settima

1960s

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.

Les abysses [The Depths] (Nikos Papatakis, 1963)

Feb

18

pancakes

Les abysses (1963)

Michèle and Marie-Louise (real-life sisters Francine and Colette Bergé) as the real-life Papin sisters prepare crêpes for Monsieur. DP: Jean-Michel Boussaguet.

– Why are we making pancakes?

– Monsieur likes them. Besides, what else is there?

Assalto ao Trem Pagador [Assault on the Pay Train] (Roberto Farias, 1962)

Feb

17

WH helicopter incident – 1974

O Assalto ao Trem Pagador (1962)

The favelados-turned-train-robbers. DP: Amleto Daissé.

A heist on the date of the 1974 White House helicopter incident.

 

Il mare [The Sea] (Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, 1962)

Feb

17

1962

Il mare (1962)

The actor (Umberto Orsini) approaches a hotel lobby. A blackboard notes the date: February 17, 1962. DP: Ennio Guarnieri.

The List of Adrian Messenger (John Huston, 1963)

Feb

16

The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)

Lady Jocelyn Bruttenholm (Dana Wynter), Anthony Gethryn (George C. Scott), and Raoul Le Borg (Jacques Roux). DP: Joseph MacDonald.

“There's nary a conspiracy. And if I'm right about this, it's a far older sin than politics.”

– Adrian Messenger

The Party's Over (Guy Hamilton, 1965)

Feb

13

party

The Party's Over (1965)

The party crowd staggers its way home at dawn across Albert Bridge. DP: Mike Pratt.

Partying on Fat Tuesday*.

– Let's keep this party going till Sunday. – Why Sunday? – The Hindus say the world comes to an end on Sunday. – But, how will we know when it happens? – Graves will gape and the shrouded dead will run gibbering and shrieking in the streets. – Sounds like any other Sunday.

*which isn't until March 4 this year.

Adieu Philippine [Farewell, Philippine] (Jacques Rozier, 1962)

Feb

11

friendship

Adieu Philippine (1962)

Juliette and Liliane (Stefania Sabatini and Yveline Céry) walk along a promenade in a beautiful, vérité tracking shot. DP: René Mathelin.

A film about friendship for Jennifer Anniston's birthday (1969).

 

1960. Michel is due to leave for Algeria to serve in the Algerian War. Juliette and Liliane are best friends as inseparable as “Filipino almonds”(?). When they meet, the girls decide to join Michel on his final vacation, on Corsica.

Ole dole doff [Eeny Meeny Miny Moe / Who Saw Him Die?] (Jan Troell, 1968)

Feb

10

Scholastica

Ole dole doff (1968)

A reaction shot shows the pupils' faces. While the girls show some sort of remorse, the boys are deadpan. DP: Jan Troell .

A film about teaching on the day of Saint Scholastica, patron saint of Benedictine nuns, education, and convulsive children.

 

Companion piece to Vilgot Sjöman's 491 (1964). An anti-authoritarian teacher who is plagued by nightmares, slowly unravels.

Lord of the Flies (Peter Brook, 1963)

Feb

8

Boy Scouts of America

Lord of the Flies (1963)

Using Piggy's glasses, the boys light their first signal fire. DP: Tom Hollyman.

Someone prepares something for the founding of the Boy Scouts of America on February 8, 1910.

“His specs — use them as burning glasses!”

William Golding, Lord of the Flies (1954)

The boys collectively gather firewood to light a beacon, then come up with the idea to light the fire with the help of one of the kid's glasses.

La notte [The Night] (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1961)

Feb

7

Falò delle vanità – 1497

La notte (1961)

Author Giovanni Pontano (Marcello Mastroianni) pondering next to a full bookcase. DP: Gianni Di Venanzo.

Books, or art, in commemoration of Savonarola's 1497 Florentine falò delle vanità (bonfire of the vanities).

“I used to spend afternoons reading in bed. Tommaso would call and find me there. He could have kissed me. I wouldn't have resisted, out of boredom. But he was satisfied to watch me as I read. All those purposeless books.”

– Lidia

A lavish #CocktailParty in celebration of the launch of a novel is bookended by tragedy, in the loss of a befriended writer and the unraveling of another writer and his wife's marriage.