John Rainer Long

In 1969, Taylor Mead complained to his friend artist Wynn Chamberlain that Andy Warhol had never paid him for any of the work he had done for him and Wynn said he would make a film especially for Taylor. Inspired by the banality of 1960's television, Chamberlain wrote and directed Brand X, an 87 minute series of faux television shows spoofing the politics and mass media of the day, complete with commercials for Sex, Sweat, Computer Dating and Peanut Butter. BRAND X follows Taylor Mead through a day in a wacky television studio as he portrays an exercise guru, a talk show host, a veteran returning from the American Civil War, a hospital patient in a soap opera, the President of the United States and a televangelist giving the Nightly Sermon. BRAND X satirizes President Nixon, the Vietnam War, sex, drugs, computers, money and race relations.

Hungering for some quality alone time with her new boyfriend, Ray, single mother Kaliope Harris leaves her young daughter, Anna, in the care of loving grandmother Mrs. Harris. An idyllic day at the beach turns to tragedy for the Harris family, however, when in the blink of an eye the precious young Anna seemingly disappears into the vast sand. While Mrs. Harris struggles to accept the startling disappearance, her enraged husband hounds the authorities to step up their search and Kaliope and Ray comb the beach in a desperate bid to retrace Anna's every step on that fateful and tragic day.