Anger Management: Lucky Cinephile Nabs Fireworks Camera

The Bell & Howell 16m camera with which Kenneth Anger shot Fireworks (Photo: Fourteen Seconds)

Reeler hero/right-hand/reviews editor Michelle Orange sends along this unbelievable anecdote of a former classmate who hit cinephilic paydirt recently after a brush with Kenneth Anger:

On Friday afternoon me and the rest of the Film/Video department went for lunch with Dr. Anger, who was in town to do an evening retrospective screening at the Walker (Arts Center)... Eventually, he mentioned his landmark 1947 film Fireworks, unarguably one of the most revolutionary films of the 1940s and amongst the greatest experimental films ever made. He also mentioned that he happened to have the camera that he shot it with in his bag. The following exchange went something like this:

Me: You have the camera with you.

Anger: Yes.

Me: The camera you used to shoot Fireworks.

Anger: Yes.

Me: You still use the 16?

Anger: No, no, I only used it to film Fireworks…

Me: Ah, is it for…

Anger: I’m going to sell it.

Me: Who are you selling it to?

Anger: I don’t know yet.

Me: [sound of mind quietly exploding]

I wouldn't dare undercut the miracle of timing, luck and banking that follows, so click through for the rest of the story. And lest you missed it last week, find more Anger in the Voice as Nathan Lee reviews the first volume of the doctor's collected works on DVD.

Posted at January 30, 2007 3:36 PM