Brand X lost materials search
Donation protected
Update - we have reached the appeal total!
Thank you to all those who gave and also helped spread the message. We will be in touch soon about what is happening next with the search and also about the rewards
Introduction
Recently I have been communicating with many of you about the death of our father Wynn Chamberlain. We thank you again for all the kind words and thoughts
As you may know for a number of years we have been working to revive my father’s movie Brand X. We have had some success with this and have had a number of high profile screenings, lots of great press and recently have been working on a project to restore and re-release the move with the Cineteca di Bologna. Recently however it has come to our attention that an organisation in America called Cinema arts may have a copy of Brand X or even the original inter-negative for the movie.
Cinema Arts acquired a large archive of film materials from a lab that went bankrupt in the 1970s called TVC and this is the same lab that our father used during the production of Brand X. After contacting Cinema Arts, we think it is very likely they have some materials, because they have the original paperwork related to Brand X
The current print we have been working from on the restoration is not in great condition and finding new and possibly pristine materials would result in a much better quality restoration
Cinema Arts is a small, underfunded, understaffed organisation that holds a huge collection of films, which contains many films by underground and other filmmakers with little or no money, who have gone bankrupt or passed away. Cinema Arts have told us they would need to charge for the staff time it would take to properly search the archives. The cost of this would be $500. Note: the total (£400) also includes fees charged by the fundraising website
And so we have started this appeal to raise the money needed to conduct the search.
Any contributions towards this would be greatly appreciated ..and would also, optionally, include a reward
---------------------------------------------------------------
Rewards
£5 – will get special thanks from us
£10 – will get special thanks and also one of the recently re-printed A3 sized Brand X posters
£20 – will get special thanks, one of the recently re-printed, A3 sized Brand X posters and a copy of the new, restored Brand X DVD, when it comes out
£50 and over will get special thanks, one of the recently re-printed, A3 sized Brand X posters, a copy of the new, restored Brand X DVD when it comes out and a special complementary invitation for you, and guest, to the premier screening of the restored Brand X
---------------------------------------------------------------
More about Brand X
Brand X, featuring actors who would later go on to become big Hollywood stars, as well as characters from Andy Warhol’s New York scene, originally opened to sold out shows and rave reviews, but then was mysteriously lost to the world for over 40 years. Conceived and born between 1968 and early 1970, Brand X uses simplistic television programming of that era as a frame to expose and ridicule the politics and taboos of the day. It is a subversive, underground film but also one that has mass market appeal, influenced mainstream programs such as Saturday Night Live and is still relevant today because the widespread interest on artistic and political protest, the banking crisis and the occupy movement.
Watch the Brand X trailer on Art Forum magazinehttp://www.artforum.com/video/id=43363&mode=large
About the director
Wynn Chamberlain was a successful artist in New York in the 1960’s. He lived and worked at 222 Bowery and was friends with Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning, Larry Rivers, William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Frank O’Hara & Jonas Mekas. In 1967, he produced Charles Ludlam’s off-Broadway extravaganza CONQUEST OF THE UNIVERSE starring Taylor Mead, which was attended almost every night by Marcel Duchamp. In 1969 he wrote & directed the ground-breaking film BRAND X (released in May 1970) starring Taylor Mead, also attended constantly by Marcel Duchamp when it showed at the Elgin Theater in New York. In 1971 he went to India, lived there for twenty years with his wife and children Sam & Sara & wrote two novels GATES OF FIRE & THEN SPOKE THE THUNDER, published by Grove Press. In 1997 he moved to Marrakech, Morocco & wrote another novel, PARADISE, published by Kadmos Publishing.
For more about Wynn Chamberlain – painter, theatre producer, film maker and bestselling novelist see http://www.kadmospublishing.com/about.html
For a great overview of Elwyn Chamberlain’s life and work see this recent obituary form the independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/wynn-chamberlain-painter-film-director-and-novelist-who-was-at-the-heart-of-new-yorks-artistic-scene-of-the-1950s-and-60s-9911356.html
About the star
Taylor Mead (1924 – 2013) was an American poet, artist & actor who has appeared in more than twenty underground films by Andy Warhol, Jack Smith & Ron Rice. Known as a “beloved icon of the downtown New York art scene” Taylor continued to perform and read his poetry regularly at the Bowery Poetry Club up till his death in 2013.
