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    40 views84 pages

    Robert Kramer. - Now - , - Here - , and - About The World

    Uploaded by

    André Alexandre

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    NC 94J209- wk WESLEHETSEVIZOMA OU-he rete -aoaes : FATMME RECS MRE [OAGO) 7492 mUraneedurody 10 UM [MICE MPRA 7 59 OM MIC KEM] HO ‘d WROLE SOWOMBICSS sh 9E4¢2-LomeE i‘ EPOME xn < 7749 i BIMRSINT zyn-DL4 . DR RLORMMMN 51-96) 7% . WHEREIS Y2~—n- anor s gekSi Bots svemncessess Oo S Bee vak cal esi cane = fee ehoser- +2146 ‘ HAE MRE LTOMM Kb 9L4 1 PAWEISI- 4 bail 80 ep? IED Ge DN hs 24 RS “Now,” “Here,” and “About the World” —Robert Kramer Where Everything Saed: RK and‘Ou” America Berard Bsesdl 10 I fie tocwbere: Robert Krames Iie 9 Rolling slong Togcber. Erika K «0 Wectng wit Rober Bore P 2 Testing the World R ¢ 45 Ie a servive oy D 2 A Letter from Ri h Hi m ) Suwa Nobuhir 56 Ic a Earepean They Sobek 0 ect Dead Rater n " 0 He ZIE RA THEW COMA ON-bh: 9b42—+ 4y9ea— SEE 42S9a— 2 DUAKD + KOWLAKS=9- eye eSUTPAURO RMN? TAY MRE EOK, BOAR Key ED AMOR ORAR, RBA ORT AF [IOTSMESLME EN be WHA] “COREE UL ep CRBC EATS REA RIM BOE Sth. HUES. £80 be IA ERGEOM. £505 MME, & TURTLE MOL OMET, EURO HWM LAUT, Fa 71337 SREP GOL < orig Obe, me CT. eM, bay PMEEERD. CODEEL OK DMR Cate. DED, PREM HEE tn REE. SEM Ee 20m OM GOM, [ey EPA AY fed Ab~y el B79yAweCeS Ee COAL. ENA (BIS RURNESIERR TKOO FE CR EMM Chai, & ARISE PRIN 6 tte fai, SOM 1912 2) ORDO F-WOMok, EB RO. Bare, MRiSITAEM, 7 5. ML, Lay Estes This Attempt at Living Differently Interview by Christophe Derouet and Dominique Marchais United States when everything swung over to Reagan. I was able 1o escape that to Europe was aso a way of fob of your family, or 80 Ben You have to see it archeologically. 1 ‘came to Europe asa mercenary, In Frames, "elt an enormous tiberty—the libeny 10 hat I couldn't have made back TT ABRIL AM, RUE REA SURCE MONS DeloniecHeinauccns Emre ako REESE, MUMRO ED Choe c IIE. 79 Y CI BAER CAR EOMEBER, Zhe ay atone WIDE ATE he. MTROLOEMML, SADE REY RERURL-Coo EAE I LEDEDT COMME TIS, Ki C.F 2% (1905 DY 9 2 et am trot. UL. IMR BIE MMIICfEm) aii: LC ic $e common: et, Mit MEMEORE MAL REDD IAFROMOMME, 7499 CHRAE, MRO HRO RII ORME, MMIII ANE ROMER ORBANY Vict ot, QUEUE, MAE Buy sche ¢ FROME S RIED Cote. # there. This liberty of the traveler also ‘comes from not really understanding the context of things, from feeling not impli cated. Frankly, I could care less about Juppe. But it was realy with this film on Berlin that understood that in going to Europe, I was leaving my home to rem to it. My parents, of Polish and Ukrainian histo ty isa typical immigrant success story They went to Bein in the 1930s to study, my father medicine and my mother art at the Bauhaus. They were very patriotic and Violent in their rejection of Europe, but in fact they were in permanent communica tion with Europe. 