David Brooks

The film springs from the night through the dawn to the daystar, following the adventures of the mind on the way.

“Fishing/boys and father/pure/simple/straight forward” – Carolyn Brooks

David and Carolyn Brooks and friends. Walking in woods, at picnic, in VW bus, etc. "Was going to tape Carolyn and my first conversation in about 5 months of no contact. Show true love (whatever that is). Couldn't do it. Chickened out. Didn't want to get something between us. (Carolyn, what's come between us?). Film sequence, love: single frame printing, break colors into basic three (in the order of red, green, blue) and A/B roll to create 'well-known symetry' and to lighten frame (AB brightens, bi-pack darkens) / Binarius is the devil / ah, love / one flesh / let no man put asunder." - David Brooks

Locales: Nantucket, Kazakhstan, Grant’s Nepal, Colorado, Mt. Kearsange, Iowa, 7th Street. Door golden night room trees fire drip rain blue horse river snow birds green mountain forest dark room mist car trees window ducks are flying. Overtones: Raga Palas Kafi, Grant’s, Slug’s, Bo Diddley, Jimmy Reed, Raga Rageshri, the wind, Chuck Berry, Marvin Gaye, the Beatles, Piatniksky Chorus.

David and Carolyn Brooks with friends. At Martha's Vineyard, on NYC bus, shooting at the beach, etc. "Was going to tape Carolyn and my first conversation in about 5 months of no contact. Show true love (whatever that is). Couldn't do it. Chickened out. Didn't want to get something between us. (Carolyn, what's come between us?). Film sequence, love: single frame printing, break colors into basic three (in the order of red, green, blue) and A/B roll to create 'well-known symetry' and to lighten frame (AB brightens, bi-pack darkens) / Binarius is the devil / ah, love / one flesh / let no man put asunder." - David Brooks

David Brooks’s black & white portrait of fabled underground filmmaker and collagist Jerry Jofen.

David and Carolyn Brooks and friends. At Tibetan seminar, prison, Chandler Moore's house, etc. "Was going to tape Carolyn and my first conversation in about 5 months of no contact. Show true love (whatever that is). Couldn't do it. Chickened out. Didn't want to get something between us. (Carolyn, what's come between us?). Film sequence, love: single frame printing, break colors into basic three (in the order of red, green, blue) and A/B roll to create 'well-known symetry' and to lighten frame (AB brightens, bi-pack darkens) / Binarius is the devil / ah, love / one flesh / let no man put asunder." - David Brooks

David and Carolyn Brooks and friends. At Martha’s Vineyard, on NYC bus, shooting at the beach, etc (Part One). Walking in woods, at picnic, in VW bus, etc (Part Two). At Tibetan seminar, prison, Chandler Moore’s house, etc (Part Three). “Was going to tape Carolyn and my first conversation in about 5 months of no contact. Show true love (whatever that is). Couldn’t do it. Chickened out. Didn’t want to get something between us. (Carolyn, what’s come between us?). Film sequence, love: single frame printing, break colors into basic three (in the order of red, green, blue) and A/B roll to create ‘well-known symetry’ and to lighten frame (AB brightens, bi-pack darkens) / Binarius is the devil / ah, love / one flesh / let no man put asunder.” - David Brooks

"Brooks edited this footage but never printed it in his lifetime. While we cannot know for sure the true origins of, or intentions for, this material, it is a stunning document of the legendary jazz musician." - Anthology Film Archives

Presented as loosely autobiographical, Hold Me While I’m Naked centres on the tribulations of an independent filmmaker, frustrated at every turn as he tries to make a film that pretends to artistic merit.

"In Spring, 1963 Show Magazine called me and asked that I make a film on arts in New York. I told them, why did they want me to make it - didn't they know I was a bit unusual? ... 'We want something unusual,' they said. So I went out and made a newsreel on arts. Show people looked at the rough cut of the film and became very angry. 'But there is nothing about Show Magazine and DuPont fabrics in the movie,' they said. 'What has that to do with the arts in New York!' I said. The battle was short. The film was destroyed. Really, I have no idea what they did with it. This workprint of the first FILM MAGAZINE OF THE ARTS is the only print in existence, as far as I know." -- J.M.

Reels from 1966 - 1969 compiled from loose footage and fragments shortly after Brooks's death by Jonas Mekas and Carolyn Brooks.

Reels from 1963 - 1966 compiled from loose footage and fragments shortly after Brooks's death by Jonas Mekas and Carolyn Brooks.

A mutual venture of a most inordinate sort. Vaguely a mistake, but fun at that.

A non-narrative patchwork of images, light, music, conversation, news headlines, the passing of generations, and, ultimately, a journey from New York City to Martha's Vineyard in an attempt to discover a man named Chandler Moore.

Stoned people, music, movement, fields.