Date: 25 May 2008 | Season: Videoex 2008
COUNTERCULTURE: LONDON IN THE SIXTIES
Sunday 25 May 2008, at 12pm
Zurich Videoex Festival Cinema Z3
After The Beatles shook the nation out of the cultural dark ages, Swinging London was the place to be. Prompted by the example of the American Beats, English experimenters and creative rebels challenged the conventions of art, music, literature, filmmaking and society itself.
The Boyle Family, Poem for Hoppy, 1967, 16mm on video, colour, sound, 4 min
Peter Whitehead, Wholly Communion, 1965, 16mm, b/w, sound, 32 min
Antony Balch & William Burroughs, Towers Open Fire, 1963, 16mm, b/w & colour, sound, 16 min
John Latham, Speak, 1968-69, 16mm, sound, colour, 11 min
James Scott, Richard Hamilton, 1969, 16mm, colour, sound, 25 min
PROGRAMME NOTES
COUNTERCULTURE: LONDON IN THE SIXTIES
Sunday 25 May 2008, at 12pm
Zurich Videoex Festival Cinema Z3
POEM FOR HOPPY
The Boyle Family, 1967, 16mm on video, colour, sound, 4 min
An improvised performance by Soft Machine and the Sensual Laboratory at the legendary UFO Club, in protest against John Hopkins’ excessive conviction for marijuana possession. (MW)
WHOLLY COMMUNION
Peter Whitehead, 1965, 16mm, b/w, sound, 32 min
The International Poetry Incarnation at the Royal Albert Hall started London’s sixties adventure. Whitehead’s crisply shot, half-hour film is remarkably comprehensive in documenting key performances of the evening, and captures the tangible sense of expectation that must have permeated the atmosphere within the cavernous concert hall. Wholly Communion not only encapsulates this seminal moment in which the underground went public, but remains one of the few records of a whole generation of poets performing in their prime. (MW)
TOWERS OPEN FIRE
Antony Balch, 1963, 16mm, colour, sound, 16 min
Envisioned as a cinematic realisation of Burroughs’ key themes such as the breakdown in control, the film contains rapid editing, flicker, strobing and extreme jump cuts that interrupt the narrative flow. The British Censor requested removal of some offensive language from the soundtrack but passed (or failed to recognise) the shots of Balch masturbating, and of Burroughs shooting up. (MW)
SPEAK
John Latham, 1968-69, 16mm, sound, colour, 11 min
Speak is his second attack on the cinema. Not since Len Lye’s films in the thirties has England produced such a brilliant example of animated abstraction. Speak burns its way directly into the brain. It is one of the few films about which it can truly be said, ‘it will live in your mind’. (Raymond Durgnat)
RICHARD HAMILTON
James Scott, 1969, 16mm, colour, sound, 25 min
Devoid of authoritative voiceover, the film presents samples of the artist’s work alongside reference materials, found footage, scenes from Hollywood features and news reports of the notorious Rolling Stones drugs trial. Bing Crosby, Marilyn Monroe and Patricia Knight (in Sirk and Fuller’s long forgotten Shockproof) also make appearances as the film traces the inspiration behind some of Hamilton’s signature paintings. (MW)
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