1968/2008

DIVERSIONS: A FESTIVAL OF EXPERIMENTAL FILM AND VIDEO
8-11 MAY 2008
FILMHOUSE, EDINBURGH

DIVERSIONS is a new festival of experimental film and video organised jointly by Filmhouse cinema and the Film Studies section of the University of Edinburgh.

The festival will begin with an historical introduction to experimental cinema, led by Pip Chodorov, filmmaker, founder of Revoir video and co-founder of L’Abominable, an artist-run independent film lab in Paris (Thursday 8th, 6pm). This section will involve a selection of recent French works: ‘Didam‘ (Olivier Fouchard and Mahime Rouhi, 1999-2000, 16mm, 11’), ‘Fenêtres’ (Michele Bokanowski, 2004, 16mm, 9’) and ‘Faux Mouvements‘ (Pip Chodorov, 2007, 16mm, 12’)

This year’s programme also involves a special section on May ‘68 (Sunday 11th, 1pm & 3pm), including three films of the period that approach the events from different perspectives:

‘Détruisez-vous’ (Serge Bard,1968, Digibeta, 75′) Filmed a month before the outbreak of the student riots in May 1968, Serge Bard’s striking film, the first to be produced by the Zanzibar group (which included, amongst others, Philippe Garrel and Jackie Raynal), takes its title from a ‘68 slogan “Aidez-nous, détruisez-vous”. Its loose narrative, which centres on the monologues of its disenchanted characters, played by Alain Jouffroy and Caroline de Bendern, is periodically interspersed with visual shocks and unsettling theatrical tableaux that anticipate the violent call to action that came shortly after.

‘Le Soulèment de la jeunesse’ (Maurice Lemaitre, 1969, 16mm, 25′) Maurice Lemaître was one of the key members of Lettrism, a literary and artistic movement created by Isidore Isou in the 1940s. In this film, documentary footage of the riots are set to a varied soundtrack, in which Isou’s economic theory of ‘le soulvèment de la jeunesse’, delivered by Lemaître, is accompanied by the voices of général de Gaulle and Georges Pompidou and the rhythmic chants of the Lettrist poets.

‘Cinétracts‘ (Chris Marker et al, 1968, 16mm, 20′) Made by politically committed film-makers to serve as agit-prop for the events of May ‘68, these films rely exclusively on stills rather than documentary footage, yet the sense of contrast and movement is very strong and the films very effectively make their point, they attempt to catch the spirit, rather than the fact, of the May Revolution. And although made anonymously, one can detect the hands of Godard, Marker et. al. (LUX)

Renowned experimental filmmaker, critic and author of Le Cinéma Lettriste 1951-1991 (Paris: Paris Expérimental, 1992) Frédérique Devaux will be present to introduce Lemaitre’s film. She will also be presenting some of her own works, including the recent series of autobiographical films set in Kabylia, Algeria (Saturday 10th, 3.30pm)

For more information please visit: http://www.diversionsfilmfestival.co.uk or contact Kim Knowles (festival organiser): K.Knowles@ed.ac.uk

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