Eng – Page 6 – desistfilm

Cannes

CANNES – QUINZAINE DES RÉALISATEURS 2021: TRAIN AGAIN BY PETER TSCHERKASSKY

By José Sarmiento

Peter Tscherkassky’s latest masterpiece Train Again (2021) is a magnificent work of synthesis: of the history of cinema, of cinema as a spectacle, of the anxiety of industrialization, of the unveiling of cinema apparatus, of the possibilities and expansion of structural cinema. Dedicated to his good friend and structural filmmaker extraordinaire, Kurt Kren, Tscherkassky shares the same impulses of the work he’s homaging.

2021.07.21

Eng

AESTHETICS OF A PERSONAL LANDSCAPE: FAT CHANCE BY STEPHEN BROOMER

José Sarmiento Hinojosa

I would like to make a case for the aesthetics present in Stephen Broomer’s appropriation films, but particularly in his latest film to date, Fat Chance (2020). One might be inclined to appreciate this work as a continuation of the possibilities for found footage in experimental cinema, following in the steps of other greats like Bill Morrison and Peter Tscherkassky (and yes, there is something to say -aesthetically and in its poetics*- about certain similarities between the film, and, let’s say, others like Outer Space or Light is Calling).

2021.06.21

Artículos

NOTES ON 2551.01 BY NORBERT PFAFFENBICHLER

by Claudia Siefen-Leitich

“Touch“, “shame”, and “disgust” have a multiple meaning in film. Not only do the protagonists touch each other, but the film touches the viewers. Trapped in their cinema seats, captivated by the events on the screen and integrated into the identity machine of cinema, the individual separates himself or herself in order to be involuntarily touched by the so called heroes.

2021.06.21

desistfilm

JANIE GEISER: “I LIKE TO BE INVOLVED IN WORK THAT ALLOWS MY CURIOSITY TO GET IN PLAY”

By José Sarmiento Hinojosa

I would like to recover some words with a previous exchange with Louisiana-born artist Janie Geiser, which aptly reflect on how I still feel about the work of this wonderful American experimental filmmaker, author of masterpieces of collage cinema such as The Red Book (1994), Ghost Algebra (2010), Valeria Street (2018), Reverse Shadow (2019), among many others. Janie also works in installation and performance with expanded cinema and puppets, and co-created Automata, an experimental film and puppet theater in Los Angeles.

2021.05.11

Eng

ANTONI PINENT: “CELLULOID PRODUCES PHYSIOLOGICAL SENSATIONS THAT DIGITAL DOES NOT CONTAIN”

By José Sarmiento and Mónica Delgado

Almost at the end of last year, Spanish filmmaker, curator and teacher, currently based in Los Angeles, Antoni Pinent premiered his new work “i STiLL BELiEVE iN CELLULOiD” [aka ‘film beyond film’] or iSBiC (2020), a series of short films (or capsules as he calls them) as part of a multimedia project that reflects on the practice and validity of experimental cinema, art and celluloid as a subject.

2021.05.01

Eng

ISABELLE INGOLD AND VIVIANNE PERELMUTER: “THE POINT WAS TO FOCUS ON WHAT RESISTS, AFFIRMS LIFE”

By José Sarmiento Hinojosa

We recently found Allieurs, Partout (Elsewhere, Everywhere, 2020) by Isabelle Ingold and Vivianne Perelmuter, premiered at Rotterdam Film Festival last year. Immediately, the unique qualities of the work of Isabelle and Vivianne permeated our screens.

2021.04.26

Eng

VISIONS DU RÉEL 2021: COURAGE BY ALIAKSEI PALUYAN

By José Sarmiento Hinojosa

Behind the crisp cinematography of Aleksei’s Paluvan latest documentary Courage (2020), lies the story of an underground theater group in Minsk, surviving through times of Alexander Lukashenko’s dictatorship of over 20 years, in the middle of a fraudulent election to further prolong the last communist regime in Europe.

2021.04.20

Eng

CINEMATIC LETTERS TO WUHAN AND BEIRUT: INTER-IMAGES OF A MNEMONIC RIVER AND AFTER-IMAGES FROM A MEMORY BOX

By Dina Pokrajac

Letters have been sent and received since antiquity. But what is the relation of the epistolary practice to cinema? Is every film an open letter inventing its addressee or is it a missive intended for a very specific reader? If the epistle is a form of documenting the past, can it truly capture the exquisite intricacy of its repressed insinuations and remerging indications, or is it merely “rescuing” the banal and otherwise soon to be forgotten fragments of our quotidian?

2021.04.03

Eng

MYTHS IN MOTION: AN INTERVIEW WITH JULIEN FARAUT

By Alonso Aguilar

Intercutting between sharp body movements and intense dramatic sights, French filmmaker Julien Faraut has retooled the sports documentary format to fit his own pursuits. For him, the subjects of his films aren’t just about their unmatched prowess and unthinkable triumphs, but more so a reflection of their own iconography. We see them through the lens of cinematic time. Their actions are repurposed, reframed and recontextualized, while their narratives leave behind the restrictive realms of representation in favor of the limitless possibilities of true expression.

2021.04.01

Eng

BERLIN CRITIC’S WEEK: A LOOK AT ITS DOUBLE PROGRAMS

By Monica Delgado

A new (online) edition of Berlin Critic’s Week (Woche der Kritik) took place from March 7 to 27. Woche der Kritik is organized annually by the German Film Critics Association (Verband der deutschen Filmkritik), within the framework of the Berlinale, in order to contribute to the debate on cinema.

2021.03.15