1987, 78 minutes, color and b&w. Mark Daniels’ The Influence of Strangers (genealogy) begins much as any narrative fiction might — with a woman picking up a ringing telephone. As the woman describes her past, family relationships, and other personal details, Daniels begins the weaving of a compelling and new approach to film syntax in portraying human consciousness. The camera moves as though in a dream through corridors of familiar objects, each a concretization of human desire, each suggestive of particular actions and situations. “It is as if she were walking through a dictionary: naming the distances, traveling the naming.” (M.D.) Daniels is a published poet as well as filmmaker, and has worked as cinematographer for Yvonne Rainer, Mabou Mines, and Carolee Schneemann.