Editing Kenneth Anger (section)

=== 1950–1953: France, ''Rabbit's Moon'' and ''Eaux d'Artifice'' ===
In 1950, Anger moved to Paris, [[French Fourth Republic|France]], where he initially stayed with friends of his who had been forced to leave Hollywood after being [[Hollywood blacklist|blacklisted]] for having formerly belonged to trade union organizations.<ref name="getrusso.com">Russo, Carl (2000). ''[http://www.getrusso.com/#!kenneth-anger-interview/pafv9 Spotting UFOs with a Manson Killer: An Interview with Kenneth Anger] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160716144125/http://www.getrusso.com/#!kenneth-anger-interview/pafv9 |date=July 16, 2016 }}''.</ref> He later said he traveled to Paris after receiving a letter from the French director [[Jean Cocteau]] in which he told Anger of his admiration for ''Fireworks'' (shown in 1949 at Festival du Film Maudit in [[Biarritz]]). Upon Anger's arrival, the two became friends, with Cocteau giving him his permission to make a movie of his ballet ''The Young Man and Death'', although at the time the project had no financial backers.<ref>{{harvnb|Landis|1995|p=59}}</ref> In Paris, Anger continued producing short films; in 1950 he started filming ''[[Rabbit's Moon]]'' (also known as ''La lune des lapins''), about a clown who stares up at the Moon, where a rabbit lives, as in [[Japanese mythology]]. Anger produced 20 minutes of footage at the Films du Pantheon Studio before he was rushed out of the building, leaving the film uncompleted. He stored the footage in the disorganized archives of the Cinémathèque Française and retrieved it in 1970, when he finally finished and released the film.<ref>'Film Credits – Magick Lantern Cycle' in ''Anger: Magick Lantern Cycle'' DVD booklet. British Film Institute, pp. 26–27.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Landis|1995|pp=59–60}}</ref> Cinémathèque Française head [[Henri Langlois]] gave Anger prints of [[Sergei Eisenstein]]'s ''[[¡Que viva México! (unfinished film)|Que Viva Mexico!]]'', which he attempted to put into Eisenstein's original order.<ref>{{harvnb|Landis|1995|p=61}}</ref>

{{quote box|width=246px|align=left|quote=[D'Este was] a sexual [[pervert]]. There are very few things I call sexual perversion, but he liked to fuck goats, and that is technically a perversion.|source= —Kenneth Anger<ref name="Landis, 1995, p. 63" /> }}

In 1953, Anger traveled to [[Rome, Italy]], where he planned to make a film about the 16th-century occultist [[Ippolito II d'Este|Cardinal d'Este]]. To do so, he began filming at the garden of the [[Villa d'Este]] in [[Tivoli, Italy|Tivoli]], in which a lady in 18th-century dress walked through the gardens, which featured many waterfalls (an allusion to the fact that d'Este allegedly sexually enjoyed [[urination]]),<ref name="Landis, 1995, p. 63">{{harvnb|Landis|1995|p=63}}</ref> accompanied by the music of [[Antonio Vivaldi|Vivaldi]].<ref>'Film Credits – Magick Lantern Cycle' in ''Anger: Magick Lantern Cycle'' DVD booklet. British Film Institute, p. 27.</ref> This was supposed to be only the first of four scenes, but the others were not made; the resulting one-scene film was titled ''[[Eaux d'artifice]]''. Landis remarked, "It's one of Anger's most tranquil works; his editing makes it soft, lush, and inviting. ''Eaux d'Artifice'' remains a secretive romp through a private garden, all for the masked figure's and the viewer-voyeur's pleasure."<ref>{{harvnb|Landis|1995|p=64}}</ref>