FRAGMENTS FROM OUR EVOLUTIONARY EXPERIMENT
The City Symphony Phenomenon with live scores by Whine Cave
78mins
March 28th 7pm
TICKETS
During the 1920s and 1930s there arose dozens of films that utilized abstract, poetic, metaphorical and rhythmic approaches to evoke the city as the emblem of modernity. Instead of the city acting as a mere backdrop in service to narrative the city was the protagonist and these films worked to capture “the dynamic of the metropolis.” This program includes six short works in a variety of formats (35MM, 16MM, DCP) and the program will feature a continuous live score developed and performed by by Chicago’s Whine Cave (Sleeping Giant Fest alums, Kent Lambert and Sam Wagster).
Halsted Street- 11 min Conrad Frieberg 1934 16MM B&W Print courtesy of MoMA
A member of the Workers Film and Photo League who also used the pseudonym Conrad O. Nelson, Conrad Friberg made a silent city symphony about Chicago in 1934. Hauser, like Ruttmann and others, presented the city as a space of simultaneity, whereas Friberg introduced an alternative to the cross-section idea of the life of a city. By tracing the length of Halsted Street from south to north through the entire cityscape, Friberg short film preserves the spatial structure of urban space, and literally cuts through the city. Friberg announces his course in an opening intertitle that "This Film Presents a Cross Section of Chicago As Seen On Halsted Street." Due to the length of the street, the film shows a variety of Chicago neighborhoods, which unfold successively on the screen; shop and restaurant signs mark the different ethnic districts, as the film also explores the city as a space of textual inscription.
Manhatta- 10min Paul Strand/ Charles Sheeler 1921 35MM B&W 11min
Courtesy of the George Eastman House
In 1921, Sheeler and Strand collaborated to make Manhatta, considered to be the first American avant-garde film. Inspired by Walt Whitman's poem "Mannahatta," which is quoted in one of the intertitles, the film portrays life in New York City in sixty-five non narrative shots. The sequences display one epic day in Lower Manhattan, beginning with a ferry approaching the city in early morning and ending with a sunset view from a skyscraper. Shot from extreme camera angles, the film captures the dynamic qualities of the new metropolis.
Skyscraper Symphony 9 min Robert Florey 1929 35MM B&W
Courtesy of the George Eastman House
Skyscraper Symphony by Florey explores the effects of modernity on the urban dweller in concert with other city symphony films. The film overlooks the city's traditional status as a bustling commercial seaport, focusing solely on the city's lofty buildings often seen through radically oblique angles and destabilizing viewpoints.
Twenty-Four Dollar Island- 12min Robert Flaherty 35mm-to-DCP courtesy of Eye Film Museum
"You understand that I am speaking of a film in which New York is the central character, not a picture in which individuals are portrayed, which would make New York merely the background for a story. I am talking about the picture in which New York is the story." - Robert Flaherty (1927)
Hoogstraat- 1929 12min DCP courtesy of Eye Film Museum
Hoogstraat is about Rotterdam's main shopping street, made by Hungarian filmmaker and cameraman Von Barsy, who lived in the Netherlands in the 1920s and 1930s. Focusing on one specific location in the city, Hoogstraat can be considered as a city symphonietta, or microscopic city symphony. Von Barsy, who himself called Hoogstraat "an absolute film," uses the semi-transparent quality of windows and mirrors to double or even triple the images. The film also depicts contrasts: for example, garbage in the street and luxury goods in the shops.
Prague at Night/PRAHA V ZÁŘI SVĚTEL-Svatopluk Innemann 1928, 22 min, 35mm-to-DCP, silent. Courtesy of the National Film Archive, Prague
A visual symphony of Prague by night.