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. _______________________________________________ FrameWorks mailing list [email protected] https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