Some quotes about Brand X from then and now
“Brand X is propaganda for the politics of joy and disorder. Brand X shines like gold.” – Jonas Mekas, The Village Voice 1970
"A funny, bawdy, peppery film, BRAND X took the pathetic, mediocre, clichéd culture of television and turned it on its head." - Independent on Sunday 2012
It could be that Brand X done in 1969 and shown in May 1970, will in time become a Brechtian truth-comedy.” – Lil Picard, Interview Magazine 1970
"Brand X is not only Healthy but Beautiful." - Lita Eliscue, Los Angeles Free Press 1970
"Devilishly, piercingly funny." - Howard Thompson, New York Times 1970
“Wynn Chamberlain’s BRAND X deserves to take its place with Charlie Chaplin’s MODERN TIMES and Fritz Lang’s METROPOLIS as one of the great subversive films of all times.” – Duncan Ward (British film Director) 2010
“Brand X subverts television culture by appealing to the same populist level as mass media, liberating through laughter.” – Steven Watson (Author of “Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties”, “The Birth of the Beat Generation”) ART FORUM 2011
For more about Brand X – please see our website www.brandxmovie.com(new window) or follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/brandxmovie and Facebook www.facebook.com/brandxmovie
Recent screenings
The Berlin International Film Festival Forum, Berlin February 12th and 16 2012
Sunday the 12th of February 22:00 at the CineStar 8 OV
Thursday the 16th of February 22:15 at the Delphi-Filmpalast OV
http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/2012/02_programm_2012/02_filmdatenblatt_2012_20123795.php
The Tate Modern London June 20th 2012
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/film/brand-x
The New Museum, New York on April 9, 2011
http://www.newmuseum.org/events/539
The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles on October 11, 2011
http://hammer.ucla.edu/programs/detail/program_id/1006
The Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge, Mass on October 22, 2011
http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2011octdec/mead.html
The Copenhagen DOX Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark on November 5, 2011
http://www.cphdox.dk/d/film.lasso?ser=1517&s=201107&e=1
The Norwegian Short Film festival, Grimstad June 16 and 17 2012
http://www.kortfilmfestivalen.no/en/articles/2012/intdokfilmer2012.html
The Port Eliot Festival, Cornwall July 2012
http://www.porteliotfestival.com/performers-2012/brand-x/
Press about Brand X
The New York Times did an article on the front cover of their arts section, on the day of the New Museum screening - seehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/arts/design/brand-x-a-69-film-by-wynn-chamberlain.html
Katie Katamura did a piece which appeared in Frieze magazinehttp://www.frieze.com/comment/article/brand-x/
Steven Watson wrote a piece that appeared in the Summer 2011 edition of Art Forum – not available online
Italian Vogue did a short piece about the movie in their February 2012 issuehttp://www.vogue.it/en/people-are-talking-about/music-theatre-cinema/2012/02/the-incredible-cult-film and a longer piece about Brand X and Wynn Chamberlain that came out in the October 2012 issue http://www.vogue.it/en/magazine/people-in-vogue/2012/10/wynn-and-sally-chamberlain
The Independent did a long piece that appeared in the their Sunday supplement on November 11th http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/cult-film-brand-x-has-been-granted-a-surprising-and-timely-second-life-8294819.html
Brand X was featured in a piece commemorating Taylor Mead in the October issue of Art Forum. Also the online version has a trailer for Brand X the first time any footage from Brand X has been on the Internethttp://www.brandxmovie.com/images/ArtForumArticleScan1.jpghttp://www.brandxmovie.com/images/ArtForumArticleScan2.jpghttp://www.artforum.com/video/id=43363&mode=large
Thank you to all those who gave and also helped spread the message. We will be in touch soon about what is happening next with the search and also about the rewards
Introduction
Recently I have been communicating with many of you about the death of our father Wynn Chamberlain. We thank you again for all the kind words and thoughts
As you may know for a number of years we have been working to revive my father’s movie Brand X. We have had some success with this and have had a number of high profile screenings, lots of great press and recently have been working on a project to restore and re-release the move with the Cineteca di Bologna. Recently however it has come to our attention that an organisation in America called Cinema arts may have a copy of Brand X or even the original inter-negative for the movie.
