An Introduction To The American Underground Film
As the first book about underground film, Renan's book began a serious look at such filmmakers as George and Mike Kuchar, Jack Smith, Marie Menken and many others. It has also been used as a text book in many, many college film classes. Mike Everleth, film director and writer on underground film wrote "One of the best film books. Use it for reference ALL the time. Thorough, well-written and extremely informative." When Marie Menken died in 1970 the New York Times obituary wrote "Sheldon Renan in “An Introduction to the American Under ground Film,” said of her films: “But whether they are a moving picture postcard (‘Bagatelle for Willard Maas’) or a stylized biography (‘Andy Warhol’), whether they use camera motion (‘Visual Variations on Noguchi’) or object motion (‘Go Go Go’), they have in common lightness and a love for jotting visual rhythms.”The Blue Mouse and The Movie Experience
Prior to publishing An Introduction to the American Underground Film Renan published his essay The Blue Mouse and the Movie Experience in a special “Expanded Arts Issue” of Film Culture. It was a rumination on the Blue Mouse Theatre in Portland, Oregon. In November 1966, Renan had a contract with E.P. Dutton to write a book about underground film. He returned to Portland to work on the book. He watched films at the Blue Mouse, a once first run theatre that had descended to grindhouse fare, where he had seen Hollywood product as a child, to witness how film itself had changed, and also how film had changed him. In 2014 Andrew V. Uroskie wrote the book "Between the Black Box and the White Cube: Expanded Cinema and Postwar Art." Uroskie identified "The Blue Mouse and The Movie Experience" as an important text, one of a series of seminal articles written in the 60s that captured the transformation of art and film from traditional, rigid, academic works to more open and liminal works that included happenings, expanded cinema and "new media". HIs interview of the Kuchar Brothers was published in Film Culture Magazine in 1968.A Symposium on Bruce Conner
On Sep 23, 2016, at MOMA, an all day evented celebrated the life ofMotion pictures
Renan worked as an advertising copywriter 1964–1968 in New York, San Francisco, and Japan. His first screenplay (with Donald Richie) was for "Basic Film Terms" (1970). In 1975 he wrote the PBS series "The Japanese Film" (co-written with U.S. Ambassador to Japan Edwin Reischauer). In 1979 he directed the documentary short "The Electronic Rainbow: An Introduction to Television." In 1981 he directed the feature documentary "The Killing of America." In 1984 he wrote and directed the feature film Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse. In 1987 he directed the feature documentary "AIDS: What Everyone Needs to Know." It was produced by the Aids Project LA, Churchill Films and the UCLA Center for Interdisciplinary Research onPacific Film Archive
Renan was the founding director of the Pacific Film Archive, University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley, 1967–1974. He had first approached both the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Oakland Art Museum, before Peter Selz, Berkeley Art Museum's first director, said yes to Renan's proposal of a film archive. He had envisioned an institution devoted to the exhibition, preservation, and study of cinema. Renan led the Pacific Film Archive through 1974.National Endowment for the Arts media funding panel
Renan was one of nine on the 1970 NEA funding panel. The others wereTreasure: In Search of the Golden Horse
Renan's book Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse was published in 1984. It announced a treasure hunt for an object hidden somewhere in the United States, that when found would result in a half million dollar prize. In May 1984 the New York Times had reported "In September, Warner Books will publish ''Treasure,'' a book containing a complete set of clues to help readers find a sculpted gold horse. Warner will publish ''Treasure'' in conjunction with IntraVision, a New York packager and producer. Written by Sheldon Renan and a writer identified as Dr. Crypton, whose monthly column appears in Science Digest, the $12.95 book will contain all the necessary clues. Those clues will also be available in the form of a home video cassette and disk that follow the story line of the book, a cable television show, a record album and a combination of board, computer and video games. In 1986 the New York Times published a follow up article about students at Lakeland Schools in Westchester who were sure they were hot on the trail of the prize and were already figuring out what to do with the prize money. In 1989 the Times published a final follow up article. It gave background on the treasure hunt craze of the early 1980's "The treasure hunt promotions peaked with two best sellers published in the early 1980's, ''Masquerade,'' by Kit Williams, which offered $35,000 to the finder of a golden hare, and ''Who Killed the Robins Family'' by Bill Adler and Thomas Chastain, which offered $10,000 to the reader who submitted the best answer to their puzzle. Both books sold more than a million copies each." It quoted John Baker, editor of Publishers Weekly, saying "there are no industry figures, but none of the 10 or so treasure books and videos since 1982 have matched the success of the first two." The article announced the treasure could not be found and those searching should give up and quit. In accordance with the rules, since the treasure was not found, the $500,000 was donated to charity, specifically to the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America. The article quoted several disgruntled searchers, including Deborah Holmes of Monroeville, Pa. ''There are a lot of angry people.'' Treasure was also released as a straight to video feature film, laserdisc, and an episodicCorporate writer
Renan has written for major corporations including Intel, Xerox, AT&T, Apple, Sony and others. For the public sector his clients have included the U.S. Military Health Service and the Department of State. His speeches for CEO's include for every CEO of Xerox since 1990. His first assignment for Intel was for their launch of the 486 chip. For the entertainment industry he has written for Disney, Universal Studios, and Busch Seaworld.References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Renan, Sheldon 1941 births Living people American male writers Yale University alumni