Date: 31 July 2002 | Season: Infinite Projection
THE BASQUE MASTERPIECE
Wednesday 31 July 2002, at 7:30pm
London The Photographers’ Gallery
Ere Erera Baleibu Icik Subua Aruaren traverses infinite dimensions in its abstract, cinemascopic passage. This epic voyage was hand painted onto 35mm by the Spanish artist José Antonio Sistiaga, and his collaborators, over an eight-month period in 1970. The film’s continually changing chromatic structures almost caused riots at early screenings, but it is now widely regarded as an exemplary achievement of moving visual music and spiritual devotion.
José Antonio Sistiaga, Ere Erera Baleibu Icik Subua Aruaren, 1970, 75 min (Cinemascope)
PROGRAMME NOTES
THE BASQUE MASTERPIECE
Wednesday 31 July 2002, at 7:30pm
London The Photographers’ Gallery
ERE ERERA BALEIBU ICIK SUBUA ARUAREN
José Antonio Sistiaga, Spain, 1970, 16mm, colour, silent, 75 min (Cinemascope)
“A rare screening of the cameraless, hand-painted, abstract epic commonly referred to as The Basque Masterpiece. José Antonio Sistiaga (born 1932 in Saint-Sébastien) began his career as a painter. He was responsible for founding the Gaur group of Basque artists, who conducted research in style and studied the connection between education and art. After his three-part experimental film (his first foray into filmmaking) won an award at the Bilbao festival, he expanded the final section into a feature. More orchestral in form than a Brakhage hand-painted film, Sistiaga’s modulates gradually through monochromatic movements which build to a vibrant multi-coloured finale.” (Cinematheque Ontario programme notes, 2002)
“Believe it or not, all 75 minutes are fascinating, with a cumulative satisfaction.” (Dr. William Moritz)
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