settima

DocuDrama

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (William Greaves, 1968)

Feb

1

Filmmaking

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968)

Don Fellows – testing as “Freddy” – and Patricia Ree Gilbert – testing as “Alice” –, the director (William Greaves), and a camera assistant holding up a light meter. Everyone is eyeing everyone and it's not clear who is playing what part. DPs: Stevan Larner & Terence Macartney-Filgate.

A film about filmmaking, or Hollywood, to celebrate the opening of Edison's Black Maria in 1893.

“You and I are going to be filming the actors. The two of us, see, are going to be filming the actors – continuously – and you will be filming me and the actors. I'm going to be filming the actors and Terry is going to be in charge of filming the whole thing. You see?”

– William Greaves – Director

During a screentest for a documentary in a documentary in a film, director William Greaves attempts to cast the leads for his upcoming piece Over the Cliff, while a documentary crew records their progress.

کلوزآپ ، نمای نزدیک [Klūzāp, nemā-ye nazdīk / Close-Up] (Abbas Kiarostami, 1990)

Jan

19

Nema-ye Nazdik (1990)

Hossain Sabzian on the back of a motorcycle on a busy tree-lined, four lane street. He's holding a large potted rose-red dahlia. DP: Ali Reza Zarrindast.

– Is there anything I can do for you?

– You could make a film about my suffering.

Canon City (Crane Wilbur, 1948)

Dec

30

1947

Canon City (1948)

A calendar page. It's December 30, 1947. DP: John Alton.

“We're not here to play dominoes.”

December 7th (John Ford + Gregg Toland, 1943)

Dec

7

1941

December 7th (1943)

A Japanese person paints over the Japanese characters on their store's sign. AZUMA PHONE and SUS[HI obscured] can stay. DP: Gregg Toland.

“If that's Americanism, it's very hyphenated.”

– narrator

আকালের সন্ধানে [Akaler Sandhane / In Search of Famine] (Mrinal Sen, 1982)

Sep

7

আকালের সন্ধানে (1982)

A clapperboard in the jungle. DP: K.K. Mahajan.

“Past. Presence. And future.”

Culloden (Peter Watkins, 1964)

Apr

16

1746

Culloden (1964)

One of the clansman. The look in his eyes foreshadows the Vietnam War this films comments on. DP: Dick Bush.

“Sir Thomas Sheridan, Jacobite military secretary. Suffering advanced debility and loss of memory. Former military engagement, 56 years ago. Sir John MacDonald, Jacobite captain of cavalry. Aged, frequently intoxicated, described as 'a man of the most limited capacities.' John William O'Sullivan, Jacobite quartermaster general. Described as 'an Irishman whose vanity is superseded only by his lack of wisdom.' Prince Charles Edward Stuart, Jacobite commander in chief. Former military experience: 10 days at a siege at the age of 13.”

– narrator

Punishment Park (Peter Watkins, 1971)

Dec

13

U.S. National Guard Birthday

Punishment Park (1971)

Military men arresting one of the dissidents. A man in black uniform and white helmet interacts directly with the camera c.q. the viewer. DPs: Joan Churchill & Peter Smokler.

The National Guard shows up: U.S. National Guard Birthday, USA.
A European camera crew follows a diverse group of American minor dissidents – pacifists, feminists, communists – who are given the choice to spend decades in federal prison, or three days in Bear Mountain Punishment Park, chased by National Guardsmen and law enforcement officers. If they manage to capture the American flag, they're free to go.

“America is as psychotic as it is powerful and violence is the only goddamn thing that will command your attention.”

– Defendant Lee Robert Brown

While the washed-out 16mm footage and references to #Nixon may tell you otherwise, Punishment Park remains a gut-punching portrait of a timeless America.

Weihnacht (Roland Klick, 1963)

Nov

24

Black Friday

Weihnacht (1963)

The miracle of Christmas, as seen in a fancy shop window. A dress shirt is on display among Sputnik-style decorations and an entranced toddler is reflected in a gilded mirror. From across the street, “Woolworth's” in neon text bounces off the window pane. DPs: Jochen Cerhak & Roland Klick.

A little boy takes in the magic of pre-Christmas, while the adults rush and worry about all that must to be bought.

Mahler (Ken Russell, 1974)

Nov

12

World Pneumonia Day

Mahler (1974)

Gustav (Robert Powell) and Alma (Georgina Hale), both in a three piece suit with top hats. She's in a shadows, wearing a tight, black veil that completely conceals her features. DP: Dick Bush.

A sickly #GustavMahler (Robert Powell) and his wife Alma (Georgina Hale) dwell on their shared lives while travelling to Vienna by train. Storylines – circular like a journey, rondo like #Mahler's compositions – drift from the ordinary to the grotesque.

“I don't want to imitate nature. I want to capture its very essence. As if all the birds and the beasts die tomorrow and the world became a desert, when people heard my music – they would still know, feel, what nature was.”

– Gustav Mahler

This would be the composer's final tour. A train took him to a Vienna sanatorium where not much later he'd succumb to #pneumonia.