Recalling the creative world of Stan Brakhage

To mark the recent death of Stan Brakhage, who cast a giant shadow in the world of avant-garde filmmaking, the American Cinematheque’s Alternative Screen tonight is presenting Jim Shedden’s 1998 “Brakhage,” an illuminating celebration of the artist in his own work and words, as well as in the words, and in some instances images, of his friends and colleagues. A selection of Brakhage films also will be shown.

Brakhage, who died at 70, was a master of cinematic stream-of-consciousness, creating meaning and emotion from a flow of highly eclectic images seemingly linked only by free association. What emerges is an intensely rhythmic vision of the universe, at once powerful and personal.

His early work revealed an artist in touch with family, nature and the universe that grew out of his daily existence in the Rocky Mountain wilderness and was marked by verdant collages of forests, streams and sky and glimpses of his first wife and first five children. His growth as an artist, health issues and changes in his personal life would throughout his life affect the direction of his work.

He would move to rich works of abstract expression that come alive with the light and movement possible only in film. Because he suspected that painting directly onto film might have caused his bladder cancer in the fall of 1996, he shifted to etching feathery images, again directly on film, with stunning results. “I’m not afraid of dying anymore,” says Brakhage in the film. Yet he admits a compulsion to create: “I could either do it or die.”

Among a clutch of traditional narratives in the fifth annual Method Fest, in Burbank Friday through April 18, is Thomas Roth’s risky, visionary “Wishing Woman.”

A darkly beautiful New Yorker, Diana (Molly Castelloe, who co-wrote the script), in a desire to explore the “different colors” she perceives in herself, becomes a fulfiller of erotic fantasies. She meets Anthony (Anthony Leone), a virile stockbroker on a losing streak and in the need of feeling empowered. Unlike other clients, Anthony allows her to participate in creating their “scenarios,” which leads her to shift their relationship from the professional to the personal, a chancy move.

Erotic, witty, imaginative -- and with an all-crucial sense of humor, rare in explorations of sexual fantasy.

Laemmle Theaters’ Spring Doc- umentary Days series continues Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Sunset 5 with Joan Sekler and Richard Ray Perez’s illuminating and persuasive “Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election.” In a mere 50 minutes, this film incisively lays bare everything they say went wrong with the election in Florida. The filmmakers interviewed scores of experts and chart conflicts of interests in the recount battle all the way up to the Supreme Court. They tick off a list of unethical tactics on the part of Republicans, but their key argument is that Al Gore, widely regarded as ill-advised throughout his campaign, lost the election by listening to those who urged him to seek recounts in only four Florida counties instead of the entire state.

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Screenings

“Brakhage”: Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Today, 7 p.m. (323) 466-FILM.

“Wishing Woman”: AMC Media Center 8, 201 E. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank. Saturday, 4:45 p.m., and Monday, 9:30 p.m. (310) 535-9230.

“Unprecedented”: Laemmle Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Sunday, 10 a.m., (323) 848-3500. Also at the Monica 4-Plex, April 19 and 20, (310) 394-9741; the Playhouse 7, Pasadena, April 26 and 27, (626) 844-6500; and the Fallbrook 7, West Hills, (818) 340-8710.