Re: Questions about Samuel Beckett and Zanzibar

From: Roger Beebe (email suppressed)
Date: Mon Jun 11 2007 - 11:12:50 PDT


Jeremy,

For the Beckett part of your questions, you might want to track down
the catalogue for the current Samuel Beckett show at the Centre
Pompidou. Most of the videos installed are performances of Beckett
works, but there are also videos by Paul McCarthy & Bruce Nauman (and
probably others I'm forgetting) that are included in that show.
Overall I had the sense that the show included works that were only
very loosely inspired by Beckett, but this could still be a good
starting point.

Good luck,
Roger Beebe
Gainesville, FL
(temporarily Oakland, CA)
(recently Paris, France)

On Jun 11, 2007, at 11:02 AM, Jeremy Rossen wrote:

> Frameworkers,
>
> I have several unrelated questions for you!
>
> 1. I am looking for information on renting prints of the Zanzibar
> films, where can I find them?
>
> 2. Wondering if anyone can suggest some Samuel Beckett inspired
> films to program along with "Film"?
>
> Thank you in advance!
>
> Jeremy Rossen
> www.cinemaproject.org
>
>
>
> > Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 14:01:59 +0200
> > From: email suppressed
> > Subject: Zanzibar by Sally Shafto
> > To: email suppressed
> >
> > June 5, 2007
> >
> > University Communications*email suppressed
> > Southern Illinois University Carbondale
> > Carbondale, IL 62901
> > 618/453-2276 phone*618/453-2230 fax
> > http://news.siu.edu
> >
> >
> > Hello from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. We are
> sending you (1)
> > news release. Today's headline is:
> >
> > 1. Book details chapter of French film history
> >
> >
> > 'The Zanzibar Films and the Dandies of May 1968'
> > Book details chapter of French film history
> > By Pete Rosenbery
> >
> > CARBONDALE - They were young, idealistic, and full of verve. In many
> > instances, the personal journeys of young French filmmakers
> reflected the
> > period nearly four decades ago when widespread challenges to
> conventional
> > wisdom sparked upheaval in the U.S., and abroad.
> > A book by film historian Sally G. Shafto, executive director of
> the Big
> > Muddy Film Festival at Southern Illinois University Carbondale,
> details a
> > little-known chapter of French film history.
> >
> > "The Zanzibar Films and the Dandies of May 1968," looks at a
> group of
> > young filmmakers who focused both on aesthetics and sought "to
> make films
> > in a new way out of the traditional commercial market," Shafto
> said. The
> > copiously illustrated 256-page book is bilingual, with text in both
> > English and French (Ed. Paris Expérimental, 2007 :
> > http://www.paris-experimental.asso.fr)
> >
> > Zanzibar refers to a collection of 15 to 20 films financed by
> young French
> > heiress Sylvina Boissonnas over about a two-year time period between
> > spring 1968 and February 1970. The films were "all motivated by
> the desire
> > to change the face of French cinema," said Shafto, a native of
> Lenox,
> > Mass.
> > "Forty years later this may sound very naïve, but these people
> were really
> > very sincere in what they were trying to do," Shafto said. "They
> were
> > trying to make films differently."
> >
> > The book includes narratives on the films, interviews with many
> of the
> > filmmakers, and short biographies of those involved with Zanzibar.
> > Shafto will hold a book signing Wednesday, June 27, at the
> Pompidou Centre
> > in Paris. In addition, three Zanzibar films, "The Virgin's Bed,
> (Le Lit de
> > la vierge)" by Philippe Garrel, "Quickly (Vite)" by Daniel
> Pommereulle,
> > and "Twice Upon a Time (Deux fois)" will be shown Friday, June
> 16, and
> > Saturday, June 17, at the LaSalle Bank Cinema, 4901 W. Irving
> Park Road,
> > Chicago.
> >
> > The French youth movement in May 1968 parallels many of the
> events in the
> > United States during the same period, serving "as a fulcrum for
> > galvanizing the energies of these young people in some way,"
> Shafto said.
> > The exploding civil rights and women's movements in the United
> States were
> > gaining momentum in France. Many of the 35mm-films capture the
> themes of
> > the student protests in France.
> >
> > Most of the filmmakers did not go to film school and bypassed French
> > requirements for becoming a director or director of photography.
> Instead,
> > they made movies without permission of the Centre national de la
> > cinematographie, the French government agency- a requirement for
> > distributing films.
> > "Instead of taking 10 years (of study) to make movies - they
> said, 'the
> > power is now; we want to make movies now," Shafto said.
> > May 1968 historians generally were unaware of the films'
> existence until
> > Shafto, a film historian who specializes in international cinema
> with a
> > strong background in French culture and film theory, wrote about
> them for
> > an article for Cinemathèque Francaise in 1999. Some of the films
> are now
> > available on DVD, she said.
> > Part of book focuses on Boissonnas, a niece of art patron
> Dominque de
> > Menil, who founded the de Menil Collection in Houston. Boissonnas
> funded
> > many of the filmmakers largely upon their appearance, Shafto said.
> > The generation still affects society today, Shafto said.
> > "The players in this group were all in the first crest of the
> baby boom
> > generation," born between 1942 and 1950, Shafto said.
> > "The first wave really came in with a feeling that the world was
> theirs S�
> > they were going to effect a takeover," she said. "School was not as
> > important because diplomas were not what mattered; what mattered was
> > having some ideas and the energy and willingness to do it."
> >
> > Shafto works in the University's cinema and photography
> department, which
> > is a part of the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts.
> > Before coming to SIUC in 2006, Shafto served as the English Web site
> > translator for the French film journal Cahiers du cinema. She
> also served
> > as an assistant director for the Avignon Film Festival in France,
> where
> > she lived since moving there in 1998 to finish her doctorate.
> > She has a master's degree in art history from Columbia University
> and
> > earned her doctorate in film studies at the University of Iowa.
> She was
> > curator of Zanzibar Films at the Institute of Contemporary Art,
> Harvard
> > Film Archives in London and co-organizer of a conference titled
> "Religion
> > and Cinema" at Princeton University. She taught various classes
> in film at
> > the Institut International de l'Image et du Son in Trappes,
> France and at
> > New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, among other
> experiences.
> >
> > For more information about the book, contact Shafto at
> (address suppressed)
> > The book is available through
> > http://www.cine-memento.fr/sally-shafto-a-149708.html for about
> $36 (not
> > including postage) or 27 euros. Bookstores may also order the
> book by
> > contacting Philippe Magnani, director of the Paris Museum
> International,
> > at (address suppressed)-musees.asso.fr.
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Tom Woolf
> > Director - Public Relations
> > Associate Director - University Communications
> > Southern Illinois University Carbondale
> > Beimfohr Hall - Mail Code 6819
> > 1220 Douglas Drive
> > 618/453-6796
> > email suppressed
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________________________________
> > For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
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__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.