One of two short films Bruce Conner made for Brian Eno and David Byrne's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts—itself a defining work of assemblage—MEA CULPA (1981) comes near the end of Conner's active filmmaking career. Compared to his earlier works, the film is slower and more considered, perhaps even tranquil, as Conner transforms elements of industrial and scientific footage into graphic abstractions before setting them adrift in space, gliding to the song's sinister, percolating beat. In their purity of form, and in Conner's contentedness to let the objects be, the film recalls the rhythmic compositions of Hans Richter from a generation earlier. 

 

Director: Chris Green. 

Producer: Matthew Shattuck. 

Executive Producer: Chris Green, Noah Khoshbin, Emma Reeves, John Toba. 

Editor: Curtis Tamm. 

Director of Photography: Curtis Tamm, Peter Kirby, Kaitlin Dixon, Kevin Southworth. 

Assistant Camera: Eugenia Barbuc, Morgan Kessler. 

Music Clearances: Colby Trane. 

 

Interviews: Toni Basil, Bruce Jenkins.

 

Film: MEA CULPA by Bruce Conner (1981, 16mm, b&w/sound, 5 minutes) Courtesy and (c) Conner Family Trust.

 

Photography: Courtesy and (c) Hugh Brown.

 

Music: "Mea Culpa" Written by David Byrne and Brian Eno, WB Music Corp. (ASCAP) o/b/o Itself and Index Music, Inc. (ASCAP) Universal Music - MGB Songs on behalf of E.G. Music Ltd. (ASCAP) Performed by Brian Eno and David Byrne, Courtesy of Nonesuch Records, by arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing. 

 

Special Thanks: Conner Family Trust, MOCAtv, Emma Reeves, John Toba, Jean Conner, Michelle Silva, Toni Basil, Gerald Casale, David James, Bruce Jenkins, Michael Kohn, Todd Wiener, Terry Riley, Dean Stockwell, Robert Matheu, Hugh Brown, Mills Moran, Karl Puchlik, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, UCLA Film & Television Archive, USC School of Cinematic Arts, The Dennis Hopper Art Trust, The Getty Research Institute, Michael Kohn Gallery, Artists Rights Society, OHWOW Gallery. 

 

Dedicated to Bruce Conner, November 18, 1933 - July 7, 2008. 

 

Produced by Dissident Industries Inc. 

www.dissidentusa.com