``From Painting to Film: Abstract Cinema and Synaesthesia

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

``From Painting to Film: Abstract Cinema and Synaesthesia “From Painting to Film: Abstract Cinema and Synaesthesia Marie Rebecchi To cite this version: Marie Rebecchi. “From Painting to Film: Abstract Cinema and Synaesthesia. From Sensation to Synaesthesia in Film and New Media, pp.205-215, 2019. hal-03226469 HAL Id: hal-03226469 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03226469 Submitted on 14 May 2021 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. From Sensation to Synaesthesia in Film and New Media From Sensation to Synaesthesia in Film and New Media Edited by Rossella Catanese, Francesca Scotto Lavina and Valentina Valente From Sensation to Synaesthesia in Film and New Media Edited by Rossella Catanese, Francesca Scotto Lavina and Valentina Valente This book first published 2019 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2019 by Rossella Catanese, Francesca Scotto Lavina, Valentina Valente and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-5275-1924-4 ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-1924-4 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures.......................................................................................... viii Acknowledgements .................................................................................... x Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 Rossella Catanese, Francesca Scotto Lavina, Valentina Valente First Section: Perception Chapter One .............................................................................................. 16 Affect in Perception: Cinematic Fascination and Enactive Emotions Enrico Carocci Chapter Two ............................................................................................. 32 The Magic of Cinema: Perception, Cognition and Empathy in the Cinematic Vision Chiara Castelli Chapter Three ........................................................................................... 44 Color Outside the Lines: Animating a Model of Synaesthesia Jennifer M. Barker Chapter Four ............................................................................................. 58 The Sublime Spittle of the Opera Singer André Gaudreault, Philippe Marion Chapter Five ............................................................................................. 72 The Theatricality of Alain Resnais’ Films: ‘Mèlo’ and ‘Smoking/ No Smoking’ Valentina Valente vi Table of Contents Second Section: Movement Chapter Six ............................................................................................... 86 Mechanical Sensations: Étienne-Jules Marey, Charles Frémont and the Issue of Automatism Linda Bertelli Chapter Seven ......................................................................................... 102 ‘The Underlying Gesture’: Towards the Notion of Gesture in Jean d’Udine and Sergei Eisenstein Irina Schulzki Chapter Eight .......................................................................................... 116 Film as Synaesthetic Object: The Affective Sensorimotor Coupling of Cinematic Image Francesca Scotto Lavina Third Section: Senses Chapter Nine ........................................................................................... 132 Olfactory Experience and the Exploration of Space in Cinema: Alexander Sokurov’s ‘Alexandra’ and Jan Jakub Kolski’s ‘Jasminum’ Malgorzata Bugaj Chapter Ten ............................................................................................ 143 Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin: Cinematic Clash of Affection and Surface Laura Jacob Chapter Eleven ....................................................................................... 151 The Electricity of Blue Roses: Shorting the Senses and Sensing Film Mood in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me Saige Walton Chapter Twelve ...................................................................................... 167 Dust Gets in Your Eyes: Representations of Dust and Debris in Documentary Film and Video from Mainland China Mariagrazia Costantino From Sensation to Synaesthesia in Film and New Media vii Fourth Section: Abstractions Chapter Thirteen ..................................................................................... 182 “The Murmur of Existence”: Siegfried Kracauer between Aural and Visual Noise Tommaso Isabella Chapter Fourteen .................................................................................... 193 The Poly-expressive Symphony: Futurism and the Moving Image Rossella Catanese Chapter Fifteen ....................................................................................... 205 From Painting to Film: Abstract Cinema and Synaesthesia Marie Rebecchi Fifth Section: New Media and Media Art Chapter Sixteen ...................................................................................... 