| Sleep in a Nest |
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In 1992, on a trip to Crete, we found a group of books by the side of a deserted road; abandoned now, they had belonged to an American writer who lived in Greece. Among the many literary volumes in these stacks, was a book of Pop Art poems by Charles Henri Ford, a friend of the writer. This book led us to a meeting with Charles in New York and he, in turn, told us a story that would give us a view onto a special part of the century that has just passed.
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James Dowell
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John Kolomvakis |
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James Dowell Chania at Sunset, 1992. Oil on canvas, 14 in x 18 in.
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James Dowell Chania, View from the Wall, 1993. Oil on canvas, 14 in. x 28 in. |
James Dowell Souda Bay, 1995. Oil on canvas, 30 in x 46 in. |
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paintings ©James Dowell
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| The town of Chania, Crete has had a history going back to Minoan times. The Romans were there and later, in the 16th century, the Venetians. It was an Ottoman Turkish outpost and an independent principality in the late 19th century. In the 1960's a small group of British and American artists and writers migrated there, including Charles Henri Ford. It was there he made his experimental film reviving the Greek myth, Johnny Minotaur. It is the home town of Sleep in a Nest of Flames co-director John Kolomvakis and has been the subject of numerous paintings by James Dowell, the other director of the film |
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still from Johnny Minotaur, Chania, Crete 1971 photo Charles Henri Ford |
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James Dowell (left) John Kolomvakis (right), co-directors/co-producers Sleep in a Nest of Flames |
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photo:
Dowell/Kolomvakis
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| JAMES DOWELL (co-director/co-producer) was born in Texas and has had a career as an artist in New York and Texas since finishing graduate school at the University of Iowa. He has made numerous experimental short films both in New York and Texas. Symbiosis Films was founded by him and John Kolomvakis in 1993 with the purpose of making documentary films about artists in different media.Sleep in a Nest of Flames is a view of the 20th-century art and literary worlds as seen through the eyes of the American Surrealist poet Charles Henri Ford and the recently completed Ned Rorem: Word and Music, is a portrait of the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and diarist. (University of Iowa, MA, MFA; Southern Methodist University, BA) |
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JOHN KOLOMVAKIS (co-director/co-producer) came to New York from his home in Chania, Crete in 1966. After graduating from Pratt Institute with a Master's degree in Architecture, he has pursued a career in architecture and systems design. His ongoing interest in film has led to a body of short films that challenge traditional narrative with dream-like imagery. He has studied filmmaking at NYU and The New School. Symbiosis Films comes out of his many collaborations with James Dowell. Sleep in a Nest of Flames and Ned Rorem: Word and Music examine not only the lives of living artists artists through primary source material, but they also explore the cross-fertilization between various arts and generations. (Pratt Institute, Master of Architecture; City College of New York, BS, Bachelor of Architecture; New York University, Advanced Film Production Workshop) |
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