Kenneth Anger

Kenneth Anger (1927 to 2023) was an American underground and experimental filmmaker who worked almost entirely in short films, producing close to forty works from 1937 onward. Born in Santa Monica, California, he became known for Fireworks, Scorpio Rising, Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome and Lucifer Rising, films that combine surrealism, homoeroticism and occult imagery drawn from his interest in Aleister Crowley and Thelema. Nine of them are grouped as the Magick Lantern Cycle. He also wrote the sensational Hollywood gossip book Hollywood Babylon. His use of music, color and symbolic imagery influenced later directors such as Martin Scorsese and David Lynch and the visual language of music video.