218 A Return to the Techniques of the Body: On the Reenactments of Zoe Beloff Christa Blümlinger Chapter Seventeen .................................................................................. 229 Inventing the Senses: Polish New Media Art and Synaesthesia in ’60s-’80s Karol Jóźwiak Chapter Eighteen .................................................................................... 238 The Sensory Experience of Drone Piloting in Omer Fast’s ‘Five Thousand Feet is the Best’ Calvin Fagan About the Authors .................................................................................. 249 CHAPTER FIFTEEN FROM PAINTING TO FILM: ABSTRACT CINEMA AND SYNAESTHESIA MARIE REBECCHI From Painting to Cinema This chapter addresses the concept of synaesthesia––a simultaneous mix of sensations, usually experienced in separate ways––which is at the roots of the genealogy of abstract cinema. Abstract film, especially its early developments in the 1920s, offers a significant chance to develop a new, deeper understanding of the status of the work of art and its reproducibility, and of the various experimentations in synaesthetic abstract art made possible by the technical potential of the cinematic medium. Abstract films blended painting, music, movement, images, sounds, forms, and colors in order to create a unique audiovisual work of art, which was no longer aiming to a single perceptual level (vision), but rather pointed towards a fusion of vision and hearing. In this sense, the experimental and technologically innovative role of the abstract film can be made clear through a comparison of cinema’s original properties and the new synaesthetic work of art. The products of experimental abstract cinema can be seen as aspirations to a decisive reorientation of models of perception in a technical sense, contributing in this way to redefine the role of cinematographic experience within the framework of a broader cultural, aesthetic, and technological transformation brought about by the new optical media. From this point of view, the pioneering technical tricks upon which abstract films were based, constituted the construction material for a new language and an unprecedented form of expression founded on the specific technical properties of the cinematic medium: a universal language (Universelle Sprache)––as it was ambitiously defined by Hans Richter and Viking Eggeling in a writing of 1920 that has been lost (Richter and 206 Chapter Fifteen Eggeling 1920; Foster 1998, 185-239)1––where sound, image, rhythm, color, and movement would be condensed in a single work. The abstract cinema fulfilled the experiences of the early avant-garde theorists, painters, sculptors and poets, and tried to set in motion a significant process of aesthetic upgrading and expansion of the expressive possibilities of the language of film. In order to show the importance of abstract cinema from an aesthetical and technological point of view, my paper shows a vast array of images (paintings, drawings, scrolls), which are at the origins of the very first abstract films of the 1920s. Within this theoretical framework, according to László Moholy-Nagy, the most convincing examples from the technical and expressive point of view were definitely to be sought in the works of Walter Ruttmann, Viking Eggeling and Hans Richter: “The efforts of Walter Ruttmann (Germany), who early enlisted the aid of the film camera in his experiments, represented an important advance in this direction. The forms he drew for animated cartoons marked the beginning of a cinematic composition with still unforeseeable possibilities of kinetic development. Most important, however, were the works of Viking Eggeling (Sweden), who died prematurely. Eggeling – the first after the Futurists to do so –further developed the importance of the time problem, which revolutionised the whole existing aesthetic and formulated a scientifically
Recommended publications
  • A Sheffield Hallam University Thesis
    How do I look? Viewing, embodiment, performance, showgirls, and art practice. CARR, Alison J. Available from the Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA) at: http://shura.shu.ac.uk/19426/ A Sheffield Hallam University thesis This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Please visit http://shura.shu.ac.uk/19426/ and http://shura.shu.ac.uk/information.html for further details about copyright and re-use permissions. How Do I Look? Viewing, Embodiment, Performance, Showgirls, & Art Practice Alison Jane Carr A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Sheffield Hallam University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ProQuest Number: 10694307 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10694307 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Declaration I, Alison J Carr, declare that the enclosed submission for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, and consisting of a written thesis and a DVD booklet, meets the regulations stated in the handbook for the mode of submission selected and approved by the Research Degrees Sub-Committee of Sheffield Hallam University.
