
Kenneth Anger (born Kenneth Wilbur Anglemeyer; February 3, 1927) is an American underground experimental filmmaker, actor and author. Working exclusively in short films, he has produced almost forty works since 1937, nine of which in particular have been grouped together as the "Magick Lantern Cycle," and form the basis of Anger's reputation as one of the most influential independent filmmakers in cinema history. His films variously merge surrealism with homoeroticism and the occult, and have been described as containing "elements of erotica, documentary, psychodrama, and spectacle." Anger himself has been described as "one of America's first openly gay filmmakers, and certainly the first whose work addressed homosexuality in an undisguised, self-implicating manner," and his "role in rendering gay culture visible within American cinema, commercial or otherwise, is impossible to overestimate." Some of his particularly homoerotic works, such as Fireworks (1947) and Scorpio Rising (1964), were produced prior to the legalisation of homosexuality in the United States. He has also focused upon occult themes in many of his films, being fascinated by the notorious English occultist Aleister Crowley, and is a follower of Crowley's religion, Thelema. This influence is evident from films like Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954), Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969) and Lucifer Rising (1972). Anger has described filmmakers such as Auguste and Louis Lumière and Georges Méliès as influences, and has been cited as an important influence on later film directors like Martin Scorsese,...more
Movie | Mansfield 66/67 | Self | 2017-01-29 |
Movie | The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin | 2015-09-08 | |
Movie | 42 One Dream Rush | Lucifer | 2010-09-15 |
Movie | Night of Pan | Lucifer | 2009-03-09 |
Movie | FLicKeR | Self | 2009-07-14 |
Movie | Hedy Lamarr: Secrets of a Hollywood Star | 2006-01-21 | |
Movie | Notes on Marie Menken | Self | 2006-04-20 |
Movie | Anger Me | Himself | 2006-10-23 |
Movie | Birth of a Nation | Self | 1997-08-06 |
Movie | The Beach Boys and The Satan | Self | 1997-10-17 |
Movie | Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker | Self | 1995-09-03 |
Movie | Jonas in the Desert | Self | 1994-01-01 |
Movie | Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon | Kenneth Anger | 1991-01-01 |
Movie | He Stands in a Desert Counting the Seconds of His Life | Self (archive footage) | 1986-02-22 |
Movie | Lucifer Rising | The Magus (uncredited) | 1974-04-10 |
Movie | Kenneth Anger: Film as Magical Ritual | Himself | 1970-04-29 |
Movie | Langlois | Self | 1970-09-19 |
Movie | Invocation of My Demon Brother | The Magick (uncredited) | 1969-10-10 |
Movie | Arabesque for Kenneth Anger | 1961-12-29 | |
Movie | The Dead | 1960-12-31 | |
Movie | The Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome | Hecate | 1954-03-29 |
Movie | Fireworks | Dreamer (uncredited) | 1947-12-31 |
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