settima

politics

A Face in the Crowd (Elia Kazan, 1957)

Nov

21

1956

A Face in the Crowd (1957)

Variety blares L. R.'S BLOOPER TOPS UNK DON'S. It's Wednesday, November 21, 1956. DPs: Gayne Rescher & Harry Stradling Sr..

“I'm not just an entertainer. I'm an influence, a wielder of opinion, a force… a force!”

– Lonesome Rhodes

Peace, little girl [Daisy / Daisy Girl] (Sidney Myers, 1964)

Nov

3

1964

Peace, little girl (1964)

Monique Corzilius aka Monique Cozy as the Daisy Girl. DP: Drummond Drury.

“One… two… three… four… five… seven… six… six… eight… nine… nine…”

– Daisy Girl

La sixième face du pentagone [The Sixth Face of the Pentagon] (Chris Marker + François Reichenbach, 1968)

Oct

21

1967

La sixième face du pentagone (1968)

Armed police seen from the back. In front of him someone holds up a sign that reads WHY WAR. DPs: Tony Daval, Chris Marker & Christian Odasso.

Calle Santa Fe (Carmen Castillo, 2007)

Oct

5

Calle Santa Fe (2007)

Miguel Enriquez holding Carmen Castillo in a family snapshot. DPs: Ned Burgess, Sebastián Moreno, Raphaël O'Byrne & Arnaldo Rodríguez.

A Face in the Crowd (Elia Kazan, 1957)

Aug

22

milkshake

A Face in the Crowd (1957)

A young woman with an impressive coif, a fur stole and a large milkshake peeks from around a corner with a surprised look on her face. DPs: Gayne Rescher & Harry Stradling Sr..

“Shucks, I could take chicken fertilizer and sell it to them as caviar. I could make them eat dog food and think it was steak. Sure, I got 'em like this…”

– Lonesome Rhodes

آداب بهاری [Adab-e Bahari / Rites of Spring] (Ali Asghar Agahbanaei, 1982)

Aug

11

spring

Adab-e Bahari (1982)

In a dewdrop hanging from a rose, the face of a smiling woman appears.

Dita e Verës, a pagan spring celebration from Albania, celebrated in March: a spring scene*

 

The restless anticipation of spring. Iran as it was before and after the 1979 toppling of the Shah. While the snow melts away, the Revolution takes place, and fresh buds appear on the rose bushes. A poem.

 

Rat Life and Diet in North America (Joyce Wieland, 1968)

Jul

4

Independence Day

Rat Life and Diet in North America (1968)

Rats – gerbils actually – nibbling on the Stars and Stripes (via). DP: Joyce Wieland.

A movie set in the USA for Independence Day (USA)

“This film tells a story of rebels (played by real rats) and cops (played by real cats). After a long domination by cats, the rats escape from prison (this is their rebellion) and find refuge in Canada. There, they feed on organic produce from a garden where the grass hasn’t been sprayed with DDT.”

– Jonas Mekas, via

French-Canadian patriot Joyce Wieland tells a fable of freedom.

 

Coincidentally, the Canadian city of Trois-Rivières, scene of the final battle of the American Revolutionary War, also celebrates an Independence Day on the fourth of July.

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.

Jonathan (Hans W. Geissendörfer, 1970)

May

26

World Dracula Day

Jonathan (1970)

Siring the mortals. DP: Robby Müller.

A vampire for World Dracula Day

 

This deeply political, unpleasant interpretation of Stoker's Dracula can not not be seen against the backdrop of political movements like the #RAF and West-Germany's youth revolting against the failed #Denazification that the country underwent under supervision of the Allied occupying forces.

 

Note the usage of colour and grouping of people; Klaus Mann's Mephisto (1981) borrowed quite a few visuals from Jonathan.