    [Show full text]
  • UPA : Redesigning Animation
    This document is downloaded from DR‑NTU (https://dr.ntu.edu.sg) Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. UPA : redesigning animation Bottini, Cinzia 2016 Bottini, C. (2016). UPA : redesigning animation. Doctoral thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/69065 https://doi.org/10.32657/10356/69065 Downloaded on 05 Oct 2021 20:18:45 SGT UPA: REDESIGNING ANIMATION CINZIA BOTTINI SCHOOL OF ART, DESIGN AND MEDIA 2016 UPA: REDESIGNING ANIMATION CINZIA BOTTINI School of Art, Design and Media A thesis submitted to the Nanyang Technological University in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2016 “Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible.” Paul Klee, “Creative Credo” Acknowledgments When I started my doctoral studies, I could never have imagined what a formative learning experience it would be, both professionally and personally. I owe many people a debt of gratitude for all their help throughout this long journey. I deeply thank my supervisor, Professor Heitor Capuzzo; my cosupervisor, Giannalberto Bendazzi; and Professor Vibeke Sorensen, chair of the School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore for showing sincere compassion and offering unwavering moral support during a personally difficult stage of this Ph.D. I am also grateful for all their suggestions, critiques and observations that guided me in this research project, as well as their dedication and patience. My gratitude goes to Tee Bosustow, who graciously
    [Show full text]
  • Some Critical Perspectives on Lotte Reiniger William Moritz [1996] 15
    "Animation: Art and Industry" ed. by Maureen Furniss, Indiana University 2Some CriticalPerspectives on Lotte Reiniger SomeCritical Perspectives onLotte Reiniger William Moritz [1996] otte Reiniger was bornin Berlin her first independent animation film, Das on 2June 1899. As a child, she Ornament des verliebten Herzens (Ornament Ldeveloped a facility withcutting of the Loving Heart), in the fall of 1919. paper silhouette figures, which had On the basis of the success of thisfilm, she become a folk-art formamong German got commercial workwith Julius women. As a teenager, she decided to Pinschewer’s advertising filmagency, pursue a career as an actress, and enrolled including an exquisite “reverse” silhouette in Max Reinhardt’s Drama School. She film, Das Geheimnis der Marquise (The began to volunteer as an extra for stage Marquise’s Secret), in which the elegant performances and movie productions, and white figures of eighteenth-century during the long waits between scenes and nobility (urging you to use Nivea skin takes, she would cut silhouette portraitsof cream!) seem like cameo or Wedgwood the stars, which she could sell to help pay images. These advertising films helped her tuition. The great actor-director Paul fund four more animated shorts: Amor und Wegener noticed not only the quality of das standhafte Liebespaar (Cupid and The the silhouettesshe made, but also her Steadfast Lovers, which combined incredible dexterity in cutting: holding the silhouettes with a live actor) in 1920, Hans scissors nearly still in her right hand and Christian Andersen’s Der fliegende Koffer moving the paper deftly in swift gestures (The Flying Suitcase) and Der Stern von thatuncannily formulated a complex Bethlehem (The Star of Bethlehem) in profile.
    [Show full text]
  • February 4, 2020 (XL:2) Lloyd Bacon: 42ND STREET (1933, 89M) the Version of This Goldenrod Handout Sent out in Our Monday Mailing, and the One Online, Has Hot Links
    February 4, 2020 (XL:2) Lloyd Bacon: 42ND STREET (1933, 89m) The version of this Goldenrod Handout sent out in our Monday mailing, and the one online, has hot links. Spelling and Style—use of italics, quotation marks or nothing at all for titles, e.g.—follows the form of the sources. DIRECTOR Lloyd Bacon WRITING Rian James and James Seymour wrote the screenplay with contributions from Whitney Bolton, based on a novel by Bradford Ropes. PRODUCER Darryl F. Zanuck CINEMATOGRAPHY Sol Polito EDITING Thomas Pratt and Frank Ware DANCE ENSEMBLE DESIGN Busby Berkeley The film was nominated for Best Picture and Best Sound at the 1934 Academy Awards. In 1998, the National Film Preservation Board entered the film into the National Film Registry. CAST Warner Baxter...Julian Marsh Bebe Daniels...Dorothy Brock George Brent...Pat Denning Knuckles (1927), She Couldn't Say No (1930), A Notorious Ruby Keeler...Peggy Sawyer Affair (1930), Moby Dick (1930), Gold Dust Gertie (1931), Guy Kibbee...Abner Dillon Manhattan Parade (1931), Fireman, Save My Child Una Merkel...Lorraine Fleming (1932), 42nd Street (1933), Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933), Ginger Rogers...Ann Lowell Footlight Parade (1933), Devil Dogs of the Air (1935), Ned Sparks...Thomas Barry Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936), San Quentin (1937), Dick Powell...Billy Lawler Espionage Agent (1939), Knute Rockne All American Allen Jenkins...Mac Elroy (1940), Action, the North Atlantic (1943), The Sullivans Edward J. Nugent...Terry (1944), You Were Meant for Me (1948), Give My Regards Robert McWade...Jones to Broadway (1948), It Happens Every Spring (1949), The George E.
