FESTIVAL 2005Since 2001 the Filmwinter Stuttgart has been dealing with the relation of performance and acting in film in various programmes. Among others there were screenings of films/videos by Cipri and Maresco, Erwin Wurm, Fluxus and other diverse videos and films, discussing theatre, stagings but also everyday actions.
Wand 5 is going to offer a distinguished programme at this year’s Filmwinter once again. The centre of consideration, however, are questions of theatre-notions, artificiality and practice in acting. The extrusion of theatre in film - as it was demanded by the Avantgarde Film in the 20ies – seems to be subjected to a reverse boost. Everything considered not filmic back the, i.e. extensive dialogues and monologues, stage-like settings, stagings in several acts, is now considered progressive. In the age of assimilation of experimental design in advertising spots and music video is probably a return to early (theatrical) cinema and the theatrical aspect in itself is a strategy of avoidance and a form of criticism. It is noticeable that theatre producers increasingly turn into film producers. The most prominent examples here would be the Volksbühne in Berlin. We included some of their productions – by René Pollesch and hangover ltd. – into the Filmwinter programme. A key figure of this tendency is of course the omnipresent and inevitable Christoph Schlingensief. The Filmwinter will introduce his most current film product “Attabambi-Pornoland” for the first time and in a joint venture with production company Filmgalerie 451. Screenings of a few of his earlier films were part of a presentation of the work of Dietrich Kuhlbrodt, actor and federal prosecutor. Schlingensief, who has often worked with experimental filmer Werner Nekes during the 80ies combines theatre production, experimental film work and action art. His work for the stage proves how strategies in performance and action art have increasingly pushed into the realm of theatre. The DV-video “Petra” by group artists hangover ltd., who draw from the work of Fassbinder, shows the strong interchange of theatre and film. Fassbinder is again an important reference in “Abolition of beating language”, an installation by Michael Dreyer. The piece of work deals with “talking about someone in his/her presence. Which filmic impression of a main character is produced if they cannot get a word in. How do the concerned parties - in their functions as actors as well as characters – get out of this” (Michael Dreyer). The (amateur) actors use the technique of shadowing: the listeners have earphones and the text is prompted. They repeat what is said.
The theatre notion is taken to the extreme with the hommage to the late Gary Goldberg. No settings and minimalist decoration offered Goldberg full concentration on acting. The focus of all of Goldberg’s films was on his actors Taylor Mead and Bill Rice – noted for their parts in Andy Warhol’s films and currently seen in Jim Jarmusch’s “Coffee and Cigarettes”. Time is made visible and sensible in statically shot actions. Goldberg’s films are evocative of the work of Samuel Beckett in many respects.
Beckett is part of the programme “Flaming Gestures” with his only film “film”. The main part is played by silent movie star Buster Keaton, who incorporates the body of theatrical gestures in film like no one else, a body which seemingly turned obsolete as movies with sound emerged. Different forms of exposure and depiction of gestures come to the fore in this historical programme, which draws on performer and filmmaker Jack Smith as a starting point. Here the gesture itself – on one hand a daily medium of communication on the other an instrument of actors – is a subject: exaggerated as a burlesque, deconstructed in a video or celebrated as banality.
Wand 5 is going to offer a distinguished programme at this year’s Filmwinter once again. The centre of consideration, however, are questions of theatre-notions, artificiality and practice in acting. The extrusion of theatre in film - as it was demanded by the Avantgarde Film in the 20ies – seems to be subjected to a reverse boost. Everything considered not filmic back the, i.e. extensive dialogues and monologues, stage-like settings, stagings in several acts, is now considered progressive. In the age of assimilation of experimental design in advertising spots and music video is probably a return to early (theatrical) cinema and the theatrical aspect in itself is a strategy of avoidance and a form of criticism. It is noticeable that theatre producers increasingly turn into film producers. The most prominent examples here would be the Volksbühne in Berlin. We included some of their productions – by René Pollesch and hangover ltd. – into the Filmwinter programme. A key figure of this tendency is of course the omnipresent and inevitable Christoph Schlingensief. The Filmwinter will introduce his most current film product “Attabambi-Pornoland” for the first time and in a joint venture with production company Filmgalerie 451. Screenings of a few of his earlier films were part of a presentation of the work of Dietrich Kuhlbrodt, actor and federal prosecutor. Schlingensief, who has often worked with experimental filmer Werner Nekes during the 80ies combines theatre production, experimental film work and action art. His work for the stage proves how strategies in performance and action art have increasingly pushed into the realm of theatre. The DV-video “Petra” by group artists hangover ltd., who draw from the work of Fassbinder, shows the strong interchange of theatre and film. Fassbinder is again an important reference in “Abolition of beating language”, an installation by Michael Dreyer. The piece of work deals with “talking about someone in his/her presence. Which filmic impression of a main character is produced if they cannot get a word in. How do the concerned parties - in their functions as actors as well as characters – get out of this” (Michael Dreyer). The (amateur) actors use the technique of shadowing: the listeners have earphones and the text is prompted. They repeat what is said.
The theatre notion is taken to the extreme with the hommage to the late Gary Goldberg. No settings and minimalist decoration offered Goldberg full concentration on acting. The focus of all of Goldberg’s films was on his actors Taylor Mead and Bill Rice – noted for their parts in Andy Warhol’s films and currently seen in Jim Jarmusch’s “Coffee and Cigarettes”. Time is made visible and sensible in statically shot actions. Goldberg’s films are evocative of the work of Samuel Beckett in many respects.
Beckett is part of the programme “Flaming Gestures” with his only film “film”. The main part is played by silent movie star Buster Keaton, who incorporates the body of theatrical gestures in film like no one else, a body which seemingly turned obsolete as movies with sound emerged. Different forms of exposure and depiction of gestures come to the fore in this historical programme, which draws on performer and filmmaker Jack Smith as a starting point. Here the gesture itself – on one hand a daily medium of communication on the other an instrument of actors – is a subject: exaggerated as a burlesque, deconstructed in a video or celebrated as banality.
14.01.2005 10PM FILMHAUS SAAL 2
TRIBUTE TO GARY GOLDBERG
FIVE FILMS BY GARY GOLGBERG PRESENTED BY JERRY TARTAGLIA
PLATES
USA 1990, 11:00 MIN., 16 MM CAMERA, SOUND EDITING JACOB BURCKHARDT ACTORS BILL RICE , TAYLOR MEAD
“Bill serves Taylor plates.” GG."Not to be missed." - Amy Taubin, The Village Voice
"It is probably the most original, thought-provoking comedy I've ever seen." Alexander Kogan, Films Around the World, NY