LUMIERE'S TRAIN
VISUAL ESSAYS N°1

by Al RAZUTIS
1979 / 16mm / b&w / sound / 1 screen / 7' 30

The subject of the first essay is cinema itself: an apparatus of representation wherein fact and fiction are recreated. As such, the pro-filmic facts are necessarily drawn from two of cinema's "pioneers": Louis and Auguste Lumière and Abel Gance ( La Roue, ), with additional material provided from a Warner Brothers featurette, Spills for Thrills.

The exposition and form of the film is closely tied to the tradition of cine-structural poems which foreground the materials of the medium (light, dark, form as shadow-projection of the cinematic apparatus). Using alternations between positive and negative, the film chronicles the "coming to life" (of the apparatus) and the resulting action/movement and documentation of events - encompassing incidents (the near mishaps), human expectations (the arrival at the station), and human spectacle(the destruction of the trains, the station in chaos). Towards this purpose, I have used an expanding narrative, a play on the title itself, and the shifting conditions of synchronous and asynchronous sound/image (and image-to-image). (A.R.)

Awards: Ann Arbor; Kent State; Baltimore film festivals.
Individually featured in international exhibitions, retrospectives.
In the collection of the National Gallery of Canada

http://www.alchemists.com/visual_alchemy/film_visess.html

2 PRINTS IN DISTRIBUTION


distribution format 16mm
screen 1,37 (single screen)
speed 24 fps
sound optical sound
rental fee 30,00 €

distribution format 16mm
screen 1,37 (single screen)
speed 24 fps
sound optical sound
rental fee 30,00 €