Marianne
On the verge of professional breakthrough, a young Bertolt Brecht reflects on relationships.
No. 18: Mahagonny
Harry Smith’s final film; an epic four-screen projection. Smith worked on this cinematic transformation of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1929) for over ten years and considered it his magnum opus. The film was shot from 1970 to 1972 and edited for the next eight years. The “program” of the film is meticulous, with a complex structure and order. The Weill opera is transformed into a numerological and symbolic system. Images in the film are divided into categories— portraits, animation, symbols and nature— to form the palindrome P.A.S.A.N.A.S.A.P. The film contains invaluable cameos of important avant-garde figures such as Allen Ginsberg, Patti Smith, and Jonas Mekas, intercut with installation pieces from Robert Mapplethorpe’s studio, New York City landmarks of the era, and Smith’s visionary animation.
Greenfingers
Following fateful scientific reports, protestors pose the argument for a better future against the vested interest of industry. Small to large, individual to collective, where do I fit into this?
Measure Taken
The series’ latest Harald Vogl feature (from 1984) completes the filmmaker’s gradual movement away from narrative toward a vérité-style essay film. Gone are the post-punk streets of the East Village, replaced with on-the-ground footage of antiwar protests and visitors to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC, and observational scenes of union parades, marching bands, street dancers, and Chinatown residents back in Manhattan.
Nightcrawlers
For five years, Stephen McCoy documented street life in Boston. This is what he captured.
Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui
Hitler's seizure of power in 1933 and his rule in the years that followed are transferred to the North American criminal world of the 1930s in a parable. Gangster boss Ui needs the protection of the ruling class to achieve his goals and offers his help to their representatives. They initially hesitate, but join forces after Ui violently gains their respect. His victory is perfect and the people fall silent before the revolvers of their "protectors". Ui takes the raised hands as a sign of approval... Bertolt Brecht wrote the play in 1941 in a Finnish asylum - the premiere only took place in Stuttgart after his death in November 1958. It has been staged at the Berliner Ensemble since 1959 - Ekkehard Schall has played Ui over 500 times since then. On January 13, 1974, the play was shown for the last time, recorded in color by GDR television.
A Santa Joana dos Matadouros
Inspired by the work of Bertolt Brecht and filmed in Porto's former industrial slaughterhouse, A Santa Joana dos Matadouros is a meta-cinematic essay about the labor market in times of economic crisis in Europe. The film explores the possibilities of cinema in its relationship with theater and brings together a cast of professional actors, amateurs, renowned artists from various disciplines, and a group of unemployed residents of Vale de Campanhã.
Mahagonny
The city of Mahagonny, founded by three criminals, becomes a place for people looking for their luck or money. One among them is the lumberjack Jim Mahoney. However, he is disappointed by what the city is.