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This is a film about relationships and disability starring Frank Moore, who was disabled since birth with Cerebral Palsy. It is a humorous, yet realistic look at how to establish relationships by changing negative self image.
1981, 35 minutes.
You can also download the video here (mp4, 619.6 MB).
(“Fairytales Can Come True”) “stayed in my mind far more persistently than I first expected, at least based on what the film-makers with millions of dollars at their disposal call ‘production values’ and ‘professional polish’. What most of these high-priced pieces lack, of course, are substance and a genuinely different -- and deeply challenging --point of view. Something to shake up, shatter, shame, inspire, perspire, ponder and play with long after the cassette gets rewound. Your films did that for me: they are definitely not easy to absorb, follow, or even ‘enjoy’ in the ordinary pop-culture sense. But you don't forget watching them, ever.’
—Scott Lankford, Foothill College.
FAIRYTALES CAN COME TRUE is my first movie and most ‘normal’. Saying ‘first movie’ is misleading. I had been reading HOW TO [write scripts, direct, edit film, etc] books along with books on radical theater (I read all kinds of stuff) when I was a teenager, and wrote scripts that always had a role for me. But I was mainly a political radical back then (among other things). But in the early seventies I wormed (I am good at worming!) into anintensive in-depth film course in Santa Fe. It was mainly for anthropologists to learn how to make 16mm field films! I pop up in the strangest places! But after the five month, five days a week, six hour a day course, I didn’t have money to make film (and couldn't cut film, had to wait until video!). So I went into performance art.
In the late seventies in San Francisco I was doing THE OUTRAGEOUS BEAUTY REVUE for three years at The Mabuhay Gardens, a punk club. An independent producer approached me and offered to do a feature film based on the O.B.R. which I would come up with, star in, and direct (my directing was my primary condition of doing the film). So I wrote a treatment. We spent a year doing the Hollywood thing, working with screen writers, going to Los Angeles to cast it, flying the actress up to rehearse, etc. But when the producer came back from Florida with the backer's money, he informed me I couldn't direct! So I walked!
So I came up with a totally different story, when I was panhandling in San Francisco I found a guy with a super eight camera and did FAIRYTALES for about $300! Then I enrolled in the San Francisco Art Institute Master's program in large part to transfer the film on to video so I could edit it myself.
I thought I was making a rough draft to show backers to get money to make the real movie. But it was picked up by a Special Ed distributor because it was the first film about how to develop a full relationship....rather than a boring explicit how to sex film. It was sexy, funny, dealing with real issues that everybody deals with but many crips think are special crip issues…and it was made by a crip! Crips loved it. But the film wasn’t selling. It turned out that the people who buy those films weren’t crips…but hospital administrators and the like, and parents of crips, etc….people, with the best intentions, but also with vested interest in keeping crips not functional. They felt the movie gave people “false hopes” (an interesting concept)! It didn’t matter to them that most of the people in the cast were in such relationships. “Well, that is a fluke…not real life!”
Once there was a guy in a psychology class at which I was lecturing. After the class, he invited me to do something at the adult drama class he was doing at the C.P. Center [really a daycare warehouse]. He warned me that they rarely respond. So Linda and I went there to show FAIRYTALES. When we got there, most of them were sitting there in a fog, heads bent. But my being with Linda started a low-level buzz!Then during the 30-minute film, they went through an amazing transformation.They sat up and got excited. And after the film, they wanted to talk. THESE PEOPLE RARELY TALKED! But that day they were saying things like: “my sister does not want me to date. She doesn’t want me to get hurt. But I want to risk it!” The teacher was excited about the breakthrough. He actually thought he was hired to make breakthroughs! He wanted me to come back. But a few days later he called me and told me the director of the center had banned me from the center because the crips had been harder to control because they had a whiff of possible freedom…the whiff labeled “false hopes”!
I think this captures the true dynamics of such institutions…but also of our society as a whole.Breakthroughs to new possibilities, freedom, human connection, etc. are relatively easy (surprisingly) to induce by art, etc. But such breakthroughs are threatening to the control of the powers…and hence censorship of all forms! Btw, the director of the center was himself a crip…and had been in my community/theater group.
On the surface, it's your standard story of a clothes designer who finds a creature (guess who!) definitely not from HERE who totally turns her life upside down. But what it is really exploring is the warm playing erotic small sexual messy fun turned-on reality between two people ... an ice cream cone melting through-out life!
2001, 104 minutes.
You can also download the video here (mp4, 2.6 GB).
Filmed in the mid-80s, edited in 2001. The reason for the gap of over fifteen years between the shooting and the editing was that I was waiting for the technology for me to edit at home on my computer so that I could do special effects.