    [Show full text]
  • Michele Leigh Paper : Animated Music
    GA2012 – XV Generative Art Conference Michele Leigh Paper : Animated Music: Early Experiments with Generative Art Abstract: This paper will explore the historical underpinnings of early abstract animation, more particularly attempts at visual representations of music. In order to set the stage for a discussion of the animated musical form, I will briefly draw connections to futurist experiments in art, which strove to represent both movement and music (Wassily Kandinsky for instance), as a means of illustrating a more explicit desire in animation to extend the boundaries of the art in terms of materials and/or techniques By highlighting the work of experimental animators like Hans Richter, Oskar Fishinger, and Mary Ellen Bute, this paper will map the historical connection between musical and animation as an early form of generative art. I will unpack the ways in which these filmmakers were creating open texts that challenged the viewer to participate in the creation of meaning and thus functioned as proto-generative art. Topic: Animation Finally, I will discuss the networked visual-music performances of Vibeke Sorenson as an artist who bridges the experimental animation Authors: tradition, started by Richter and Bute, and contemporary generative art Michele Leigh, practices. Department of Cinema & Photography This paper will lay the foundation for our understanding of the Southern Illinois history/histories of generative arts practice. University Carbondale www.siu.edu You can send this abstract with 2 files (.doc and .pdf file) to [email protected] or send them directly to the Chair of GA conferences [email protected] References: [1] Paul Wells, “Understanding Animation,” Routledge, New York, 1998.
    [Show full text]
  • Milestone Film and the British Film Institute Present
    Milestone Film and the British Film Institute present “She was born with magic hands.” — Jean Renoir on Lotte Reiniger A Milestone Film Release PO Box 128 • Harrington Park, NJ 07640 • Phone: (800) 603-1104 or (201) 767-3117 Fax: (201) 767-3035 • Email: [email protected] • www.milestonefilms.com The Adventures of Prince Achmed Die Abenteur des Prinzen Achmed (1926) Germany. Black and White with Tinting and Toning. Aspect Ratio: 1:1.33. 72 minutes. Produced by: Comenius-Film Production ©1926 Comenius Film GmbH © 2001 Primrose Film Productions Ltd. Based on stories in The Arabian Nights. Crew: Directed by ........................................Lotte Reiniger Animation Assistants..........................Walther Ruttmann, Berthold Bartosch and Alexander Kardan Technical Advisor..............................Carl Koch Original Music by..............................Wolfgang Zeller Restoration by the Frankfurt Filmmuseum. Tinted and printed by L'immagine ritrovata in Bologna. The original score has been recorded for ZDF/Arte. Scissors Make Films” By Lotte Reiniger, Sight and Sound, Spring 1936 I will attempt to answer the questions, which I am nearly always asked by people who watch me making the silhouettes. Firstly: How on earth did you get the idea? And secondly: How do they move, and why are your hands not seen on screen? The answer to the first is to be found in the short and simple history of my own life. I never had the feeling that my silhouette cutting was an idea. It so happened that I could always do it quite easily, as you will see from what follows. I could cut silhouettes almost as soon as I could manage to hold a pair of scissors.
    [Show full text]
  • Consonance and Dissonance in Visual Music Bill Alves Harvey Mudd College
    Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont All HMC Faculty Publications and Research HMC Faculty Scholarship 8-1-2012 Consonance and Dissonance in Visual Music Bill Alves Harvey Mudd College Recommended Citation Bill Alves (2012). Consonance and Dissonance in Visual Music. Organised Sound, 17, pp 114-119 doi:10.1017/ S1355771812000039 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the HMC Faculty Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in All HMC Faculty Publications and Research by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Organised Sound http://journals.cambridge.org/OSO Additional services for Organised Sound: Email alerts: Click here Subscriptions: Click here Commercial reprints: Click here Terms of use : Click here Consonance and Dissonance in Visual Music Bill Alves Organised Sound / Volume 17 / Issue 02 / August 2012, pp 114 - 119 DOI: 10.1017/S1355771812000039, Published online: 19 July 2012 Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S1355771812000039 How to cite this article: Bill Alves (2012). Consonance and Dissonance in Visual Music. Organised Sound, 17, pp 114-119 doi:10.1017/ S1355771812000039 Request Permissions : Click here Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/OSO, IP address: 134.173.130.244 on 24 Jul 2014 Consonance and Dissonance in Visual Music BILL ALVES Harvey Mudd College, The Claremont Colleges, 301 Platt Blvd, Claremont CA 91711 USA E-mail: [email protected] The concepts of consonance and dissonance broadly Plato found the harmony of the world in the Pythag- understood can provide structural models for creators of orean whole numbers and their ratios, abstract ideals visual music.