Cinema Arts acquired a large archive of film materials from a lab that went bankrupt in the 1970s called TVC and this is the same lab that our father used during the production of Brand X. After contacting Cinema Arts, we think it is very likely they have some materials, because they have the original paperwork related to Brand X
The current print we have been working from on the restoration is not in great condition and finding new and possibly pristine materials would result in a much better quality restoration
Cinema Arts is a small, underfunded, understaffed organisation that holds a huge collection of films, which contains many films by underground and other filmmakers with little or no money, who have gone bankrupt or passed away. Cinema Arts have told us they would need to charge for the staff time it would take to properly search the archives. The cost of this would be $500. Note: the total (£400) also includes fees charged by the fundraising website
And so we have started this appeal to raise the money needed to conduct the search.
Any contributions towards this would be greatly appreciated ..and would also, optionally, include a reward
---------------------------------------------------------------
Rewards
£5 – will get special thanks from us
£10 – will get special thanks and also one of the recently re-printed A3 sized Brand X posters
£20 – will get special thanks, one of the recently re-printed, A3 sized Brand X posters and a copy of the new, restored Brand X DVD, when it comes out
£50 and over will get special thanks, one of the recently re-printed, A3 sized Brand X posters, a copy of the new, restored Brand X DVD when it comes out and a special complementary invitation for you, and guest, to the premier screening of the restored Brand X
---------------------------------------------------------------
More about Brand X
Brand X, featuring actors who would later go on to become big Hollywood stars, as well as characters from Andy Warhol’s New York scene, originally opened to sold out shows and rave reviews, but then was mysteriously lost to the world for over 40 years. Conceived and born between 1968 and early 1970, Brand X uses simplistic television programming of that era as a frame to expose and ridicule the politics and taboos of the day. It is a subversive, underground film but also one that has mass market appeal, influenced mainstream programs such as Saturday Night Live and is still relevant today because the widespread interest on artistic and political protest, the banking crisis and the occupy movement.
Watch the Brand X trailer on Art Forum magazinehttp://www.artforum.com/video/id=43363&mode=large
About the director
Wynn Chamberlain was a successful artist in New York in the 1960’s. He lived and worked at 222 Bowery and was friends with Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning, Larry Rivers, William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Frank O’Hara & Jonas Mekas. In 1967, he produced Charles Ludlam’s off-Broadway extravaganza CONQUEST OF THE UNIVERSE starring Taylor Mead, which was attended almost every night by Marcel Duchamp. In 1969 he wrote & directed the ground-breaking film BRAND X (released in May 1970) starring Taylor Mead, also attended constantly by Marcel Duchamp when it showed at the Elgin Theater in New York. In 1971 he went to India, lived there for twenty years with his wife and children Sam & Sara & wrote two novels GATES OF FIRE & THEN SPOKE THE THUNDER, published by Grove Press. In 1997 he moved to Marrakech, Morocco & wrote another novel, PARADISE, published by Kadmos Publishing.
For more about Wynn Chamberlain – painter, theatre producer, film maker and bestselling novelist see http://www.kadmospublishing.com/about.html
For a great overview of Elwyn Chamberlain’s life and work see this recent obituary form the independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/wynn-chamberlain-painter-film-director-and-novelist-who-was-at-the-heart-of-new-yorks-artistic-scene-of-the-1950s-and-60s-9911356.html
About the star
Taylor Mead (1924 – 2013) was an American poet, artist & actor who has appeared in more than twenty underground films by Andy Warhol, Jack Smith & Ron Rice. Known as a “beloved icon of the downtown New York art scene” Taylor continued to perform and read his poetry regularly at the Bowery Poetry Club up till his death in 2013.
