Shirley Clarke, one of the crucial modern American filmmakers, would have celebrated her centenary on Wednesday. (She died in 1997.) She made three feature films in the nineteen-sixties—“The Connection” (1961), “The Cool World” (1964), and “Portrait of Jason” (1967)—each of which effaces the boundaries between documentary and fiction, art and life. She’s one of the prime inventors of creative cinematic nonfiction. Her centenary will be celebrated both on and offline: Film Forum is offering a monthlong series of Clarke’s films and the Criterion Channel presents a nearly complete program of her work, along with a noteworthy documentary, “Rome Is Burning,” from 1970, in which Clarke gives voice to her artistic philosophy.
Source: Shirley Clarke Saw the Future of Cinema | The New Yorker