    [Show full text]
  • Dokumentation Oskar Fischinger, Pionier Des Cartoon
    Anmerkungen zu „Oskar Fischinger: Ten Films“ Der Animations-/Cartoon-Film entdeckte in den zwanziger Jahren des vergangenen Jahrhunderts den Jazz als Mittel, den Bildern zusätzlichen Reiz zu verleihen. Einer der Pioniere dieser Filmgattung war der Deutsche Oskar Fischinger. Hier eine kurze Beschreibung zu Oskar Fischinger, die der Wikipedia entnommen ist. Oskar Fischinger (* 22. Juni 1900 in Gelnhausen; † 31. Januar 1967 in Los Angeles) war ein Filmemacher und Pionier des abstrakten Films. Er arbeitete auch als Spezialist für Trickeffekte. Nach einer Lehre als Orgelbauer arbeitete Fischinger als Maschinenbautechniker in Frankfurt am Main. 1922 erlangte er einen Abschluss als Ingenieur. Unter dem Einfluss von Walther Ruttmanns „Opus I“ wandte Fischinger sich dem abstrakten Film zu. Er entwickelte eine Wachsschneidemaschine, mit deren Hilfe er organisch-fließende Bildsequenzen erstellte. In Werbespots für „Muratti“ (1934/35) sind die Protagonisten zur Ballett-Musik marschierende Zigaretten. Im Februar 1936 emigrierte Fischinger in die Vereinigten Staaten, wo er unter Fürsprache von Ernst Lubitsch ein Angebot der Paramount in Hollywood erhielt. Unterstützt wurde die mittellose Familie von Paul Kohner und Charlotte Dieterle, die 1938 den European Film Fund gründeten. Im Dezember 1936 unterschrieb Fischinger einen Vertrag mit Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Später entwarf er für Walt Disney die Verfilmung der Toccata und Fuge in D-Moll für dessen Film Fantasia (1939). Fischingers Arbeiten und die seiner avantgardistischen Kollegen (Walter Ruttmann, Hans Richter, Viking Eggeling u. a.) gelten als Vorläufer des modernen Videoclips. Ab 1936 widmete sich Fischinger auch der Malerei und malte abstrakt. Oskar Fischinger ist mir erst seit einigen Jahren bekannt, als ich Recherchen zu „Fritz the cat“, „Betty Boop“ oder „Steamboot Willi“ machte.
    [Show full text]
  • The Lack of Recognition for the Film Choreographer in Hollywood
    Pace University DigitalCommons@Pace Honors College Theses Pforzheimer Honors College 6-2020 The Lack of Recognition for the Film Choreographer in Hollywood Claire Ross Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/honorscollege_theses Part of the Dance Commons, and the Film and Media Studies Commons The Lack of Recognition for the Film Choreographer in Hollywood Claire Ross Commercial Dance Major Art & Entertainment Management Minor Virginia Cox, MS Dyson College of Arts and Sciences Presentation Date: June 2020 Graduation Date: May 2020 1 Abstract The following research directly addresses why the film choreographer has lacked adequate recognition within the Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Additionally, this study aims to fill the research gap in relation to the minimal documentation that exists regarding the role and contributions of the film choreographer within the film industry. In order to move forward in assessing how the film choreographer can be recognized within the Oscars, one must address why they have not been sufficiently recognized within the history of the Academy Awards. By assessing the film choreographer’s value within the film industry through semi-structured interviews and data analysis methodologies, it was concluded their lack of recognition within the Oscars is due to the lack of dance’s presence in film, the undefined role of a film choreographer, and the general lack of awareness revolving around their contributions to film. All of which directly contribute to the film choreographer’s disproportionately perceived value within the film industry. Overall, this research intends to increase the dialogue revolving around the film choreographer as well as validate their value within the film industry.
    [Show full text]
  • Ronald Davis Oral History Collection on the Performing Arts
    Oral History Collection on the Performing Arts in America Southern Methodist University The Southern Methodist University Oral History Program was begun in 1972 and is part of the University’s DeGolyer Institute for American Studies. The goal is to gather primary source material for future writers and cultural historians on all branches of the performing arts- opera, ballet, the concert stage, theatre, films, radio, television, burlesque, vaudeville, popular music, jazz, the circus, and miscellaneous amateur and local productions. The Collection is particularly strong, however, in the areas of motion pictures and popular music and includes interviews with celebrated performers as well as a wide variety of behind-the-scenes personnel, several of whom are now deceased. Most interviews are biographical in nature although some are focused exclusively on a single topic of historical importance. The Program aims at balancing national developments with examples from local history. Interviews with members of the Dallas Little Theatre, therefore, serve to illustrate a nation-wide movement, while film exhibition across the country is exemplified by the Interstate Theater Circuit of Texas. The interviews have all been conducted by trained historians, who attempt to view artistic achievements against a broad social and cultural backdrop. Many of the persons interviewed, because of educational limitations or various extenuating circumstances, would never write down their experiences, and therefore valuable information on our nation’s cultural heritage would be lost if it were not for the S.M.U. Oral History Program. Interviewees are selected on the strength of (1) their contribution to the performing arts in America, (2) their unique position in a given art form, and (3) availability.
