The magic box

Shirley Clarke was brilliant, scandalous, bold, and incredibly talented. Had she been a man, film historians would have long ago placed her in the pantheon of great auteurs, alongside Orson Welles and John Cassavetes. Today, her triumph can be recognized in her ability to be herself--one of the great originals of her time. A true artist, Clarke combined her innate impishness and sense of adventure with a dancer's aesthetic and her tremendous drive to battle injustice to make films that dazzle, challenge, and beguile the audience. The culmination of an eight-year-long effort to explore the films and life of American filmmaker Shirley Clarke, this collection includes the Academy Award-winning documentary "Robert Frost : a lover's quarrel with the world," experimental shorts, "lost" films, unfinished projects, outtakes, and a lifetime of home movies.