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Dionysus in ’69

Brian De Palma
1970 United States 86 minutes English

Inspired by the Living Theatre, Dionysus in ‘69 was the Performance Group’s staging of Euripides’ The Bacchae: a ritual confrontation which culminated in a virtual orgy of audience participation. Brian De Palma filmed a performance staged by Richard Schechner using multiple 16mm cameras, both preserving the complex immediacies of the dramatic event and working those immediacies into the formal properties of his own creation (using a split screen, his cinematic trademark).

Production :
The Performance Group
Screenplay :
William Arrowsmith (d'après les bacchantes d'euripide)
With :
William Finley, William Shepherd, Joan MacIntosh, Remi Barclay, Samuel Blazer, Jason Bossean, Richard Dya, Patrick McDermott, Ciel Smith
Photography :
Brian De Palma, Robert Fiore, Bruce Rubin
Sound :
Bruce Rubin
Editing :
Brian De Palma
Print contact :
UCLA • email movies@cinema.ucla.edu

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