En quelques mots

Visitor of a Museum (Posetitel Muzeya)
Konstantin Lopushansky, Switzerland & West Germany & Soviet Union, 1989, 136 Min

‘In a post-apocalyptic world, in which a large part of the population consists of demented and deformed mutants being kept in reservations, a man embarks upon visiting the ruins of a museum buried under the sea which can only be accessed during low tide.’ – IMDb

Cinéma des fêtes

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R.I.P., Rest in Pieces: A Portrait of Joe Coleman
Robert-Adrian Pejo, Austria, 1997, 89 min

… ‘Consider this documentary nothing less than a love letter to the oddball, and to one in particular – artist Joe Coleman. The documentary focuses mainly on the many artistic endeavors of Mr. Coleman. Known in his early years as a provocative performance artist, Coleman was not a stranger to controversy. Drawn to the world of sideshows, Coleman took the idea of becoming a ‘geek’ to new levels – biting the heads off of live mice, wiring his body for explosives, and basically pushing people into a place where they had no choice but to confront his art. Since those early days Coleman has found other artistic pursuits to take up his time, and a better forum to let people see his demons. In moving from a performance artist to a painter, Coleman has found the perfect outlet for his view of the world. Creating paintings that are like the works of a madman, Coleman has taken his darker thoughts and view of the world and has created a nightmarish world of serial killers and the world that needs them.

Each painting is done with obsessive attention to detail, the viewer having to get almost inside the painting just to catch all of the messages and imagery hidden within. Coleman’s paintings are certainly not for everyone, as they deal with, as I stated before, the darker nature of humanity. Many feature killers or killed, his paintings as much tribute as damnation. His view that humans have created serial killers to thin the human herd playing a very strong role in much of his art’ …

Comment ça marche / Explique-moi la vie deuxième partie :

The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom
Adam Curtis, UK, 2007, 180 min

‘The series consists of three one-hour programmes which explore the concept and definition of freedom, specifically, ‘how a simplistic model of human beings as self-seeking, almost robotic, creatures led to today’s idea of freedom.” – WIKI

1. “F** k You Buddy”
2. “The Lonely Robot”
3. “We Will Force You To Be Free”

Kladivo na čarodějnice (Witchhammer)
Otakar Vávra, Czechoslovakia, 1970, 103 min

‘Kladivo na čarodějnice is considered Otakar Vávra’s magnum opus. The title (Malleus Maleficarum) is also translated as Witches’ Hammer or Witchhammer. The synopsis of the film is based on Václav Kaplický’s book Kladivo na čarodějnice (1963), a novel about witch trials in Northern Moravia during the 1670s.

The black-and-white allegorical film, full of symbols, follows the events from the beginning until the trial and execution of the priest. Unwillingness to stop the evil in the beginning only encourages the inquisitor to graduate his accusations and use torture. The vicious circle scares everyone from resistance.’ – WIKI

À écouter religieusement par temps turbulents

In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
Guy Debord, France, 1978, 100 min

« Nous tournons en rond dans la nuit et nous sommes dévorés par le feu »

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On the Passage of a few People through a Rather Brief Moment in Time: The Situationist International 1956-1972
Branka Bogdanov, USA, 1989, 22 min

A video documentary combining exhibition footage of the Situationist International exhibitions with film footage of the 1968 Paris student uprising, and graffiti and slogans based on the ideas of Guy Debord (one of the foremost spokesmen of the Situationist International movement). Also includes commentary by leading art critics Greil Marcus, Thomas Levine, and artists Malcolm Mac Laren and Jamie Reid.

… ”Dieu lui a montré le chemin, il imite Dieu et c’est ainsi qu’à son tour, il invente l’Homme” …

Les Statues Meurent Aussi
Chris Marker et Alain Resnais, France, 1953, 30 min

”Quand les hommes sont morts, ils entrent dans l’histoire. Quand les statues sont mortes, elles entrent dans l’art. Cette botanique de la mort, c’est ce que nous appelons la culture.”

”L’éloignement des pays répare en quelque sorte la trop grande proximité des temps”

Sans Soleil
Chris Marker, France, 1983, 100 min (cette version n’en présente seulement que 70)

Le réalisateur incarne un cameraman fictif, Sandor Krasna, rédacteur de lettres lues tout au long du film par Florence Delay. Dans ses écrits, il va traiter successivement du temps, de la mémoire, de la fragilité humaine face aux séismes du Japon ou encore face à la famine, menace constante au Cap Vert ou en Guinée-Bissau. Le cinéaste voyage alors aux « deux pôles extrêmes de la survie » tel qu’il le dit lui-même. Il montrera non pas les difficultés pour ces sociétés à s’en sortir, mais plutôt leur façon de vivre et d’exister au-delà de ce qui peut leur coûter la vie. Car comme il l’annonce : « Moi, ce que je veux vous montrer, ce sont les fêtes de quartier ». – WIKI

Free Radicals
Len Lye, UK, 1958, 5 min

‘Len Lye est connu pour avoir réalisé le premier film dessiné à la main directement sur celluloid dès 1921. Il réalise de nombreux films en Angleterre dans les années 30, dont Colour Box et Kaleidoscope qui contiennent des formes géométriques mouvantes animées.’

On le met en relation avec Opus-1 (1964) de Pierre Hébert (on en parlait ici).

Voyageur Diurne
Étienne O’Leary, tourné à Paris, 1966, 9 min

Le dvd Étienne O’Leary : films 1966-1968 est disponible via l’Institut pour la Coordination et la Propagation des Cinémas Exploratoires (ICPCE) & la trame sonore via Tenzier (on en parlait brièvement ici).

