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Star Garden is a 1974 color, silent film by Stan Brakhage, made in 16mm. Its central metaphor turns the projector into a sun: the imagined light moves through the screening space and through images of stars and the moon. Catalogs list its running time as roughly 20 to 22 minutes.
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![By Brakhage: An Anthology, Vol. 1 (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41-Qe1RCShL._SL160_.jpg)
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By Brakhage: An Anthology, Vol. 1 (The Criterion Collection) [DVD] | $34.00 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Film at Wit's End: Eight Avant-Garde Filmmakers | $16.00 | Buy on Amazon |
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By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume Two (The Criterion Collection) | $33.22 | Buy on Amazon |
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Avant-Garde 2: Experimental Cinema 1928-1954 by Stan Brakhage | $229.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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Vakvagany | $7.50 | Buy on Amazon |
What is Star Garden about?
Brakhage frames the projector itself as part of the film’s imagery. The Film-Makers’ Cooperative catalog describes its opening metaphor: “The STAR as it is singular, is the sun; and it is metaphored, at the beginning of this film, by the projector anyone uses to show forth.” The projector’s beam becomes an imagined sun moving through the darkened room. The film then reaches a “high noon” before its imagery shifts through aftertones and imagined stars toward a one-to-one relationship with the moon.
Light Cone similarly describes the viewer’s “thought-light” moving through the film’s stars toward the moon. Its catalog adds: “This sun of the mind’s eye of every viewer does only occasionally correspond with the off-screen pictured sun of the film.” The University of Colorado Brakhage Symposium program describes the imagined light source as moving behind the screen at narrative high noon, then returning through star imagery toward the moon. These descriptions offer a way into the film’s structure without reducing it to a conventional plot.
#1 Best Overall
How long is the film, and is it silent?
Yes. Catalogs identify Star Garden as a color, silent 16mm film. Its listed duration varies slightly: The Film-Makers’ Cooperative gives 20.75 minutes, Light Cone lists a 20-minute, one-screen version, and the University of Colorado program and Canyon Cinema catalog round it to 22 minutes. These entries are catalog variations, not evidence of separate works.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where can you watch or screen Star Garden?
The documented access route is specialist rental for exhibition on a 16mm print. Rental and distribution information is listed by The Film-Makers’ Cooperative, Light Cone, and Canyon Cinema. Check directly with the relevant distributor for current availability, rental terms, geography, and screening rights.
Rank #2
- Used Book in Good Condition
The available catalog information does not establish a consumer streaming edition. It also does not establish a DVD, Blu-ray, or Amazon retail release; the documented path is a specialist 16mm rental rather than a retail product.
Quick Recap
Best Value
Film details
- Director: Stan Brakhage
- Year: 1974
- Format: 16mm, color, silent
- Running time: 20 to 22 minutes across catalog listings; The Film-Makers’ Cooperative specifies 20.75 minutes
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
