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.:.: International Panorama
Workshop of the Film Form
The programme cherrypicks 10 shorts by members of Workshop of the Film Form. The Workshop was formed in 1970 by students and alumni of the directing and cinematography departments of the Film School in Łódź. In contrast with the more conventionally narrative-driven works of other alumni from the school (such as Krzysztof KIEŚLOWSKI), those of the Workshop are heavily influenced by early-twentieth century Polish and Russian Constructivism. In devising their analytic and structural film projects, they benefited from professional skills and knowledge about technical aspects of cinema, and their works made valuable connections between film and fine art. The selected works in this programme are truly eye-opening, and recall certain experimental works produced in Hong Kong in the 1970s and 1980s.
Józef ROBAKOWSKI’s The Market (1970/ 4’ 21”), which uses a frame taken every few seconds to record the goings-on at a busy marketplace. Combined with simple sound effects, the film calls into question the medium’s ability to capture reality at 24 frames a second. A Test (1971/ 2’ 10”) is composed of holes punched onto film similar to those that signal a reel change; this film provides insight into the very essence of film projection. In Ryszard WAŚKO’s Window (1972/ 8’ 25’’), the image is of a window seen from the inside of a room, while the soundtrack consists of sounds occurring in the space outside the frame. Pawel KWIEK, the director of 1,2,3 Operator's Exercise (1972/ 7’ 54”) was a Communist as well as an avant-garde artist active in the 1970s. He uses a mixture of different sorts of formal elements and styles, including animation, acted out scenes and “found” elements (both images and sounds) to create a dialogue between aesthetics and politics.
In An Exercise (1972-73/ 4’ 20”), the filmmaker assigned sounds of the harmonium to particular letters, and through repetitions of sounds and variations in tones, recreates a vague sense of disquiet and protest. Wojciech BRUSZEWSKI’s YYAA (1973/ 3') is also governed by sound. Composed of different close-up shots of a man yelling, the film achieves a certain mesmerizing emotional pitch. Józef ROBAKOWSKI’s I Am Going (1965/ 2' 53'') is an experiment in bio-mechanical recording. Using point-of-view shots, he documents himself running up and down a stairway in the cold, and in the process explores the relationship between his biological functions and the camera. Ryszard WAŚKO repeats the word “no” in Negation (1973/ 4'), repeatedly appearing and disappearing. Kazimierz BENDKOWSKI’s An Area (1973/ 4' 43”) uses sound effects and unique camera angles in an innovative way to capture expressions, small movements and easy-to-overlook details. Ryszard WAŚKO’s A-B-C-D-E-F = 1-36 (1974/ 6' 10”) goes back and forth between different numbers, speeds and directions in the process of exploring the concepts of the self and cinema.
Additional Screening
Also showing in this programme is an early short by Ridley SCOTT, Boy and Bicycle (1965/ 25’/ UK/ in English with no subtitles), which stars his younger brother Tony SCOTT. Made with a budget of a mere £65 and shot in six weeks, the film centres on a young truant and his experiences throughout the day. Despite the simplicity of the plot, the director’s clever use of location, props and sets allow the audience to identify with the protagonist and participate in his subjective world. Many visual elements that will appear in Ridley SCOTT’s more mature films made their first appearance here, and this short film is worth watching for this fact alone.
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