Hanuman Presents

"Hanuman Presents!" is a remarkable art video documenting the historic reading of Hanuman-published authors on May 18, 1989 at St. Mark's Church in New York City. Captured on tape are performances by legendary Beat figures Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, Herbert Huncke, and John Wieners, who give the reading an air of studied provocation; Warhol Factory-era superstars Taylor Mead and Rene Ricard; the beloved Cookie Mueller, famous John Waters' actress and chronicler of the 80s art boom for the original Details; Richard Hell, leading instigator of the punk movement; renowned fetishist performance artist Bob Flanagan and his L.A. post-punk poet colleagues Amy Gerstler and David Trinidad; and the East Coast crew of Elaine Equi, Vincent Katz, and Eileen Myles. Several of these acclaimed literary and cultural innovators have since passed away, adding an indelible historical framework to this once-in-a-lifetime taped event. Through beautifully placed jump-cut edits, the producers of "Hanuman Presents!" splice these historic performative readings with the lyrical and minimalist imagery of famous underground filmmaker Rudy Burckhardt, himself a producer of over ninety 16mm films in his career, dating back to the 1930s. Swiss born, Burckhardt moved to the U.S., like his contemporary Robert Frank, to become a photographer. Burckhardt frequently collaborated with poets, musicians, artists, and dancers such as John Ashbery, Aaron Copland, Joseph Cornell, Edwin Denby, and Paul Taylor; he died in 1999