Film Screenings / Programs / Retrospectives
DAVID C. STONE
October 27 – November 3
David C. Stone, who died this past spring in London where he, his wife Barbara, and their four children had moved in 1971, was one of the most forceful and memorable figures in the progressive film world during the 1960s, 70s, and much of the 80s. David was a passionate lover of all genres of film and was equally devoted to the political activism of the New Left. His and Barbara’s sprawling, rent-controlled apartment on West 86th Street was a place where on any given night you might find Jonas Mekas, Michelangelo Antonioni, and the founding members of New York Newsreel arguing across huge potluck dinners. The films that David produced – Adolfas Mekas’s HALLELUJAH THE HILLS, Jonas and Adolfas’s THE BRIG, Jerome Hill’s FILM PORTRAIT, Robert Kramer’s groundbreaking ICE and his later MILESTONES (co-produced with Barbara) – suggest his commitment to visionary filmmaking of every kind. The Stones’s involvement with Cuba resulted in them being invited there in 1969 to direct the documentary COMPAÑERAS Y COMPAÑEROS. Resettled in London, David and Barbara founded the Gate Cinema and Cinegate Distribution which brought the first Fassbinder films to London and scored with such controversial movies as Derek Jarman’s SEBASTIANE and Oshima’s IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES. David’s energy, intelligence, and his cinematic eye were extraordinary. I’ve never forgotten the arguments I had with him in the 60s. They changed my life. –Amy Taubin
Several members of David Stone’s family, including his wife Barbara and son Jordan, will be here in person to discuss his work as a filmmaker, producer, and distributor.
Very special thanks to Barbara and Jordan Stone, and to Pola Chapelle, Tony Lytle, Howard Malin, Brian Belovarac & Sarah Finklea (Janus Films), Diane E. Kaplan (Yale University Library), Jose Lopez & Jonathan Howell (New Yorker), Jonathan Miller & Livia Bloom (Icarus Films), Roselly A. Torres Rojas (Third World Newsreel), M.M. Serra (Film-Makers’ Coop), and Andrew Youdell & George Watson (BFI).
Please note: preceding the retrospective of David C. Stone’s work, we will be presenting a series in honor of his friend and collaborator Adolfas Mekas, who also passed away earlier this year. See pages ?-? for more details.
