Footage of the gradual installation and deinstallation of a private exhibition of calligraphic self-portraits hung on the gate of a cramped backyard is intercut with a short shot cut from a family film showing a close-up of a child's face in an open landscape. In contrast, the face of the adult artist is not visible; even his body gradually disappears under the layers of sketches.
A young half-breed boy, the son of a hockey player and an Indian woman, is adopted by a Jewish shopkeeper, but finds himself torn between the different cultures with which he comes into contact.
Through performatic acts and some exposition, a group of poets of that 1980's generation make great use of words, poems and rebellious acts criticizing the then current generation and its lack of admiration for the poetic works that were being created.
Berlin in the early 1930s. Bello is an unemployed young man who loves the underage Frieda. In order to earn a living for both of them, Frieda goes on the streets.
While ill and experiencing some difficulty in completing the editing of this film, Brakhage was reading the Marguerite Young novel, "Miss MacIntosh, My Darling.
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Have you watched Self-Portrait yet? What did you think about it?