C R E D I T S
Directed by: Frank Moore
Produced by: Frank Moore
Edited by: Frank Moore
Written by: Frank Moore
Camera by: Linda Mac
Music by: Walter Funk, KalibDuarte, Michael LaBash, Frank Moore
CAST:
Frank Moore – Feisto
Tami Baron – Julie
Dean R. Briggs - Chip
Nina Shilling – Lily
Sandal Hebert – Sandal
Tom Harris – Tom, Chip’s boss
Helen Johnson – Helen, Julie’s neighbor
Jim Haedt – hood
Fred Bald – hood
Tony Cappello – hood
Titles by: Michael LaBash
More info: https://eroplay.com/feisto/index.html
A surreal erotic examination of an intimate relationship of need. Starring Frank Moore and Linda Sibio.
1989, 105 minutes
You can also download the video here (mp4, 1.5 GB).
"One of the most erotic things I've ever seen."—Richard Schechner
"Honorable Mention Award, Feature Length Video--East Bay Video Festival"
It ('Out of Isolation') was the best film, in many respects, that I have ever seen. It is a classic, underground masterpiece, and I was deeply impressed by (Frank Moore's) sense of movement, aesthetic, humanity and taboo."
—Jim Cohn, St. Lawrence University
("Out ofIsolation") "stayed in my mind far more persistently than I first expected, at least based on what the film-makers with millions of dollars at their disposal call 'production values' and 'professional polish'. What most of these high-priced pieces lack, of course, is substance and a genuinely different -- and deeply challenging -- point of view. Something to shake up, shatter, shame, inspire, perspire, ponder and play with long after the cassette gets rewound. Your films did that for me: they are definitely not easy to absorb, follow, or even 'enjoy' in the ordinary pop-culture sense. But you don't forget watching them, ever."
—Scott Lankford, Foothill College.
"And the central irony of the title 'Out of Isolation' as it is revealed is truly unforgettable: the nurse's everyday American loneliness is so much sadder, so much more impenetrable than that of the man she hopes to 'cure.' In this sense, the film makes a bold attempt to break through the cultural/intellectual isolation of the viewer; to stretch our imaginations in ways they have never been moved and stretched before due to our own cradle-to-grave institutionalization within the rigid mindset of everyday America. Which may explain why, even when the film seems painful to watch, it remains powerful: it stretches the imagination in new and different, sometimes painful directions."
—Scott Lankford, Foothill College
"A very powerful film."
—Jack Foley
“That’s simply lovely. It also spells out to me why you are admirable, why someone handled – of course, what else -- by bony fingers, could emerge without a shred of self-pity and with a true, an unsentimental love of humanity encompassing the most uncompromising rejection of those who make life miserable for the vast majority, whether “normal” or disabled.
Obviously someone who cannot enjoy physical pleasures available to the rest of us – running, swimming, skiing, using one’s muscles in competition with nature or other humans – will particularly explore the pleasures of sex, and will pose to the rest of us questions as to the “appropriateness” of our behaviors in that regard.”
—Bill Mandel
“Enjoyed watching “Out ofIsolation”. Although I don’t think enjoyed is the proper word. It was somewhat challenging in that it was sad to think of the way people can be treated.”
—AnnieSprinkle, performance artist
“(Out of Isolation) about the nurse and the institutionalized man stretches time in an almost painful way, a true horror film in the deepest sense, imaging that life, knowing that is basically the way it is for many people, and I appreciate you making that, and showing it on your site. Of course, the nurse’s lines were funny, as well, keeping it from pure pathos, and the beginning was so mysterious, really brilliantly drawing us in and pushing us away cyclically.”
—Tantra, artist
This video explores what happens when people of all types and ages are given a chance to return to being a kid again. A simple game of dress-up becomes a powerful metaphor for dropping taboos, releasing creative emotion, and for dramatic change. As a result, an innocent eroticism is found ... as well as getting intimate with 60 humans.
1983, 84 minutes
You can also download the video here (mp4, 2.3 GB).
I edited EROTIC PLAY with two remotes taped on a table before me using my head pointer. What we do when we have no money and when we are ahead of the technology! We just made videos and put them in our closet. And now the same videos are being watched by people allover the world on THE FRANK MOORE CHANNEL [even on their television]! Thank God we didn't care whether people would ever see the stuff. We just did them to do them! And now we have a shit load of content!
A surreal, visual poem of found images. This isa long collage, combination of found and performance material, "about" my philosophy of performance and life. Very trippy!
1984, 41 minutes
You can also download the video here (mp4, 1.6 GB).
I edited THE OUTRAGEOUS DREAM, etc with two remotes taped on a table before me using my head pointer.What we do when we have no money and when we are ahead of the technology! We just made videos and put them in our closet. And now the same videos are being watched by people all over the world on THE FRANK MOORE CHANNEL [even on their television]! Thank God we didn't care whether people would ever see the stuff.We just did them to do them! And now we have a shit load of content!
An erotic, surrealistic video dream that combines non-linear images and Frank's original musical score.
