Closely Watched Trains #3

You can barely catch a glimpse of it in the trailer.

Beyond the Hills/ După dealuri (Cristian Mungiu, 2012) [trailer]

Beyond the Hills/ După dealuri opens with the most amazing train station scene!

October Horror-thon #2

Vampyr (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1932)

Restanţă de la TIFF a.c., când am pierdut o bună bucată din film, deoarece după The Loneliest Planet am rămas şi la Q&A-ul cu r. Julia Loktev. Restul filmului lui Dreyer l-am văzut în nişte condiţii mizerabile, căci proiecţia era în aer liber, la Casa TIFF: eu, lângă intrare, ecranul, minuscul, oameni venind, plecând. O groaznică primă expunere la un clasic. Mda, pentru că până atunci n-am avut ocazia curiozitatea să văd Vampyr. Dar am rămas pentru muzică. Pentru muzica lui Steven Severin (of Siouxsie and the Banshees fame).

TIFF poster for Vampyr (Cluj, June 2012)

Acum că mi-a revenit interesul şi pentru vampire fiction, şi pentru clasici, am văzut şi eu Vampyr, în sfârşit! Nu în condiţii mult mai bune, ce-i drept. Pe youtube l-am vizionat. Cu sunetul dezactivat. Şi cu muzica lui Severin ca soundtrack.

The History of Film: A Lesson, by Serge Bromberg (2)

Previously: The History of Film: A Lesson, by Serge Bromberg (1)

(8)

Gwalior (Pathé, 1909)

(This film has some extremely beautiful marks of deterioration, too bad I can't find it online.)

(9)

Les Kiriki - Acrobates japonais (Segundo de Chomon, 1907)

Watch it at Europa Film Treasures.

(10)

Ach wie so trügerisch / La Donna è mobile (1908)

Watch it at Europa Film Treasures.

(11)

The Love Nest (Buster Keaton, 1923)

Watch it at Europa Film Treasures.

(12)

Le Voyage dans la Lune (Georges Méliès, 1902) + AIR

(This version right here. So glad I've finally seen it.)

(13)

Gertie, the Dinosaur (Winsor McCay, 1914)

But I've already told you about Gertie.

The History of Film: A Lesson, by Serge Bromberg (1)

Previously: The History of Animation: A Lesson, by Serge Bromberg

Retour de flamme, a cine-concert with Serge Bromberg au piano, featuring:

(1)

A Trip Down Market Street (Miles Bros., 1906)

Bonus: The 60 Minutes segment on the Market Street film, which you should watch in order to make the connection with the next film.

(2)

San Francisco après la catastrophe (Pathé, 1906)

(3)

Métamorphoses du papillon (Pathé, 1904)

(Unfortunately, this is the only version youtube has to offer.)

(4)

The Acrobatic Fly (Percy Smith, 1910*)

(*My notes say 1907, but you know... notes in the dark, can't exactly rely on those.)

(5)

La Peine du talion (Pathé, 1906*)

(*Again: my notes say 1905.)

(6)

Flirt en chemin de fer (Pathé, 1901*)

(*My notes say 1901, BFI says 1902, IMDB says 1904.)

(7)

Après le bal (Georges Méliès, 1897)

To be continued...

The History of Animation: A Lesson, by Serge Bromberg

About Serge Bromberg, via the French Institute:

(fr)

Serge Bromberg est Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, il a été directeur artistique du Festival de film d’animation d’Annecy pendant une dizaine d’années, il est programmateur des séries de films muets pour Arte et réalisateur.  Mais avant tout il est spécialiste dans la restauration des films et son entreprise, Lobster Films a eu l’occasion de travailler sur la restauration de centaines de films, parmi lesquels le premier film sonore de l’histoire du cinéma Le chanteur de jazz, tous les films de Jean Vigo, six film des Kurosawa et plus récemment « Voyage dans la lune » de Georges Méliès. Avec le spectacle « Retour de flamme », il présente au piano d’une manière ludique des extraits de films restaurés.

(ro)

Serge Bromberg este cavaler al Ordinului Artelor şi Literelor, a fost directorul artistic al Festivalului de filme de animaţie de la Annecy timp de 10 ani, este curatorul programelor de filme mute la Arte şi regizor de film. Dar înainte de toate este specialist în restaurarea filmelor şi prin compania sa, Lobster Films a avut ocazia să lucreze la restaurarea a sute de filme, între care primul film sonor din istoria cinematografiei, „Cântăreţul de jazz”, toate filmele lui Jean Vigo, şase filme ale lui Kurosawa şi mai recent, „Călătoria în lună” al lui George Méliès. Prin spectacolul „Retour de flammes”, Serge Bromberg prezintă într-un mod distractiv şi acompaniat de pian, selecţii speciale din catalogul filmelor restaurate.

On Friday, the 19th, I went to Serge Bromberg's very educational and very entertaining lecture on animation films. Organized by the French Institute, the lecture, as well as the cine-concert Retour de flamme (I'll list the films presented during Retour de flamme tomorrow), which I attended the following day, were part of Comedy Cluj, a film festival I wrote about in its first year, rather enthusiastically, I'd say, but one that I've seriously neglected during the following years. I'm tempted to make a few comments on the film selection, but I guess I'll refrain as I do have to consider the fact that my disinterest in this festival might be directly linked to my not living in Cluj anymore. Anyways. I'm posting all the shorts presented during the lecture as found on youtube.

+

La joie de vivre/ The Joy of Living (Anthony Gross & Hector Hoppin, 1934)

(Go at Europa Film Treasures for more details + a brief history of this film.)

+

Philips Broadcast (George Pal, 1938)

(Go at Europa Film Treasures for more details + a brief history of this film.)

+

Ain't She Sweet (Fleischer, 1933)

+

Gertie, the Dinosaur (Winsor McCay, 1914)



In this version here, the animation is accompanied by intertitles. However, Bromberg pointed out that Gertie was a vaudeville show performed by Winsor McCay himself. And that's how I've seen Gertie both on Friday and on Saturday - not as a film, but as a performance, whip and all, with Bromberg as McCay. I'll have to say, the whip effect is a lot more impressive in a small room than in a big movie theater.

Tumbling #5

(1) Moonrise Kingdom / Robocop / (2) Runaway / Moonrise Kingdom
source: Kanye Wes

Just for fun:
Kanye Wes

Cactus River

Khong lang nam/ Cactus River (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2012)

Weerasethakul: “The flow of the two rivers — Nach and the Mekong — activates my memories of the place where I shot several films. Over many years, this woman whose name was once Jenjira has introduced me to this river, her life, its history, and to her belief about its imminent future. She is certain that soon there will be no water in the river due to the upstream constructions of dams in China and Laos. I noticed, too, that Jenjira was no more.”

(via The Playlist)

October Horror-thon #1

La maschera del demonio/ Black Sunday (Mario Bava, 1960)

Closely Watched Trains #2 {Preview}

Après mai (Olivier Assayas, 2012)

Closely Watched Trains #1

Ostre sledované vlaky/ Closely Watched Trains (Jirí Menzel, 1966)

I'm starting this series here and now, but what I really want to do is this: a little film montage of trains arriving in the train station, ppl saying goodbye to each other before getting on the train, trains leaving the train station, ppl traveling by train, trains arriving at their destination, ppl getting off the train and meeting other ppl.

Saying Goodbye

The Good Wife (season 4, episode 1: "I Fought the Law")