I am shocked and saddened to read this; Howard seemed ready to "be
there" forever, unchanging, like a post holding up one of the great
tents of filmmaking. He had the perspicacity and daring to let me show
my "Yellow Movies" in 1973, when they were all but illegible (other than
by Jonas). And of course he brokered show after show of works and makers
who could never at the time otherwise have had any resonant springboard
of visibility. His understanding of the cultural moment and inertia this
represented is engraved in his founding of MFJ, of his unbending embrace
with Millennium, and even in the certain remove one found in him: and it
worked, Howard.
-------t0ny
On 03/04/2015 3:58 pm, Jay Hudson wrote:
Just this afternoon, I received the shocking and sad news that Howard
Guttenplan, the long term director of the Millennium Film Workshop
passed away February 23, 2015. He was laid to rest at Calverton
National Cemetery in Long Island.
Howard was a complicated person. Keeping an organization like
Millennium going for so long was a solitary and difficult task. The
funeral home director told me that he felt that Howard wanted to go
out alone, only accompanied by a close childhood friend. That is so
much the way that Howard was.
When I was running the Millennium and working on the gargantuan task
of sorting old materials, the complete history of Howard's tenure came
before my eyes. Virtually every experimental filmmaker of note came
through the doors. It is no accident that Stan Brakhage's New York
premieres were at Millennium, or that Jack Smith spent countless hours
watching film and editing with scotch tape. Countless filmmakers were
loyal to Howard.
Despite the struggles that I had with him reforming the Millennium, he
gave me a full set of the Journal as a token of appreciation. He gave
me my first solo show. Even when he at his most pissed off at me, he
always complimented my work.
There was something very unique and special because of what Howard did
and who he was. Millennium is still thriving. And from me
personally, Howard's New York Diary changed me as a filmmaker. I hope
that his film and photographic work will be preserved and archived.
Requiescat in pace.
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