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Goshogaoka [御所ケ丘] (Sharon Lockhart, 1998)
Nov
6
Play Basketball Day
Within the boundaries of Sharon Lockhart's static camera, girls from Goshogaoka junior high school practice basketball. In six uninterrupted 10 minute scenes, we see them warm up and train several typical moves, shots, and blocks. With the camera set in one position, some of the action happens off-screen, resulting in unrehearsed synchronised choreography.
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Jaanipäev [St. John's Day] (Andres Sööt, 1978)
Nov
5
Bonfire Night
The neatly stacked pyre on jaanipäev with Tallinn's dreary socialist Plattenbau on the horizon. DP: Andres Sööt.
As long as they can remember, jaaniõhtu is when Estonians gather to celebrate midsummer. It started, they'll tell you, 4000 years ago when Kaali appeared. Ever since, come rain or shine, come socialism or capitalism, the people gather and light bonfires in its remembrance. Some sing the songs of the elders, memory willing. Others see this as their moment to shine. As a great musician perhaps. A faithful worker. Or a lover, for jaanipäev; #midsummer night.
“Come, this party is for hard-working people!”
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Mondo Hollywood: Hollywood Laid Bare! [Mondo Hollywood] (Robert Carl Cohen, 1967)
Nov
1
World Vegan Day
Lobby card. Proto-hippie Gypsy Boots (Robert Bootzin), here going ape over a banana, outshocks polite society with his vegan (or is this vegetarian?) mindset. In the background what appears to be a bed of nails. DP: Robert Carl Cohen.
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Moi, un noir [I, a Negro] (Jean Rouch, 1958)
Oct
16
National Eddie Day
A young woman looks over her shoulder, smiling. DP: Jean Rouch.
Some of the leads play out their hopes and dreams and are named after famous actors from Western films. Petit Touré is #EddieConstantine.
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The Mills of the Gods: Viet Nam (Beryl Fox, 1965)
Sep
18
Air Force Birthday
“Thus, I do not see what use there is in those mills of the gods said to grind so late as to render punishment hard to be recognized, and to make wickedness fearless”
– Plutarch, Moralia (1 A.D.)
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On the Bowery (Lionel Rogosin, 1956)
Sep
14
National Sober Day
Finnish poster. DP: Richard Bagley.
Someone mentions getting sober.
“When I get myself – cleaned up and straightened out, I'm going down and get a ship and I'm going to wind up in South Sea islands. That's where I wanna go!”
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Gimme Shelter (Albert + David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin, 1970)
Sep
13
Uncle Sam Day
Mick Jagger seen from the back wearing an Uncle Sam top hat, in front of an unseen crowd. DPs: Albert Maysles, David Maysles & Gary Weis.
It's December 6, 1969 and just like that, the 60s were over. It started out great, the West Coast edition of Woodstock. Santana, Jefferson Airplane, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, a 300.000 strong crowd and, of course, The Rolling Stones on the final leg of their US tour. And, of course too, Hells Angels armed with motorcycle chains, sawed-off pool cues and $500 worth of beer, hired to stop fans from climbing the stage. And not in the least due to its proximity to Frisco, lots of bad drugs mixing with that crowd.
“Well, The Rolling Stones tour of the United States is over. It wounded up with a free concert at the Altamont Speedway for more than 300,000 people. There were four births, four deaths and an awful lot of scuffles reported.”
– Stefan Ponek, KSN Radio
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Muhammad Ali, the Greatest [Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee] (William Klein, 1974)
Sep
4
Mouthguard Day
A randomly picked screenshot showing Muhammad Ali fighting George Foreman. Each and every scene of a William Klein film is a photograph. DPs: Étienne Becker, William Klein, Richard Suzuki & Patrice Wyers.
“I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; Handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; Only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick; I’m so mean I make medicine sick.”
– Muhammad Ali
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R… ne répond plus [R… no longer responds] (Jean-Pierre Dardenne + Luc Dardenne, 1981)
Aug
28
Radio Commercials Day
In the nice room for special occasions a small boy is eating next to a large greying woman wearing an apron who in her turn eyes a younger woman who looks exactly like her tuning the radio. It's prominently placed next to an oversized, sensual cornucopian glass bowl, overflowing with oranges. DPs: Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Stéphane Gatti.
R… ne répond plus is Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's exploring the airwaves. Some is clearly political. Radio Schwarzi Chatz (“Radio Black Cat”) and the feminist witches from Wellenhexe (”[radio] wave witch”) have important messages, unheard of in the mainstream media. Others broadcast in languages on the verge of extinction, so may that tongue survive in a world that – already forty years ago – was rapidly homogenising.
“This is called the comeback of reality.”
And then there are those, they're unnamed, who travel the land and across the borders with walkie-talkies – those too are radios, two-way – using their meandering frequencies to hold on to reality. It's all very elusive, but it's there. Maybe #radio is not dead. We just need to learn how to tune into that Enochian frequency again. It's real after all.
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Oss Oss Wee Oss (Alan Lomax, 1953)
Aug
22
Folklore Day
The childrens' 'Obby 'Oss May Day procession that precedes the adults' one on a Padstow hillside. DP: George Pickow.
“Unite and unite and let us all unite,
For summer is a-come unto day,
And whither we are going we will all unite,
In the merry morning of May.”
– Padstow May Night Song (traditional)
Then the “Morning Song”. Two 'Osses appear, dancing their dance, who then eventually on the evening of May Day meet at the maypole where they die, to be risen again next year.
“Now fare you well and bid you all good cheer,
For summer is acome unto day,
We call no more unto your house before another year,
In the merry morning of May.”
Alan Lomax's Oss Oss Wee Oss is probably the best known visual documentation of the Padstow 'Obby 'Oss festival. That it was filmed in 1953 doesn't matter; the ritual is circular, like the horses themselves and the eternal coming and going of the seasons.