The 9th short film as part of the Magica series dealing with pre-cinema. A ‘panorama’ was a large painting on a cylindrical canvas. It provided a realistic and compelling view of a city, landscape or historical event, giving viewers the feeling that they were part of it. Viewers were positioned in the centre of a circular building or tent, with the canvas stretched around them. This provided a 360-degree view that gave a sense of depth and immersion.
A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
While ill and experiencing some difficulty in completing the editing of this film, Brakhage was reading the Marguerite Young novel, "Miss MacIntosh, My Darling.
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.
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.