1 lived in New York and 88 child 1 knew Europe better than the Fest of America. I went to university 10 escape the draft, It was my first trip towards the center of America and the ‘itst time that I nderstod that New York Was really an island with its own dynamic. FU LOUIE, 74) 2OIEH ER RELO AWE Be TAY ROM RABI HREEL t aT oP 1-918, 208 ot REL CRONE 5k eM oht of ese mater he DOYRIEKBRT, Days 74 ROEM emt, FOIL. &¢ RUD 3 % Mo ThS. (MOM HHO A EMAL TSH. COUT, MLCT OME RISK 27 ROM EWdh S50 ROME EEL A What ci you study? History and literature, In the beginning Twas a writer, I didn’t know who Joba Ford was before I came to France. Now, 1 know him because “Midnight Cinema” has passed on all of his films to me, H's here that I've rediscovered the movies of my country, those from the 1950s that symbolized the MeCarthyis horror to m bh Route One, Doe says “Rather than being ‘an observer, | want 10 bend into a comm rity Coule we say that ths pase sums up your development as maker? ‘My work has been shaped by the axis of individualism against that of community. In Burope, there is always a role for “the artist.” But for we the politicized—the Newsteel movement—to call oneself “anist” was to fuck oneself over. And yet, even in these contexts where everyone was saying "We no longer do things by ourselves" I realized tha I was never in a AUURESRE IY AER EC 9 AR OFCOM IDE TOE PU y NIKE, RIC. FEMI) OF EAMES LOMHS. LEB, Se ieee bnbh=.—x HR) BS #) EERBCEEBL MS Cb. ta MUBOO HME Me MebY TRL THO, SORCKO PME No k= a= 29-2089 tte CAPM LCOS, RIB A Oe MEM Teme. 1742) el ROEM SAN, ORitMaRe REN Lt Oe: i ze UES Bate, IN COS MELSON Cf Bt bh. ROM, CILAC EOF BMONEHo TOR, Endo8. wie comfortable position making films in the heart of the group. Even if I belonged t0 an organization like Newsreel for four years, an organization which made fifty films, I made very few of those, When I wanted to make Jc, I quit the group. his Film is made in a complete marginality, with a production style similar to that 1 use now. At that time, al ofthis had a er tain power because we were in the process of coming out of fifteen years of militan cy—an idea inseparable from that of bei bbe militant, but does it change the world ponsible for a community. I ean that much? Maybe these responsibilities ‘can be retransated into film. The doctor's role is not innocent. It could be the idea that the best way of talking about polities isto talk about health, The idea that one is responsible for the health of others is way of defining political work otherwise Atte beginning of Rowte One/USA, when PaulDoe visits a clinic, he asks himself “What is & doctor without a clinic?” To hhave patient teal, one must be some- 3 ECDL SRPER corey oom SURDESEL THAME eens? smo ee C. EHMWMERL SIM. RA SOU AMA ERIE. LeOMME: 6 Hom peers Bor. REO ARM aeiki=O-cmNS = BE LOMO Sit, Bo AB CRGHMTIE ike 1) oRMOD z nid, & Sim EAE SH ROEDER EAE mrsnnenoc, & pi C2 CCH BHI SAS. MOORE LD Das. ERIS = INS ACF WWM E AVIA TOST 4 Peat A. 7) ORL MOBI CLoGt, MRE IMA feb, MILI 9 Y AMR E LE where, grow roots, But can cinema trans late itself in the same fashion? Can there bea global cinema? 1 am always runaing imo this question. Lam an American film maker living in Paris for sixteen years who has no backing because of coming wn the United States, Am I always a sr or do I represent French cinema were considered tools; we howed them in communities, at unions d to soldiers. Newsfeel was unique in mparison tothe European militant expe nce. For the first three years, in New y xty people, Ther dition of “little chiefs.” There were m n 3k, and they last 1 ele teen hours. We had few nenukrcon Bbw MINN oe. LORE Fe ch ei vay eens CE MMINEL CO, ZOMRMNMF IE REWSEK, Me OIKIE, HAS Em Bh SEERMONE, a XY Riba 2 COMPOUALIE MEton. ROM, 4-4 2-C, COMMEND A BLT fe, Ute IIE. PALMER | 2 ty 52 AD SOME ERO MRE 8 