Fred Barzyk

Movies

Raymond Roussel: The Day of Glory
Self
A tortuous journey, in the company of the Spanish painter Salvador Dalí, around the figure of the enigmatic and visionary French poet Raymond Roussel (1877-1933).
The Electronic Canvas
Executive Producer
"The Electronic Canvas" focuses on Boston as a major center in global movement where artists in the 1960s were drawn to the growing power of television and media. Viewers learn how these artists responded to the initial challenge of not being able to become creatively involved with television. The show looks at how cultural institutions and organizations responded to this challenge and what happened when the doors were opened to artists’ desires to probe this unexplored territory. From these early efforts and experiments, the program follows the rapid growth, diversification, and sophistication of video and media art from single channel works to complex pieces involving computer programs, museum video installations, and in the Internet. The Electronic Canvas aired in April 2001 on WGBH Channel 2 in Boston and then on public television stations nationally.
The Star-Crossed Romance of Josephine Cosnowski (a Tale of Gothic Love)
Director
A comedy written and Narrated by Jean Shepherd. The story involves several different events such as Ralph's first serious romance with his new neighbor, Randy playing a turkey in the school Thanksgiving Day play, The Old Man setting his sights on a yellow buick and the High School basketball rival game of the season.
Countdown to Looking Glass
Executive Producer
A fictional confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the Persian Gulf. The narrative of the film details the events that lead up to the initial exchange of nuclear weapons from the perspective of an on-going news broadcast.
Countdown to Looking Glass
Director
A fictional confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the Persian Gulf. The narrative of the film details the events that lead up to the initial exchange of nuclear weapons from the perspective of an on-going news broadcast.
The Mystery of the Morro Castle
Writer
On a stormy night in September 1934, the Morro Castle was making its way through heavy seas en route from Havana to New York City. Shortly after 2:00 A.M., while most of the passengers slept, fire suddenly engulfed the luxury liner; within an hour, hundreds were dead or struggling desperately in the water. The fire's apparently inexplicable outbreak wasn't the only secret that night aboard the Morro Castle. Hours earlier, Captain Robert Wilmott had died in his cabin under suspicious circumstances. Had Wilmott been poisoned? Was the fire accidental, or intentionally set? This doc focuses on the incident and the speculation that the radio operator was the arson.
The Mystery of the Morro Castle
Director
On a stormy night in September 1934, the Morro Castle was making its way through heavy seas en route from Havana to New York City. Shortly after 2:00 A.M., while most of the passengers slept, fire suddenly engulfed the luxury liner; within an hour, hundreds were dead or struggling desperately in the water. The fire's apparently inexplicable outbreak wasn't the only secret that night aboard the Morro Castle. Hours earlier, Captain Robert Wilmott had died in his cabin under suspicious circumstances. Had Wilmott been poisoned? Was the fire accidental, or intentionally set? This doc focuses on the incident and the speculation that the radio operator was the arson.
The Lathe of Heaven
Producer
George Orr, a man whose dreams can change waking reality, tries to suppress this unpredictable gift with drugs. Dr. Haber, an assigned psychiatrist, discovers the gift to be real and hypnotically induces Mr. Orr to change reality for the benefit of mankind --- with bizarre and frightening results.
The Lathe of Heaven
Director
George Orr, a man whose dreams can change waking reality, tries to suppress this unpredictable gift with drugs. Dr. Haber, an assigned psychiatrist, discovers the gift to be real and hypnotically induces Mr. Orr to change reality for the benefit of mankind --- with bizarre and frightening results.
The Phantom of the Open Hearth
Director
This comedy/drama was written by Jean Shepherd, who appears at the beginning and the end and narrates it through voiceover. It tells the story of several events as they occur through the eyes of Ralph, a high-school-aged boy. Ralph is anticipating the upcoming prom and is working up the courage to invite Daphne Bigelow, a beautiful and popular student who does not seem aware of his existence.
Video: The New Wave
Producer
The New Wave is the seminal compendium of independent video work in the early 1970s. Written and narrated by Brian O'Doherty, this overview of the emerging video field includes examples of guerrilla television and "street" documentaries, early explorations with image-processing and synthesis, and performance video. This historical anthology includes excerpts of tapes by the following video pioneers: Stephen Beck and Warner Jepson, Peter Campus, Douglas Davis, Ed Emshwiller, Bill Etra, Frank Gillette, Don Hallock, Joan Jonas, Richard Serra, Paul Kos, Nam June Paik, Otto Piene, Willard Rosenquist, Dan Sandin, James Seawright, Steina Vasulka, TVTV, Stan Vanderbeek and William Wegman.
Video: The New Wave
Director
The New Wave is the seminal compendium of independent video work in the early 1970s. Written and narrated by Brian O'Doherty, this overview of the emerging video field includes examples of guerrilla television and "street" documentaries, early explorations with image-processing and synthesis, and performance video. This historical anthology includes excerpts of tapes by the following video pioneers: Stephen Beck and Warner Jepson, Peter Campus, Douglas Davis, Ed Emshwiller, Bill Etra, Frank Gillette, Don Hallock, Joan Jonas, Richard Serra, Paul Kos, Nam June Paik, Otto Piene, Willard Rosenquist, Dan Sandin, James Seawright, Steina Vasulka, TVTV, Stan Vanderbeek and William Wegman.
Between Time and Timbuktu
Writer
A poet-astronaut is shot through an area of space called the Chronosynclastic Infundibulum. He is duplicated into infinite copies of himself, each of whom finds himself in a bizarre situations on a different world. (These scenarios are all derived from the novels and short stories of 'Kurt Vonnegut Jr.', including Cat's Cradle, Welcome to the Monkey House, 'Harrison Bergeron', and 'Happy Birthday, Wanda June'
Between Time and Timbuktu
Director
A poet-astronaut is shot through an area of space called the Chronosynclastic Infundibulum. He is duplicated into infinite copies of himself, each of whom finds himself in a bizarre situations on a different world. (These scenarios are all derived from the novels and short stories of 'Kurt Vonnegut Jr.', including Cat's Cradle, Welcome to the Monkey House, 'Harrison Bergeron', and 'Happy Birthday, Wanda June'
The Medium Is the Medium
Executive Producer
Produced by WGBH-TV in Boston, the Medium Is the Medium is one of the earliest and most prescient examples of the collaboration between public television and the emerging field of video art in the U.S. WGBH commissioned artists — Allan Kaprow, Nam June Paik, Otto Piene, James Seawright, Thomas Tadlock and Aldo Tambellini — to create original works for broadcast television. Their works explored the parameters of the new medium, from image processing and interactivity to video dance and sculpture.