Jo Ann Kaplan

Jo Ann Kaplan

Birth : 1945-01-01, New York, New York, U.S.A.

Death : 2016-05-01

History

Jo Ann Kaplan was an American filmmaker, editor and artist.

Profile

Jo Ann Kaplan

Movies

My Stuffed Granny
Granny
Times are hard for little Sofia, as the Greek recession is taking its toll. With her Father out of work, they rely solely on Greedy Grumpy Granny's pension. Desperate times call for desperate measures; to what extremes will they go, when Granny is no more?
Watching Paint Dry
Director
Directed by Jo Ann Kaplan.
OneTwoThree
Director
Directed by Jo Ann Kaplan.
The Old Fools
Editor
A clear-eyed look at the inevitability of our demise, based on Philip Larkin’s poem of the same name.
An Anatomy of Melancholy
Animation
"An Anatomy of Melancholy" is a cinematic meditation on mortality which takes the form of a special anatomy book - one in the process of being made. As hand-drawn illustrations appear slowly and painfully on the pages of the book, showing us parts of a dissected human body, we witness both the act of creation and a testament to our own passing. Accompanying the simple but powerful images of the human body, we hear the words of Keats' Ode on Melancholy: "Ay, in the very temple of Delight. Veiled Melancholy has her sovran shrine..."
An Anatomy of Melancholy
Director
"An Anatomy of Melancholy" is a cinematic meditation on mortality which takes the form of a special anatomy book - one in the process of being made. As hand-drawn illustrations appear slowly and painfully on the pages of the book, showing us parts of a dissected human body, we witness both the act of creation and a testament to our own passing. Accompanying the simple but powerful images of the human body, we hear the words of Keats' Ode on Melancholy: "Ay, in the very temple of Delight. Veiled Melancholy has her sovran shrine..."
Pleasures of War
Editor
A retelling of the Biblical story of Judith and Holofernes, exploring female aggression and the links between war and sexual desire.
Story of I
Director
A woman sits alone in a bare white tiled bath, reading Georges Bataille’s ‘Story of the Eye.’ The bizarre events described in the text provoke a series of fantasies in which the room and its accoutrements become the stage and the woman the main player. As her dreams unfold in the liquid medium of the bath, she becomes the ‘eye’ of the story and her own body the object of its gaze. With a feminine hand, THE STORY OF I plucks Bataille’s central metaphor from its original context and re-invents its erotic vision from the inside out. The eye is the vagina, seen throught he blood, urine and tears, it looks at itself in a mirror.
Gotta Get Out
Editor
About a personal experience of claustrophobia and how to deal with it. When you can't have another cup of coffee or another brandy because you just gotta get on the plane. And there you are. And suddenly there's a flight attendant saying - Good morning.
The Holy Family Album
Director
The Holy Family Album, Angela Carter’s sacrilegious take on Christian iconography, was one of the points of inspiration for curator Marie Mulvey-Roberts for the Strange Worlds Exhibition. The programme conceives of the representation of Christ in Western art history as photos in God’s photo album, only God the Father is not in pictures because he is behind the camera, taking the photographs, “calling the shots”.
The Zip
Director
A man wakes one day to find a zip on the front of his body. Dare he see what's inside?
Invocation: Maya Deren
Writer
Maya Deren is a legend of avant-garde cinema. This authoritative biography of the charismatic filmmaker, poet and anthropologist features excerpts from her pioneering Meshes of the Afternoon and her unfinished documentary on Haiti, interviews with Stan Brakhage and Jonas Mekas, and recordings of her lectures. Narrated by actress Helen Mirren, this definitive documentary offers startling insights into one of the most intriguing, accomplished figures in cinema history.
Invocation: Maya Deren
Director
Maya Deren is a legend of avant-garde cinema. This authoritative biography of the charismatic filmmaker, poet and anthropologist features excerpts from her pioneering Meshes of the Afternoon and her unfinished documentary on Haiti, interviews with Stan Brakhage and Jonas Mekas, and recordings of her lectures. Narrated by actress Helen Mirren, this definitive documentary offers startling insights into one of the most intriguing, accomplished figures in cinema history.
A Zed & Two Noughts
Sound Effects Editor
Twin zoologists lose their wives in a car accident and become obsessed with decomposing animals.
Margaret Tait: Film Maker
Editor
A documentary about the life and works of Margaret Tait.
The Gold Diggers
Sound Editor
An avant-garde examination of the relationship between women and money in society. Mixing musical, silent melodrama, and philosophical treatise into a post-punk, heady brew.
Xtro
Assistant Editor
Tony's father Sam, abducted by aliens three years earlier, returns to earth and seeks out his wife and son, but Rachel has since been living with Joe and the reunion is awkward. Joe doesn't trust Sam, and Rachel can't quite decide what her feelings are for her two men. Sam is not the same as when he left, and he begins affecting Tony in frightening ways.
Xtro
Additional Dialogue
Tony's father Sam, abducted by aliens three years earlier, returns to earth and seeks out his wife and son, but Rachel has since been living with Joe and the reunion is awkward. Joe doesn't trust Sam, and Rachel can't quite decide what her feelings are for her two men. Sam is not the same as when he left, and he begins affecting Tony in frightening ways.
Dracula: A Family Romance
Director
Experimental drama.