Leonard Lipton

About the citizens of the houseboat colony in Sausalito, their ways of living, and their struggle with urban planners.

A film by Leonard Lipton

A provocative documentary kaleidoscope of Berkeley wit, defiance, insight, mania, obsession, and delusion ...

"an 11‐minute slide show from a young lifetime of snapshots made by Lenny Lipton, featuring family, girlfriends, and various big‐city scenic eyesores—all accompanied by music like “Listen to the Mockingbird,” “There's a Tavern in the Town,” and a Stephen Foster medley. The film must have taken equal parts of affection and chutzpah, and it is perhaps too private really to deserve (or require) a public." - New York Times, Nov. 12th 1971

One summer, in a run-down mansion, friends of Lenny Lipton come to take in the sun, the woods, swimming and some drugs. A wedding is held in the fields. People talk and are happy. Dogs and children play. Nancy, a vegetarian, becomes alarmed when two fish are seen flapping helplessly in the kitchen sink. She rushes them back to the stream where they were caught-but cannot revive them . Lenny Lipton films it all - amidst controversy over whether his filming is getting people uptight and altering the "reality" of what is happening. Fortunately, he continues his journal and gives us a warm record of people enjoying themselves, the land, and the company of others . FAR OUT, STAR ROUTE is one of those rare films which shows that the beauty of life can be felt and shared through the full experience of that which is simplest and most human.

The Red Mountain Tribe hangs out in my backyard. "Lipton's lovely home movie PEOPLE, in its affection for valuable inconsequential gestures, indicates in the course of its three minutes why there has to be a continuing alternative to the commercial cinema." – Roger Greenspun, The New York Times

A film about the building of People's Park, and its ultimate destruction, marking the end of an era.

A minimalist homage to a now-defunct local eatery.

TV's image raised to a fever pitch to help reveal the chaotic nature of the medium. A driven flux of electronic icons, building its intensity.

An homage to the superhero. The song "Powerman" is performed by Rogue Streib's East Bay Symphony, with the filmmaker singing lead.

The 1965 Vietnam Day Peace March, remembered for the Hell's Angels' attack. Vividly depicted. Provides a valuable historical perspective on the period, filmed by a partisan. Exhibition: SF Int'l Film Festival; NET; Italian TV; Cinematheque Française. Collection: Pacific Film Archive