Chris Marker
Cats, Birds and the Cosmos
This cinematic 24-hours starts at dawn in Beijing in 1956 and winds up with sunrise in Ontario in 1972. In Sunday in Peking (1956) Chris Marker describes a day in the life of the city that he had dreamed of since childhood. Reflecting on the exotic, the ordinary, and his own role in interpreting the place, this 16mm postcard is an early example of the form for which Marker was to become known. By Night With Torch and Spear, Joseph Cornell’s uncanny collage of educational films, explores the industrious nature of both man and moth. Discovered after Cornell’s death and preserved by Anthology Film Archives in 1979 it is a classic of perplexing power. Stellar (1993) is Stan Brakhage’s evocation of outer and inner space. The optical printing of Brakhage’s long time collaborator Sam Bush further animates the painted frames to creating movement in new directions. Back on earth, Los Angeles alley cats are the subject of Brakhage’s rarely screened Night Cats (1956). Shot in 1972 and completed in 1986, Joyce Wieland’s Birds at Sunrise is a subtle study of the birds at her backyard feeder one winter morning. Wieland was moved by the creatures’ ability to survive the extreme elements, and communicates the feeling through her sympathetic camera work and deft editing.
Additional cosmic surprises await!
Programme
Dimanche à Pekin (Sunday in Peking), Chris Marker, 1956, 22 min, 16mm
By Night With Torch and Spear, Joseph Cornell, preserved 1979, 9 min, 16mm
Stellar, Stan Brakhage, 1993, 3 minutes, 16mm
Night Cats, Stan Brakhage, 1956, 8 min, 16mm
Birds at Sunrise, Joyce Wieland, 1972/1986, 16mm, 10 min
***NOTE EARLIER START TIME***
@ the Art Bar, Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen West
Tuesday December 15, 2009 | 7:00 PM screening, $5
Birds at Sunrise
By Night With Torch and Spear