroughs Jr.

Yippie (1968) [Movie] TMDB IMDb

Yippie

director: Allen Ginsberg / Abbie Hoffman actor: Allen Ginsberg / Abbie Hoffman …

The Youth International Party, whose members were commonly called Yippies, was a radically youth-oriented and countercultural revolutionary group opposed to war and the status quo of American culture. Known for using theatrics and humor to advocate social change, several Yippies were notably on trial as the Chicago 7. Primarily consisting of footage from the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago which sparked massive demonstrations that were met by violence and hysteria caused by the police. This film also includes found newsreel footage as well as Pigasus - the pig the Yippies advanced as a candidate for President of the United States.

Be-In (1967) [Movie] TMDB IMDb

Be-In

director: Jerry Abrams actor: Allen Ginsberg / Lawrence Ferlinghetti …

Captures the spirit and essence of the great San Francisco Human Be-In of January 14, 1967. Ten thousand people imbued with peace, love and euphoria. Set to hard rock such as only San Francisco blues can produce. BE-IN contains Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Timothy Leary, Michael McClure, Lenore Kandel and Buddha. Music by Blue Cheer.

Ciao! Manhattan (1973) [Movie] IMDb WikiData TMDB

Ciao! Manhattan

director: David Weisman / John Palmer actor: Edie Sedgwick / Wesley Hayes …

other title: Addio! Manhattan

Fiction and documentary mingle in a freewheeling portrait of Susan Superstar, a New York celebrity on a drug-fueled downward slide that mirrors Edie Sedgwick’s own self-destructive spiral.

Herostratus (1967) [Movie] WikiData TMDB IMDb

Herostratus

director: Don Levy actor: Michael Gothard / Gabriella Licudi …

When a young poet hires a marketing company to turn his suicide into a mass-media spectacle, he finds that his subversive intentions are quickly diluted into a reactionary gesture.

Global Groove (1973) [Movie] TMDB IMDb

Global Groove

director: John Godfrey / Nam June Paik actor: John Cage / Russell Connor …

Global Groove was a collaborative piece by Nam June Paik and John Godfrey. Paik, amongst other artists who shared the same vision in the 1960s, saw the potential in the television beyond it being a one-sided medium to present programs and commercials. Instead, he saw it more as a place to facilitate a free flow of information exchange. He wanted to strip away the limitations from copyright system and network restrictions and bring in a new TV culture where information could be accessed inexpensively and conveniently. The full length of the piece ran 28 minutes and was first broadcasted in January 30, 1974 on WNET.

Allan ‘n Allen’s Complaint (1982) [Movie] TMDB IMDb

Allan ‘n Allen’s Complaint

director: Nam June Paik / Shigeko Kubota actor: Allen Ginsberg / Allan Kaprow …

The influence of Jewish fathers on their sons and the complexity of familial relationships are explored in a witty, poignant portrait of two artists. Beat poet Allen Ginsberg (whose father Louis was a poet in his own right) and performance artist/sculptor Allan Kaprow (whose father is a high-powered lawyer) are the sons who struggle with and against the influences of these patriarchal figures.

Before Stonewall (1984) [Movie] TMDB WikiData IMDb

Before Stonewall

director: Greta Schiller / Robert Rosenberg actor: Rita Mae Brown / Red Jordan Arobateau …

other title: Før Stonewall

New York City's Stonewall Inn is regarded by many as the site of gay and lesbian liberation since it was at this bar that drag queens fought back against police June 27-28, 1969. This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips and personal recollections to construct an audiovisual history of the gay community before the Stonewall riots.

Dont Look Back (1967) [Movie] Douban TMDB NeoDB WikiData IMDb

Dont Look Back

director: D. A. Pennebaker actor: Bob Dylan / Albert Grossman …

other title: Don't Look Back / Se dig ikke tilbage - Bob Dylan

In this wildly entertaining vision of one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists, Bob Dylan is surrounded by teen fans, gets into heated philosophical jousts with journalists, and kicks back with fellow musicians Joan Baez, Donovan, and Alan Price.

We Can't Go Home Again (1973) [Movie] TMDB

We Can't Go Home Again

director: Nicholas Ray actor: Nicholas Ray / Richard Bock …

other title: Non possiamo tornare a casa / Nunca volveremos a casa

Nicholas Ray plays himself, acting as mentor, friend, and artistic inspiration to his students at Binghamton. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation.

Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (2019) [Movie] Douban TMDB IMDb WikiData

Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese

director: Martin Scorsese actor: Bob Dylan / Allen Ginsberg …

other title: Rolling Thunder Revue - Martin Scorsese racconta Bob Dylan / Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story …

Part documentary, part concert film, part fever dream, this film captures the troubled spirit of America in 1975 and the joyous music that Dylan performed during the fall of that year.

Howl (2010) [Movie] TMDB NeoDB IMDb Douban

Howl

director: Jeffrey Friedman / Rob Epstein actor: James Franco / Todd Rotondi …

other title: Urlo / 嚎叫 …

It's San Francisco in 1957, and an American masterpiece is put on trial. Howl, the film, recounts this dark moment using three interwoven threads: the tumultuous life events that led a young Allen Ginsberg to find his true voice as an artist, society's reaction (the obscenity trial), and mind-expanding animation that echoes the startling originality of the poem itself. All three coalesce in a genre-bending hybrid that brilliantly captures a pivotal moment-the birth of a counterculture.

Guns of the Trees (1961) [Movie] TMDB

Guns of the Trees

director: Jonas Mekas actor: Frances Stillman / Ben Carruthers …

other title: I fucili degli alberi

A depressed woman, Barbara, is on the verge of suicide while a man she meets in a church and a married couple try to convince her that life is worth living.

Pull My Daisy (1959) [Movie] IMDb WikiData TMDB Douban NeoDB

Pull My Daisy

director: Robert Frank / Alfred Leslie actor: Jack Kerouac / Allen Ginsberg …

Based on an incident in the life of Beat icon Neal Cassady and his wife, the painter Carolyn, the film tells the story of a railway brakeman whose wife invites a respected bishop over for dinner. However, the brakeman's Bohemian friends crash the party, with comic results. Pull My Daisy is a film that typifies the Beat Generation. Directed by Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie, Daisy was adapted by Jack Kerouac from the third act of his play, Beat Generation; Kerouac also provided improvised narration.

Diaries, Notes, and Sketches (1968) [Movie] TMDB NeoDB Douban IMDb WikiData

Diaries, Notes, and Sketches

director: Jonas Mekas actor: Timothy Leary / Ed Emshwiller …

other title: Walden

Also known as Walden, Jonas Mekas’s first diary film is a six-reel chronicle of his life in 1960s New York, interweaving moments with family, friends, lovers, and artistic idols. Blending everyday encounters with portraits of the avant-garde art scene, it forms an epic, personal meditation on community, creativity, and the passage of time.

Lost, Lost, Lost (1976) [Movie]

Lost, Lost, Lost

director: Jonas Mekas actor: Peter Beard / Ed Emshwiller …

Jonas Mekas adjusts to a life in exile in New York in his autobiographical film, shot between 1949 and 1963.