THE IMMACULATE CONCEPT 1985

THE IMMACULATE CONCEPT 1985
a film by Alexander Laurence

This is an early version of the film I made in 1985. It was basically a collaboration between myself and Greg Yalch (of The Bell Jar) and Ann De Jarnette (of Mneumonic Devices). I wrote the script soon after watching some Surrealist films. Mark Held and Chris Mehess had both shot three films each of their own. I helped edit and shoot those films and we all used the same equipment. Mehess had taken a film class at Golden West College.
The original film I wanted to shoot was violent and obscene. The original film was lost when I left it over at a friend's house. A VHS copy I made with a soundtrack was given to Greg Yalch and he lost it. Chris Mehess lost his trilogy of films in the 1980s. Mark Held and Steve Zweig created a video called DOG FOOD TRILOGY 1985 which I have previously uploaded.
We used to show these films at Poetry Night at Safari Sams in 1985 and 1986. My film used a soundtrack of songs by Can, and also Brian Eno Ambient 4. Ann De Jarnette and I recorded a ten minute track that was meant to use for showings. But I never used it. 25 Years years had passed and there was only a faint memory of this film. In 2020, I finally discovered the original super 8mm film. It was mainly outtakes and footage cut from the other films that I had kept for some reason. It still retains the energy and the original vision of the original films, and may be possibly better. The Immaculate Concept was a cut up montage film. So it's like the vague remnants of my film mixed with similar films by Chris Mehess and Mark Held.
Chris Mehess died in June 2018