EFF Process. Retrospection. Austrian Avant-garde

Curator: Jānis Putniņš

 

 

When experimental cinema classics are screened, it is common that works from North America are prevalent. However, this time there is an exception – we are showing various important films, made during the 60’s and 70’s in Europe, Austria. But a certain link between American experimental cinema and Austrian filmmakers presented in this programme can not be denied. Peter Kubelka was a close friend of the legendary Jonas Mekas and he often visited New York to screen his films, and Kurt Kren spent more than twenty years in his later life in the US. Yet, while connections with the modernist manifestations of American radical cinema undoubtedly can be seen, the works of Austrian experimental filmmakers have their own distinctiveness and originality, rooted in both post-war Austrian history and in the close ties with such extreme 20th Century art phenomena as Viennese Actionism.
This programme consists of six works by four filmmakers, employing different stylistics and a rich arsenal of means of expression characteristic to experimental film. From an unusual documentary “Unsere Afrikareise” by Kubelka - a witty play with elements of cinema, to the masterful demonstrations of structural cinema in “3/60 Bäume im Herbst” and “ 7/64 Leda und der Schwan” by Kren. The diversity in approaches to cinema are most clearly revealed in two very different documentations of performances by Viennese actionist Otto Muehl, where Schmidt’s poetic observation (“Bodybuilding”) starkly contrasts with the fragmented nature of Kren’s “7/64 Leda und der Schwan” which is constructed by metric cinema principles. While the influence of Viennese Actionists can also be seen in “Remote... Remote...” by Export, it differs radically from them with its distinctively feminine perspective and largely marks a paradigm shift in experimental cinema.

 

1. Unsere Afrikareise'/ Our Trip to Africa // Peter Kubelka
Austria / 1966 / colour / optical sound / 13’ / 16mm >> 16mm

 

2. 3/60 Bäume im Herbst / 3/60 Trees in Autumn // Kurt Kren
Austria / 1960 / b/w / optical sound / 5’ / 16mm >> 16mm

 

3. 7/64 Leda und der Schwan / 7/64 Leda and the Swan // Kurt Kren
Austria / 1964 / colour / silent / 3’ / 16mm >> 16mm

 

4. P.R.A.T.E.R. // Ernst Schmidt Jr.
Austria / 1963-1966 / b/w / optical sound / 21’ / 16mm >> 16mm

 

5. Bodybuilding // Ernst Schmidt Jr.
Austria / 1965 / colour / silent / 9’ / 16mm >> 16mm

 

6. Remote... Remote… // VALIE EXPORT
Austria / 1973 / colour / optical sound / 10’ / 16mm >> 16mm

 

7. Unsere Afrikareise / Our Trip to Africa // Peter Kubelka
Austria / 1966 / colour / optical sound / 13’ / 16mm >> 16mm

 

 

______

 

The fourth edition of Process Experimental Film Festival will take place between August 18-22 in Riga, Latvia, offering a diverse international programme of film screenings, live cinema performances, talks and other events. The festival is dedicated to analogue experimental cinema in all its personal, adventurous and uncompromising forms.

More: processfest.lv

 

The festival is organized by Baltic Analog Lab and supported by State Culture Capital Foundation and Riga City Council.