Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1961 • United States
Starring Warren Finnerty, Jerome Raphel, Garry Goodrow

Shirley Clarke made a splash—and ignited a landmark censorship case—with her controversial feature debut, an innovative adaptation of Jack Gelber’s off-Broadway play in which the line between...

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1967 • United States
Starring Jason Holliday

On the night of December 2, 1966, Shirley Clarke and a tiny crew convened in her apartment at the Hotel Chelsea to make a film. For twelve straight hours, they filmed the one-and-only Jason Holliday as he spun tales, sang,...

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1985 • United States
Starring Ornette Coleman

This freewheeling documentary captures Ornette Coleman’s evolution over three decades. Documentary footage, dramatic scenes, and some of the first music-video-style segments ever made chronicle his boyhood in segregated T...

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1953 • United States

Director Shirley Clarke’s first film displays the dancing expertise of choreographer Daniel Nagrin as he performs in a studio and in the sun. Drawing upon her own dance training, Clarke fluidly follows Nagrin as he moves across the interior and e...

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1954 • United States

An early work by director Shirley Clarke, this short film displays the dynamic movement of people (including Wendy Clarke, the director’s daughter) as they enter and exit parks in Paris. Observing how crowds flow through an urban setting, the fil...

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1955 • United States
Starring Anna Sokolow

Shirley Clarke’s fascination with dance is on full display in this short film featuring a moving performance by Anna Sokolow. A reinterpretation of a bullfight, Sokolow’s choreographed piece illustrates the dramatic exchange...

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1956 • United States

The recurring theme of dance once again works its way into a Shirley Clarke project, as this short film features a performance that takes place across a multitude of environments. As a primary couple intimately interacts, Clarke tests herself as ...

Directed by Shirley Clarke and D. A. Pennebaker • 1957 • United States

Shown at the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair, these loops by directors Shirley Clarke and D. A. Pennebaker were intended to display American life to the world.

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1958 • United States

An exercise in visual abstraction, these montages by director Shirley Clarke examine the bridges of New York City. This version features an electronic score by Louis and Bebe Barron.

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1958 • United States

An exercise in visual abstraction, these montages by director Shirley Clarke examine the bridges of New York City. This version features a jazz score by Teo Macero.

Directed by Shirley Clarke and Robert Hughes • 1960 • United States

Intended as a call to action, this short film funded by UNICEF juxtaposes the fears experienced by children around the world. Beginning with a collection of American kids preparing for Halloween, director Shirley Clarke contrast...

Directed by Shirley Clarke and Willard Van Dyke • 1960 • United States

Nominated for an Academy Award, this live-action short film by director Shirley Clarke playfully chronicles the construction of the Tishman Building at 666 Fifth Avenue in New York City. Clarke referred to this work as a musi...

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1963 • United States
Starring Robert Frost

Shirley Clarke’s Academy Award–winning documentary profiles the renowned poet Robert Frost as he reflects on his life, career, and philosophy of the world. Interspersing intimate moments with Frost at his Vermont home with f...

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1967 • United States

This protest film was originally screened at the Week of Angry Arts Against the War in Vietnam, which director Shirley Clarke helped organize at New York University in 1967.

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1977 • United States

This short film was commissioned by the Los Angeles Museum of Art to complement an exhibit on Persian art. Focused on the beauty within textiles, 24 FRAMES PER SECOND illustrates director Shirley Clarke’s eye for detail.

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1978 • United States

Part of Shirley Clarke’s cycle FOUR JOURNEYS INTO MYSTIC TIME, this short film observes a dance that represents a spiritual or religious initiation.

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1978 • United States

Part of the larger filmic cycle FOUR JOURNEYS INTO MYSTIC TIME, this work makes use of a dancer’s body as a canvas on which to paint projected images.

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1978 • United States

This abstract work featuring three dancers interacting with large screens as well as each other. Costuming and color play an integral role in this piece, part of Shirley Clarke’s FOUR JOURNEYS INTO MYSTIC TIME.

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1978 • United States

A pair of performers wearing bodysuits dance and balance together in this short film by director Shirley Clarke, part of her FOUR JOURNEYS INTO MYSTIC TIME project.

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1980 • United States

Avant-garde dancer Blondell Cummings’s intensely expressive choreography and director Shirley Clarke’s fractured editing convey a woman’s inner turmoil.

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1981 • United States
Starring Joseph Chaikin

Director Shirley Clarke worked with writer Sam Shepard and actor Joseph Chaikin on this video piece that meditates on love and its effect on people.

Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1982 • United States
Starring Joseph Chaikin

In this performance piece written by Sam Shepard, enacted by Joseph Chaikin, and directed by Shirley Clarke, a dying man reflects on his life while delivering his own last rites.