NOTES ON MARIE MENKEN explores the nearly forgotten story of the legendary artist Marie Menken (1909 - 1970), who became one of New York's outstanding underground experimental filmmakers of the 1940s through the1960s, inspiring artists such as Stan Brakhage, Andy Warhol, Jonas Mekas, Kenneth Anger, and Gerard Malanga. Menken was probably the inspiration for the character "Martha" in Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and ended up as a Warhol Superstar.

Menken was an abstract painter when she began to experiment with film. "Film making was a natural evolution while I was engaged in painting, particularly since I was primarily concerned in capturing light, its effect on textured surfaces, its glowing luminescence in the dark, the enhancement of juxtaposed color, persistence of vision and eye fatigue," Menken explains.

The filmmaker Jonas Mekas wrote, "Marie was one of the first filmmakers to improvise with a camera and edit while shooting. She filmed with her entire body, her entire nervous system. You can feel Marie behind every image, how she constructed the film in tiny pieces and through the movement. The movement and the rhythm—it is this that so many of us seized upon and have developed further in our own work. ... And she gave us a new beginning. She took the film - the non-narrative film, the poetic film, the language of film - in a completely new direction, away from classic filmmaking and into a new adventure."

The film presents never-before-seen footage by Marie Menken salvaged from basements and storage vaults, including a camera "duel" for Bolexes between Menken and Andy Warhol. New York composer and musician John Zorn contributes a wonderful film score for this revealing documentary, which allows a glimpse into Menken's social and artistic struggle.

"[A] Handsome tribute... Interviews with various avant-garde luminaries help to excavate Menken's memory and reputation from the footnotes of film history while clips and entire reels of her rarely seen oeuvre are intercut. Beautifully transferred clips."—Variety

"A stirring resurrection of a fascinating figure-nothing short of mandatory viewing for avant-garde aficionados."—The New York Sun

"Shines a quavering if welcome ray of light on a largely forgotten figure in the American avant-garde film scene...salient details and observations emerge in the documentary."—Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

"Brings back to life the work of Marie Menken, and rescues her from the margins of cinematic history, restoring her to a position as one of experimental cinema's foremost, and most pioneering, feminist filmmakers."—Film and History

"An excellent way to introduce Menken to those who do not know her and to rekindle a friendship for those who remember her but who have not seen her films in years... Highly Recommended."—Educational Media Reviews Online

"Kudlacek's documentary deserves to be celebrated for bringing Menken back to life and honouring the contribution she made to avant-garde filmmaking."—Leonardo On-Line Reviews