settima

@settima@zirk.us

First Man Into Space [Satellite of Blood] (Robert Day, 1959)

Feb

28

1958

First Man Into Space (1959)

A newspaper headline for February 28, 1958 reading THE HIGHEST MAN IN THE WORLD. DP: Geoffrey Faithfull.

“The conquest of new worlds always makes demands of human life. And there will always be men who will accept the risk.”

Even: As You and I (Roger Barlow, Harry Hay + LeRoy Robbins, 1937)

Feb

27

Even: As You and I (1937)

A film editor struggling with a long strip of celluloid. DP: Hy Hirsh.

憂國 [Yūkoku / Patriotism or the Rite of Love and Death] (Yukio Mishima, 1966)

Feb

26

1936

憂國 (1966)

Reiko (Yoshiko Tsuruoka) walking through her lover's blood, her kimono drenched. DP: Kimio Watanabe.

Covers February 26–28, 1936.

”'I know how you feel,' Reiko says quietly. 'And I will follow you wherever you go.'”

– intertitles

Le tombeau d'Alexandre [The Last Bolshevik] (Chris Marker, 1993)

Feb

25

Warsaw Pact

Le tombeau d'Alexandre (1993)

Still from a Medvedkin film. Silhouettes in light of Lenin and Stalin facing each other are projected above a crowd of people. DP of Le tombeau d'Alexandre: Chris Marker.

Have I Told You Lately That I Love You? (Stuart Hamisch, 1958)

Feb

24

technology

Have I Told You Lately That I Love You? (1958)

Straight after dinner, the child returns to his teevee while his mother stands silently in the doorway.

A film about technology on what would've been Steve Jobs' 70th birthday

“The most precious thing that we all have with us, is time.”

– Steve Jobs

A nuclear family goes about their machine-driven day while slowly forgetting to communicate.

Trash (Paul Morrissey, 1970)

Feb

23

freebie: Paul Morrissey born

Trash (1970)

Jane Forth, Paul Morrissey, and Joe Dallesandro in a publicity photo for Trash. DP: Paul Morrissey.

Freebie: Paul Morrissey born (1938 – 2024)

“Just because people throw it out and don't have any use for it, doesn't mean it's garbage.”

– Holly

Unsere Afrikareise [Our Trip to Africa] (Peter Kubelka, 1966)

Feb

22

National Wildlife Day

Unsere Afrikareise (1966)

A frame (source) shows a freshly killed zebra on its side. The film stock's perforations and sound track are visible. DP: Peter Kubelka.

Wild animals for this year's first National Wildlife Day (USA). A second one is on September 4.

“For me, Afrikareise is, in its own genre, the most intense sound film that exists. Sound and images are in synch like in nature (even if it isn’t about the natural sound of something). The sound becomes the acoustic portrait of the visual action.”

– Peter Kubelka, via

Commissioned to film a rich Austrian couple's hunting trip, Kubelka sat on the material for several years before editing it in something more than the sum of its parts.

Laukaus tehtaalla [A Shot in the Factory] (Erkko Kivikoski, 1973)

Feb

21

Nixon goes to China

Laukaus tehtaalla (1973)

Workers and bosses negotiate the situation. DP: Esko Nevalainen.

Diplomacy on Nixon's visit to China (February 21 — 28, 1972)

 

The killing of the factory's boss by one of the workers leads to endless negotiations between the two parties.

 

Shot in cinéma vérité style, with a mostly amateur cast, Laukaus tehtaalla mirrors the working classes' insecurity caused by the 1973 energy crisis in more ways than one.

猫と庄造と二人のをんな [Neko to Shōzō to futari no onna / A Cat, Shozo, and Two Women] (Shirō Toyoda, 1956)

Feb

20

Love Your Pet Day

猫と庄造と二人のをんな (1956)

Shōzō (Hisaya Morishige) on the beach with his beloved cat Lily. DP: Mitsuo Miura.

Someone owns a pet on Love Your Pet Day (UK)

“I'm sharing my husband with a cat. This is humiliating!”

– Nakajima

Shōzō is torn between his ex-wife and his current spouse, but really just wants to spend time with Lily, his cat.

Murders in the Zoo (A. Edward Sutherland, 1933)

Feb

20

Murders in the Zoo (1933)

A couple walks into a room, only to discover a lifeless man and a headless snake. DP: Ernest Haller.

“You don't think I sat there all evening with an eight-foot mamba in my pocket?”

– Eric Gorman