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 Jarnett (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 Jarnett and I recorded a ten minute track that was meant to use for showings. But I never used it. 25 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

      Film stills from THE IMMACULATE CONCEPT 1985