settima

documentary

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

Farewell, Etaoin Shrdlu (David Loeb Weiss, 1980)

Jul

1

1978

Farewell, Etaoin Shrdlu (1980)

All set for the July 2, 1978 edition of The New York Times, hot off the press.

Production of the last hot type copy of The New York Times on the nigh of July 1, 1978. The ETAOIN SHRDLU in the title refers to the accidental string of letters that sometimes would end up in print when using the hot type method.

 

That Linotype setting, and narration, was provided by Carl Schlesinger. That same old, but now digitally set New York Times, provided a lovely farewell when the man passed. Read it here

6-18-67 (George Lucas, 1967)

Jun

18

1967

6-18-67 (1967)

The opening credits with the date 6-18-67 superimposed over it. DPs: Charles Braverman, George Lucas, David MacDougall & David Wyler.

“We had never been around such opulence, zillions of dollars being spent every five minutes on this huge, unwieldy thing. It was mind-boggling to us because we had been making films for three hundred dollars, and seeing this incredible waste – that was the worst of Hollywood.”

– pre-blockbuster George Lucas

Wyszedł w jasny, pogodny dzień [He Left on a Bright, Sunny Day] (Krzysztof Wojciechowski, 1972)

Jun

13

Wyszedł w jasny, pogodny dzień (1972)

Old people exchanging food and memories outdoors. DPs: Witold Stok & Ryszard Wróblewski.

Deň radosti [A Day of Joy] (Dušan Hanák, 1972)

Jun

12

1971

Deň radosti (1972)

Exuberant revellers. DPs: Martin Gazík, Alojz Hanúsek & Oskár Šághy.

 

Wholly Communion (Peter Whitehead, 1966)

Jun

11

1965

Wholly Communion (1966)

Allen Ginsberg reciting in front of an enraptured audience at the Royal Albert Hall. DP: Peter Whitehead.

“Love! Love!”

– anonymous poet interrupting Harry Fainlight

Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (Robert Drew, 1963)

Jun

10

1963

Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963)

An energetic Bobby arrives at the White House in his limousine. DP: Gregory Shuker.

“This nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.”

– JFK

Le chagrin et la pitié [The Sorrow and the Pity] (Marcel Ophüls, 1969)

Jun

5

Sorry I Was on a Boat Day

Le chagrin et la pitié (1969)

Two smiling farmers. The interviewer asks “What did you think about?” One of them replies “Surviving. That's it.” Screenshot via. DPs: André Gazut & Jürgen Thieme.

Someone makes an excuse on Sorry I Was on a Boat Day (USA)

“One thing I find appalling is when people who were [Vichy President] Pétain supporters come up to me and tell me what they did for the Resistance. Sometimes it's unreal. “Oh, Mr. Gaspard, if only you knew what we did, what I did for the Resistance.” Go ahead, pal, tell me all about it. I try to stay calm. I'm a salesman, and I want to sell my product. The company doesn't pay me to do politics and pick fights, so sometimes I find myself obliged to listen to a song and dance of some guy who shows me a drawer and gets his wife to confirm that there was indeed a revolver in that drawer during the war, a revolver which he was supposedly ready to use on the Germans. Only he never actually used it. History doesn't lie.”

Émile Coulaudon aka Colonel Gaspard, former head of the French Resistance in Auvergne

Marcel Ophüls documents the people of Clermont-Ferrand as the microcosm of Vichy France, part of Europe's only country that happily collaborated with its occupier, Nazi Germany. What were their justifications, their excuses, their motivations? Was it survival, habit, greed? Comfort, conformity, obedience, fear?

 

And what is yours?

1999 A.D. (Lee Madden, 1967)

Jun

2

1999

1999 A.D. (1967)

Mother Karen (Marj Dusay) busy with online meal planning, her husband supervising her from the other screen. While she scheduling for Tuesday, June 2, 1999 in reality fell on a Wednesday. DP: Vilmos Zsigmond.

“What year is it now? I forgot.”

– Jamie

Jesus Christus Erlöser [Jesus Christ Saviour] (Peter Geyer, 1971/2008)

May

29

Ascension Day

Jesus Christus Erlöser (1971/2008)

Kinski speaking to (presumably) journalists as part of promoting his Jesus tour (via)

The birth, life, death or teachings of Jesus on Ascension Day

“Ich bin nicht der offizielle Kirchenjesus, ich bin nicht euer Superstar.”

– Klaus Kinski

It is November 20. The Jesus Christus Erlöser tour brings Klaus Kinski to Berlin's Deutschlandhalle. His monologue, spoken from Jesus the revolutionary's perspective, brings out the hecklers. It's 1971, the post-68 generation is not satisfied with words. It wants to debate, dissect, and devour their Saviour.