In Conference, where several men sitting opposite in pairs revolve around a wood fire —its flickering lifting their faces warmly out of an otherwise entirely empty, pitch-black scene— Björn Kämmerer stages “physiognomic duels” of the kind Béla Balázs described more than 100 years ago. For the first time the filmmaker employs actors, who incessantly rotate around the light, while it remains unclear what they are sitting on or whether they are even hovering above the ground. They are, in themselves, almost motionless. No one speaks, hardly a face moves, everyone is gazing.
Like Kämmerer’s earlier works, Conference is shot on 35mm in Cinemascope and without sound. In contrast to his other films that are often realized in a single take, the determining (rotational) movement here is discontinuous. The montage fragments the circle at a steady pace and transforms the binary shot-reverse shot structure into a complex figure. The camera does not change perspective as usual; instead, the people moving around the fire jump to the opposite side through the edit. Initially, two of the three men —who only become distinguishable as three distinct individuals over time— stare into the fire for a long period. Yet, neither can ultimately elude the insistent gaze of the third, who is constantly interposed between them. In the reciprocation of looks, the ensemble of humans and mechanics quickly gathers speed; one after another looks from the second to the third, thus, without ever being in the same frame simultaneously, they form a virtual circle of gazing and being gazed at. Chained together in this way, they all spy on each other, as if expecting signs from their counterparts that would reveal insight into their respective thoughts or intentions.
What has happened, or is about to happen, in this slowly but steadily building drama of campfire romanticism? Something threatening hovers between the men in their speechless conversation; their facial expressions shift only microtonally, hiding more than they expose, while they all attempt to read one another. Is it mistrust, betrayal or disappointment that we think we recognize? By reaching back to an early mode of cinema, Conference creates yet another exciting (pseudo-)perpetuum mobile— a utopian machine that pretends to generate energy out of nothing while simultaneously investigating its own, not quite known, inner drive. (Thomas Korschil)
2 PRINTS IN DISTRIBUTION
|
distribution format |
DCP on server (SMPTE 4K) |
|
screen |
1,66 (single screen) |
|
speed |
25 fps |
|
sound |
silent |
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rental fee |
90,00 € |
|
distribution format |
35mm |
|
screen |
2,35 - Scope (single screen) |
|
speed |
24 fps |
|
sound |
silent |
|
rental fee |
90,00 € |
