Anthony Stern was born in Cambridge, England in 1944 and first started making films while at Cambridge University, working as assistant to the avant-garde documentary film maker Peter Whitehead.
Anthony went on to develop the concept of the impressionistic documentary with the making of the BFI (British Film Institute)-financed San Francisco: Film, which was produced by Iris Sawyer, Jeremy Mitchell, Anthony and his friend Alan Callan. The film, cut to a version of "Interstellar Overdrive" as performed by Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd, went on to win awards for cinematography at the Oberhausen, Melbourne and Sydney Film Festivals.
On 14 April 1969 Anthony went to the Royal Festival Hall to film Pink Floyd as they rehearsed for their 'Man/Journey' show. The filming was interrupted by a RFH official who demanded he stop as no permission to film had been granted by RFH officials. Sections of this film have surfaced on YouTube.
Anthony also made the ground breaking experimental films 'Serendipity' and 'Ain't Misbehavin'", pioneering the use of 16 mm single frame cinematography in the late 1960s.
Further pursuing his fascination with colour and materials through which light passes, Anthony also completed an MA at the RCA (Royal College of Art) in Glass and is a world-renowned award winning glass maker. His work is included in the collections of HRH Queen Elizabeth II, Sir Elton John, the Saudi Royal Family (Red Sea Palace), the Victoria & Albert Museum, Barclays Bank, Morgan Stanley, the Nomura Group, Sir Derek Jacobi, and the Broadfield House Glass Museum, to name but a few. Anthony's work as a glass artist has also been the subject of the film 'Lit From Within: The Art of Anthony Stern'.
In 2004, Anthony completed work on his newest film 'The Noon Gun'. In 1971, Anthony travelled to Afghanistan with his 16 mm camera. The footage, rediscovered in 2003 after 30 years, forms the basis of this film-poem, which features a seminal soundtrack by the world fusion musicians Equa.
Produced and edited by the multi-media artist and director Sadia Sadia, working with the composer and sound designer Stephen W Tayler, the film had its world premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival, where it played to a packed theatre and was a resounding success. Since then it has premiered in the UK at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television (now the National Media Museum), as well as featuring in the 2005 'Films From The South' Festival in Oslo, Norway (which Anthony, with the support of the British Council, attended as a guest speaker). Since then the film has been broadcast on Tolo TV, the most popular liberal TV station in Kabul, Afghanistan, as well as on the Bhutan Broadcasting Service (the only service to broadcast within the Bhutanese border).
More information about the film and Anthony can be found at Chimera Arts (chimera-arts.com). A QuickTime trailer for 'The Noon Gun' can also be found on the site.
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