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Die glücklichen Minuten des Georg Hauser [The Happy Minutes of Georg Hauser] (Mansur Madavi, 1974)
Jul
20
A smiling Georg Hauser (Walter Bannert) with one of his many attractive secretaries. DP: Mansur Madavi.
“Grünes Licht für ehrgeizige, strebsame und arbeitswillige junge Menschen.”
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Bildnis einer Trinkerin – Aller jamais retour [Portrait of a Female Drunkard. Ticket of No Return] (Ulrike Ottinger, 1979)
Jul
15
Sie, German for “She”, hungover in her fabulous yellow nappa leather outfit (via). DP: Ulrike Ottinger.
Someone is hungover*
“Ein Psychogramm zweier ungewöhnlicher, aber auch extrem unterschiedlicher Frauen. Die eine, reich, exzentrisch, ihre Gefühle maskenhaft verbergend, trinkt sich bewusst zu Tode. Sie ist der Fall, der in der Statistik nicht erscheint, weil entweder zu Hause unter Valium gehalten oder unter Verschluss in einer Privatklinik. Die andere ist arm und trinkt sich unbewusst zu Tode. Sie erscheint in der normalen Statistik als Typ der haltlosen Trinkerin”
– U.O., via
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Zig-Zag – le jeu de l'oie (Une fiction didactique à propos de la cartographie) [Snakes and Ladders] (Raúl Ruiz, 1980)
Jul
5
“It appears obvious that the territory is the sum of all the maps, the result of an infinite addition. Or a contrary, the territory is what is left when we remove all the sets of lines, drawings, traces and colors which are covering it. Its existence becomes doubtful.”
A man, H., joins two others playing jeu de l'oie (Game of the Goose), a board game associated with labyrinths and pilgrimage. While the three play, the game opens up maps and new roads to explore.
Following my own Bales' rules, I cannot pick a title twice. See Zig-Zag as an avatar of Raúl Ruiz's O Território [The Territory] from 1981.
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The Governor (Stan Brakhage, 1977)
Jul
4
1976
And July 20
“On July 4, 1976 I and my camera toured the state of Colorado with governor Richard D. Lamm, as he traveled in parades with his children, appeared at dinners, lectured, etc. On July 20, I spent the morning in his office in the state capitol and the afternoon with himself and his wife in a television studio, then with Mrs. Lamm greeting guests to the governor’s mansion and finally with Governor Lamm in his office again. These two days of photography took me exactly one year to edit into a film which wove itself thru multiple superimpositions into a study of light and power.”
– Stan Brakhage
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Die glücklichen Minuten des Georg Hauser [The Happy Minutes of Georg Hauser] (Mansur Madavi, 1974)
Jun
25
National Day of Joy
In a moment of total bliss, Georg Hauser (Walter Bannert) wrecks a car (via). DP: Mansur Madavi.
“Grünes Licht für ehrgeizige, strebsame und arbeitswillige junge Menschen.”
Georg Hauser's life is a drag. He gets up to drive his car to the same office to do the same thing surrounded by the same people everyday, just to make money to do the same thing all over again. Then, his glasses break and the new pair makes him see things a bit differently.
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L'immortelle (Alain Robbe-Grillet, 1963)
Jun
23
Sat
A man's hand holds a crumbled up diary page for Saturday June 23. There are no calendar entries. DP: Maurice Barry.
“You're a foreigner and you're lost.”
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La Femme Bourreau [A Woman Kills] (Jean-Denis Bonan, 1968)
May
20
1943
A dark-haired woman lounging on a bed. DP: Gérard de Battista.
“Hélène Picard, born in Lyon, May 20, 1943. A child in care, she is reported as a runaway, a thief and unstable.”
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Katar [Cold] (Hieronim Neumann, 1984)
May
6
Childhood Depression Awareness Day
One little girl sneeze even bursts the camera! A – psik (achoo)! DP: Zbigniew Kotecki.
“Spotkał katar Katarzynę –
A – psik!
Katarzyna pod pierzynę –
A – psik!”
A little girl has the sniffles, sees the doctor, and so happily spreads the bug all over town. A quirky animated short based on a poem by Jan Brzechwa.
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Normalsatz [Ordinary Sentence] (Heinz Emigholz, 1982)
Apr
30
1975
A woman, seated on a bed, speaks to a second woman who is pressed against the side of a bookcase. Still via. DP: Heinz Emigholz.
Part of the Trilogie der Siebziger Jahre (“Trilogy of the Seventies”).
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Le moindre geste [The Slightest Gesture] (Jean-Pierre Daniel, Fernand Deligny + Josée Manenti, 1962–1964, 1971)
Apr
2
World Autism Awareness Day
Yves (Yves Guignard), resting. Deligny wrote a lot about the lack of words, and how it stays close to the heart of cinema. Still (and a wonderful essay) via. DP: Josée Manenti.
“Celui qui n’a jamais rien dit
a cinquante ans d’âge
et ne dira jamais rien
s’est appris à lire
dans les moindres gestes”
– Fernand Deligny, Essi & Copeaux. Derniers écrits et aphorismes, via
Over time, the film was forgotten and even lost, until it was found in a tree, then completed with a narrative and soundtrack in 1969, selected for the 1971 Cannes Film Festival and praised by Cahiers du Cinéma, lost once more, and eventually – with support of Chris Marker – restored and brought to a wider audience.