    [Show full text]
  • Glorious Technicolor: from George Eastman House and Beyond Screening Schedule June 5–August 5, 2015 Friday, June 5 4:30 the G
    Glorious Technicolor: From George Eastman House and Beyond Screening Schedule June 5–August 5, 2015 Friday, June 5 4:30 The Garden of Allah. 1936. USA. Directed by Richard Boleslawski. Screenplay by W.P. Lipscomb, Lynn Riggs, based on the novel by Robert Hichens. With Marlene Dietrich, Charles Boyer, Basil Rathbone, Joseph Schildkraut. 35mm restoration by The Museum of Modern Art, with support from the Celeste Bartos Fund for Film Preservation; courtesy The Walt Disney Studios. 75 min. La Cucaracha. 1934. Directed by Lloyd Corrigan. With Steffi Duna, Don Alvarado, Paul Porcasi, Eduardo Durant’s Rhumba Band. Courtesy George Eastman House (35mm dye-transfer print on June 5); and UCLA Film & Television Archive (restored 35mm print on July 21). 20 min. [John Barrymore Technicolor Test for Hamlet]. 1933. USA. Pioneer Pictures. 35mm print from The Museum of Modern Art. 5 min. 7:00 The Wizard of Oz. 1939. USA. Directed by Victor Fleming. Screenplay by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allan Woolf, based on the book by L. Frank Baum. Music by Harold Arlen, E.Y. Harburg. With Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Ray Bolger, Margaret Hamilton, Billie Burke. 35mm print from George Eastman House; courtesy Warner Bros. 102 min. Saturday, June 6 2:30 THE DAWN OF TECHNICOLOR: THE SILENT ERA *Special Guest Appearances: James Layton and David Pierce, authors of The Dawn of Technicolor, 1915-1935 (George Eastman House, 2015). James Layton and David Pierce illustrate Technicolor’s origins during the silent film era. Before Technicolor achieved success in the 1930s, the company had to overcome countless technical challenges and persuade cost-conscious producers that color was worth the extra effort and expense.
    [Show full text]
  • Repetitions, Dichotomies and Transference in European Cinema of the 20S
    Repetitions, dichotomies and transference in European cinema of the 20s THE CASE OF DOURO, FAINA FLUVIAL [AKA: --- Alexandra Serapicos DOURO, WORKING RIVER] AND OF Escola das Artes Universidade Católica Portuguesa [AKA: THE --- BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN] Warning 1. Regarding the films under analysis, only words by their In 1927, Walter Ruttmann, then 39, made Berlin: authors are used as references. There is, therefore, a de- die Sinfonie der Großstadt (Berlin, Symphony of a liberate ‘disinterest’ in other people’s opinions. Authors Great City); in 1931, Manoel de Oliveira, at almost 23, do not always tell everything, sometimes they distort the finished his first film, Douro, Faina Fluvial2 (Douro, order of things and facts themselves (not always to their Working River), which he had begun in 1929. There own advantage), but even their ‘lies’ offer us clues, if not have been many comparisons between the two films to the final significance, at least for their intentions and and in the recent exhibition dedicated to the work wishes - for the project. I think that one’s own work and of Manoel de Oliveira, in Serralves Museum, a trip- words are (almost) always the best point of departure for tych was proposed: Berlin, Symphony of a Great City personal reflection, even if it results in already explored or (Ruttmann) – The Man with a Movie Camera (Vertov) proposed paths. This warning is justified because there are – Douro, Working River (Oliveira). Rather than taking countless analyses, particularly of Eisenstein’s Potemkin, up again a reflection on ‘city films’ and the, appar- openly ignored here. This is, evidently, a contradiction in ently clear, formal analogies between these three terms, given that I know some of these analyses and it films, and in particular between Berlin, Symphony would be impossible to forget them completely.
    [Show full text]