To expand on our main program in December, we are showing two features and six shorter works that correspond with the oeuvres of directors Dario Argento and David Lynch on our streaming platform arsenal 3.
The oeuvres of both stand in the tradition of experimental and surrealist cinema. Some of the stylistic techniques used prominently in their work (such as fetishizing close-ups blown up to an unreal degree or visual distortions) can already be found in the cinema of the 20s and 40s. Hans Richter’s FILMSTUDIE (Germany 1926) contrasts surfaces, lines, and abstract forms with similar objects from real-life, such as an eye-ball or a head. In VORMITTAGSSPUK (Germany 1928), everyday objects rebel against people and daily routine. Maya Deren’s masterpiece MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON (USA 1943) creates its uncanny atmosphere via a subjective camera that strides though space, an essential stylistic device for the horror film by the 70s at the very latest. Detail shots of a knife anticipate one typical visual motif of the giallo genre. In FACE I AND II (West Germany 1969), Ludwig Schönherr makes a visual identity dissolve via opposing individual frames of the face of Beatrice “Trixie” Cordua. WHICH IS WITCH (Marie Losier, France 2020) shows three witch sisters in a colorful and surreal fairy tale. DARK ADAPTATION (Canada 2016) by Chris Gehman creates unique visual impressions via experiments with color and optical techniques. The feature NIGHT PASSAGE (Trinh T. Minh-ha, USA 2004) is the story of three friends who set off on a spiritual journey into the realm between life and death and arrive in sensorial landscapes of dream. (gv)
