MIRROR MECHANICS

by Siegfried Alexander FRUHAUF
2005 / b&w / sound / 1S / 7' 30

The film as a mirror and, as a further consequence, the phenomenon of identification primarily inherent in feature films, condense
to a type of essence of film's potential. This film reports on cinema and the processes within
it. In doing so, it doesn't reveal any secrets, but instead, attempts to transfer - in the sense of seeing what we see - what we do in the cinema and what also can be relevant outside of film into a visually stimulating and captivating event.
(Siegfried A. Fruhauf)
The mirror is an instrument of deception. It can never correspond with the images presented to it,
although it can reverse them, twist them into their antitheses: into counter images. It is no wonder that right from the start, the mirror has been one of the favorite accessories of melodramatic and avantgarde cinema. The mirror image's imaginary lack of physical body sums up the idea of the cinematic: illusion, shadow, projection. In Mirror Mechanics, a young woman with wet hair glances in a bathroom mirror. She wipes across the surface with a brush of the
hand: the picture that shows this scene is mirrored along the center axis, alienated in a type of double projection. That is the starting point: Siegfried A. Fruhauf subjects his material to a series of complex transformations, overlapping and intertwining variously processed image layers, double reflections, and multiple exposures.
Jürgen Gruber's subtle soundtrack composed from intimated guitar feedback and electronic sound details gives the film an aura of smoldering aggression: the foundations of a thriller. (...)
The final and most decisive reflection in Mirror Mechanics finally leads from the inside to the outside: towards gently rippling surfaces of water and a return to perfect symmetry, to a scene at the beach, in the scratched film reflection, an anonymous young woman with wet hair.
(Stefan Grissemann)

2 PRINTS IN DISTRIBUTION


distribution format 35mm
screen 1,85 - Panoramic (single screen)
speed 24 fps
sound optical sound
rental fee 26,00 €

distribution format Digital file on server (FHD)
screen 16/9 (single screen)
speed 25 fps
sound sound
rental fee 26,00 €