1984, 113 minutes
You can also download the video here (mp4, 3.8 GB).
In this I mined the samefootage as I mined for my EROTIC PLAY. But in this I created a long surrealabstract erotic collage by slowing down and speeding up the footage. I also didthe sound track by playing a couple of synthesizers with my head pointer. Ilaid down three tracks by playing to the visuals. Because of the primitivenature of the equipment, I couldn't hear the previous layers when I was playingthe next track. Oh, yes, I hadn't played /composed music before!
I edited THE NUDE CAVE withtwo remotes taped on a table before me using my head pointer. What we do whenwe have no money and when we are ahead of the technology! We just made videosand put them in our closet. And now the same videos are being watched by peopleall over the world on THE FRANK MOORE CHANNEL [even on their television]! Thank God we didn't care whether people would ever see the stuff. We just did them todo them! And now we have a shit load of content!
This raw video documents the tacky, musical, over-the-edge comedy revue that Frank created, directed and performed in. The show ran on a weekly basis for three and one half hears at the Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco from 1978-1981, in addition to a number of other Northern California and Nevada performances. Frank performed along with the thirty people who made up his theater group, "the theatre of human melting".
1998, 77 minutes
You can also download the video here (mp4, 1.2 GB).
"A stinkingsuccess….Outrageously obscene….Dynamic….Total madness"
—Ivan Sharpe, San Francisco Examiner
"The inundation offreaks, exhibitionists and the seriously deranged was so heartening"
—John Wasserman, San Francisco Chronicle
"Mondo Bizarro"
—Bay Guardian
"A great time with…wacky routines and erotic dress."
—The Spectator
National Critics said:
"Underneath…lies a certain perverse genius."
"Chuck Barris can’t even compete with The Theater of Human Melting."
"A rollicking theater featuring everything from comedy to musicalperformances and oddball entertainment."
"If yours is a demented state of mind, you’ll love the show."
"A stage show unlike any you have ever seen."
"We haven’t heard the last of the Fab Mab. Hot on the heels of the recent live reunion show for survivors of the ‘70’s-80’s punk-rock sanctuary comes a new documentary video,The Outrageous Beauty Revue that captures one of the legendary Mabuhay Gardens’ most perplexing regular events. The OBR shows were evidently bizarre enough to impress the likes of Karen Finley and the late John Wasserman, and filmmaker Frank Moore was there to capture it, another piece of eccentric San Francisco pop culture history: nudity, lunacy, and the Theater of Human Melting."
—The Express "Over There" 6/30/00
Visit the website: https://eroplay.com/obr/index.html
Attempts to capture the trance state of live, shamanistic performance combining footage of several of Frank's performance group, Chero Company's rituals into a reality-warping video.
1992, 27 minutes
You can also download the video here (mp4, 412.8 MB).
Frank Moore wrote:
Folks, if you ever wondered what our erotic all-night ritual performances are like.... but for some reason haven't come to one ... This 20+ minute collage of a few events will give you a hint of what you have been missing!
A live cabaret show that breaks through the limiting taboos, through messy nightmares, into the dreams of all possibilities.
1992, 32 minutes
You can also download the video here (mp4, 588.5 MB).
Recorded at Berkeley Square,Berkeley, California. Saturday, October 29, 1988.
The band PSYCHOTIC PINEAPPLE was doing a comeback thing in the early nineties and asked me to double bill with them at their Halloween show. Apparently when they were kids in the late seventies, they saw my OUTRAGEOUS BEAUTY REVUE, and thought if I could have a band, why couldn't they start their own band.
Anyway, this show built to a reality destroying climax within the last three acts! So be warned!
Creating human ice cream sundaes.
1984, 22 minutes
You can also download the video here (mp4, 333.9 MB).
“In the Mess”, another child’s dream of playing in food and making messes, became a surreal, a sexual dance of bodies slipping over each other in cold, frictionless space.
I edited IN THE MESS with two remotes taped on a table before me using my head pointer. What we do when we have no money and when we are ahead of the technology! We just made videos and put them in our closet. And now the same videos are being watched by people allover the world on THE FRANK MOORE CHANNEL [even on their television]! Thank God we didn't care whether people would ever see the stuff. We just did them to do them! And now we have a shit load of content!
From the original poster:
The A.S.U.C. Presents
Recycled Dreams
the second year of the
performance series
by Frank Moore
1984
Every other Tuesday, from 7to 9 p.m., Mr. Moore turns a classroom (125 Dwinelle) on the U.C. Berkeley campus into a bubble of reality in which even grown-ups can let go of their silly limits and play like kids. This magic is called forth by combining Mr. Moore’s live performance and video art with the works of other artists, dancers, musicians, actors and designers.
October 9th - In The Mess
Human hot fudge sundae and a space dance are high lights of this surreal childish dream.