Tonight, I went to see a screening of "Pandora's Box," the G.W. Pabst silent film classic starring Louise Brooks. I had never seen the film before, and it made a big impression on me. But the main reason I went was because experimental film legend Bruce Conner was introducing the film. He's in his seventies now (he was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1933), and doesn't seem to be in the best of health.

When I was in college, I spent two full days at Anthology Film Archives in New York watching their entire library of canonical experimental films. I'm not sure how I managed to get permission to do this, but they were showing the entire library to a film scholar who was writing a book on the subject, and they let me sit in on the screenings as well. It was just me and this guy in a darkened room for two days, watching one experimental classic after another.

It was a strange dreamlike experience, but two films stood out for me. One was "Rose Hobart," by Joseph Cornell. The other was "Report," by Bruce Conner. Both of these films sent me in a whole new direction in my filmmaking. Along with the work of Godard and, later, Ed Pincus, these were probably my biggest cinematic influences, at least at that time.

Fifteen years later, I met Bruce Conner at an art gallery opening of his work. He seemed in poor health even then. I told him how much his films had meant to me, and he nodded politely and tried his best to be gracious. It was hardly a meeting of minds, and I felt vaguely foolish.

As it turns out, Louise Brooks was also from Wichita, Kansas, and their lives (sort of) intersected briefly. Tonight, he told the story of their almost meeting.