‘L’édition dvd comprend l’ensemble du travail cinématographique d’Étienne O’Leary. Figure de proue de l’underground et initiateur d’un nouveau language cinématographique, les images évanescentes et incandescentes du cinéma de O’Leary ont été tournées à Paris dans l’effervecance de la deuxième moitié des années soixante. Y apparaissent de nombreux acolytes lumineux tel Pierre Clémenti, Jean-Pierre Bouyxou et Pierre Molinier’ …

Baron Prášil (The Fabulous Baron Munchausen)
Karel Zeman, Czechoslovakia, 1961, 83 min, Czech w/ English Subtitles

‘The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (Czech: Baron Prášil) is a 1961 tinted Czechoslovak romantic adventure film directed by Karel Zeman, based on the tales about Baron Münchhausen. The film combines animation with live-action and is heavily stylised.’

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Résidents de Montréal p.Q. vous serez ravis d’apprendre que le film sera présenté sur ‘moyen écran’ au Cinéma Blue Sunshine mardi prochain (le 20 août) à 20:30. Plus de détails ici.

Avant les perles innovatrices de la Nouvelle Vague tchèque telles THE FIREMAN’S BALL (1967) de Milos Forman et VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS (1970) de Jaromil Jire, se trouve ce magnifique film de science fiction datant de 1961 et racontant les histoires du Baron Munchausen de Gottfried August Bürger. Karel Zeman est un magicien de la pellicule criminellement sous-estimé, provenant de la Tchéchoslovaquie chez qui l’utilisation de médias mixtes est renversante. Lorsque le réalisateur Terry Gilliam vit ses films à la British Film Institue, ce dernier flippa et décida de refaire le tout sous le nom de THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN (1988). Mais les visions de l’ex-Python ne furent que très pâles en comparaison de l’immense travail stylistique mélangeant animation et action en directe par le Méliès tchèque. Un chef d’œuvre coloré et hallucinant. En programmation double avec un film Nouvelle Vague tchèque surprise!

‘Each week we pay homage to a select “Original Creator”—an iconic artist from days gone by whose work influences and informs today’s creators. These are artists who were innovative and revolutionary in their fields. Bold visionaries and radicals, groundbreaking frontiersmen and women who inspired and informed culture as we know it today. This week: Stan Brakhage’ … Read the full article here.

Dog Star Man
Stan Brakhage, USA, 1961-1964, 78 min

‘Probably his most famous work, Dog Star Man is a film cycle composed of a prelude and four distinct segments that, in their entirety, span seventy-eight minutes. He worked on the film from 1961 to 1964 and it fluctuates between different layers of image and superimposition. Each segment is compositionally and even narratively different, ranging from subjects such as the beginning of the universe and the Fall of Man. Later, he would expand the film into the four hour epic, the Art of Vision’.

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#PreviouslyPublishedOnThisBlog : Glaze of Cathexis (1990) here & Cat’s Cradle (1959), here.

Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.

Nineteen Eighty-Four
Michael Radford, UK, 1984, 113 min
Based on George Orwell’s novel ’1984′

‘After The Atomic War the world is divided into three states. London is the capital of Oceania, ruled by a party who has total control over all its citizens. Winston Smith is one of the bureaucrats, rewriting history in one of the departments. One day he commits the crime of falling in love with Julia. They try to escape Big Brother’s listening and viewing devices, but, of course, nobody can really escape’ …

On a beaucoup parlé d’Arthur Lipsett (jamais par contre de sa participation au film Hors-d’oeuvre) sans avoir eu la chance de voir Fluxes et son ‘agonized intensely personal N-Zone‘ …

‘With N-Zone (1970), Lipsett tried something different, including footage of family and friends as counterpoints to his “objective” montage sequences. The film was attacked and Lipsett left the NFB’ (ici) … À défaut donc d’avoir trouvé le film en ligne, on a déniché ces quelques images :

N-Zone
Arthur Lipsett, Canada, 1970, 45 min

‘Arthur Lipsett pieces together his visions of this fragmented world from odds and ends, even leftovers, from other people’s photography and sound recording. By juxtaposing his snippets of “found film” with snatches of comment or dialogue echoing the banality of human communication, Lipsett shows the emptiness of much of what we say or do. N-Zone is one man’s surrealist sampler of the human condition’ …

Source des images ici.

SPÉCIAL ST-JEAN BAPTISTE

Québec Soft (La musique adoucit les moeurs)
Jacques Godbout, Canada, 1985, 26 min 5 s

Dans ce court métrage documentaire réalisé par Jacques Godbout, on se demande si l’influence du «son américain» nuit à la tradition de la chanson francophone québécoise. En 1985, au moment de tourner le film, la plupart des nouveaux groupes musicaux québécois optent pour l’anglais. Le phénomène doit-il inquiéter? Est-il le signe d’une nouvelle culture planétaire?

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On se disait aussi que la messe des morts d’Offenbach à l’Oratoire (1972) c’était Doom Metal en tabarnac et tout à fait dans le ton.

Krzysztof Wodiczko: Projections
Derek May, Canada, 1991, 53 min 2 s

This full-length documentary examines the work of Krzysztof Wodiczko, an artist who has taken his art out of museums to project it onto the sides of buildings. The film explores Wodiczko’s philosophy of art as social contract and shows examples of his provocative work, which has lit up walls from London’s Trafalgar Square to Zion Square in Jerusalem.