Some quotes about Brand X from then and now
“Brand X is propaganda for the politics of joy and disorder. Brand X shines like gold.” – Jonas Mekas, The Village Voice 1970
"A funny, bawdy, peppery film, BRAND X took the pathetic, mediocre, clichéd culture of television and turned it on its head." - Independent on Sunday 2012
It could be that Brand X done in 1969 and shown in May 1970, will in time become a Brechtian truth-comedy.” – Lil Picard, Interview Magazine 1970
"Brand X is not only Healthy but Beautiful." - Lita Eliscue, Los Angeles Free Press 1970
"Devilishly, piercingly funny." - Howard Thompson, New York Times 1970
“Wynn Chamberlain’s BRAND X deserves to take its place with Charlie Chaplin’s MODERN TIMES and Fritz Lang’s METROPOLIS as one of the great subversive films of all times.” – Duncan Ward (British film Director) 2010
“Brand X subverts television culture by appealing to the same populist level as mass media, liberating through laughter.” – Steven Watson (Author of “Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties”, “The Birth of the Beat Generation”) ART FORUM 2011
For more about Brand X – please see our website www.brandxmovie.com(new window) or follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/brandxmovie and Facebook www.facebook.com/brandxmovie
Recent screenings
The Berlin International Film Festival Forum, Berlin February 12th and 16 2012
Sunday the 12th of February 22:00 at the CineStar 8 OV
Thursday the 16th of February 22:15 at the Delphi-Filmpalast OV
http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/2012/02_programm_2012/02_filmdatenblatt_2012_20123795.php
The Tate Modern London June 20th 2012
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/film/brand-x
The New Museum, New York on April 9, 2011
http://www.newmuseum.org/events/539
The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles on October 11, 2011
http://hammer.ucla.edu/programs/detail/program_id/1006
The Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge, Mass on October 22, 2011
http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2011octdec/mead.html
The Copenhagen DOX Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark on November 5, 2011
http://www.cphdox.dk/d/film.lasso?ser=1517&s=201107&e=1
The Norwegian Short Film festival, Grimstad June 16 and 17 2012
http://www.kortfilmfestivalen.no/en/articles/2012/intdokfilmer2012.html
The Port Eliot Festival, Cornwall July 2012
http://www.porteliotfestival.com/performers-2012/brand-x/
Press about Brand X
The New York Times did an article on the front cover of their arts section, on the day of the New Museum screening - seehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/arts/design/brand-x-a-69-film-by-wynn-chamberlain.html
Katie Katamura did a piece which appeared in Frieze magazinehttp://www.frieze.com/comment/article/brand-x/
Steven Watson wrote a piece that appeared in the Summer 2011 edition of Art Forum – not available online
Italian Vogue did a short piece about the movie in their February 2012 issuehttp://www.vogue.it/en/people-are-talking-about/music-theatre-cinema/2012/02/the-incredible-cult-film and a longer piece about Brand X and Wynn Chamberlain that came out in the October 2012 issue http://www.vogue.it/en/magazine/people-in-vogue/2012/10/wynn-and-sally-chamberlain
The Independent did a long piece that appeared in the their Sunday supplement on November 11th http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/cult-film-brand-x-has-been-granted-a-surprising-and-timely-second-life-8294819.html
Brand X was featured in a piece commemorating Taylor Mead in the October issue of Art Forum. Also the online version has a trailer for Brand X the first time any footage from Brand X has been on the Internethttp://www.brandxmovie.com/images/ArtForumArticleScan1.jpghttp://www.brandxmovie.com/images/ArtForumArticleScan2.jpghttp://www.artforum.com/video/id=43363&mode=large
Organizer
Sam Chamberlain
Organizer