09% AIIM, AMO MRED, MEE 12mm» 6 LANNE 6 7. aE HOrEHR SESS EO MBIMS< MEEEAEMoTHEMOR, ENZO 8. ZONE, TRONS AUER: Coy FL) MPERNLTORM GE. & EARN Ato Da Din. MAP AHO IE, 24 Be 2h OA FAM [7 aie bE + SSBSUUA MR ~ SBE Te 2 LC TOL FLEA, 199541121, 19969104 illusions about the working class being able to chan, c things because at the time the working class was supporting the gov- ermment and the war. So who were the people and what were the connections? Communities of blacks, of women, of says, of youth, ec. If I compare it to what happened here during the strikes, it's bet= ter to analyze it fom the point of view of 1. Général du Travail), 1 don’t think that 100-year-old Marxist paradigms are going to help us to under- stand the contemporary situation, In Am ia, there are thirty million blacks all, What their perspectives and what kind of long to society a movement is going to invite them to play « role in society? Newsreel was extremely rich from this point of view. Jd you leave Newsreel and what were uF focings afterwards? I really needed to make a film and 10 pletely free. A lot of things inter <1hoamameesss0ce) ag NSEURS. COT MARE) Ong ooao(eeampeemee Seonwaceon, weniane ~2aneucae seal tmomresecannen ee ie, WR8 Se Cem CERNE somo Ans. wsomaomeeeh ioescsonn mene ORM. NR BUTE RO 2 varsurescon, siege (2, SbOTMMETS UAMEHg bees a ae #9UT=a~ZU=neRMUROD T. 20m, eomuTURO? SC LROMINEMD Ep FINS EIST 30 RAH, y HIE EB ot Cou R a: ve FT BOLD AD CMIENES, AKEM, ENED ay We SLI COMER, IRIEL 14 hh ested me about film—tike L’Avventura when on the island. That was saw solid time on the the Country freeing will and accord from: myself, “Lowe no never existed.” We ured out t Prize, it Europe role. In f ue eons the war and t0 see all the ehaos that peo shout politcal work and resistance trans ted into the attitude of a whole popula: ion, There's a character in Milestones asks “Does it take a disaster for peo to live differently?” They also lived omething that was between horror and paradise. It brought out the best and the worst in people, We were able wo See the because ofthe trials and tribulations, Like the enigmatic character in Walk the Walk who has a speech that I lov plicated. He's abit sscist a bit human, abt lke you and me 1nd preity sd. Milestones a fe. L989 A a ixesauen oP A hGMoeCERL, Kit PANAE-Y AI MMPE MEDI, Ik Va SN 7 2 9 Cte DARL OM Boh L, BE GB, ECR eicRa ce HM unal movement had spread well into America and people—ike me—who had behind all these movements. They weren way of making a living. There were ques ons about children, about roots, about where to put one's body; I've always seen Mileston ‘were embracing life and there was @ mad fear, an uncertainty about what was wait ing for us. So we hung on even tighter and the birth ofa child, for example, became a kind 0 sap in life. Suddenly everyone started having kids, If I made Route because I wanted to go around America to talk to the people that hada’t been able to talk in 1975, 1 shot it in 1975 and 76, right after the aH bws. MS or Mt HORMEL. % MEF LEN DAE, 1 1) e107 ei 8 ay act 8 197s cuts banka : eon, KIEL LM MS. 20-727 212, BSB PATO RADIAL Carnation revolution, It's a pretty sad jim. There's a long sequence shot where he old Portuguese communists dane, dead-irunk. Ina way, this sequence isthe requiem of the entire European Left. So ‘many friends in America told me “You can't do this” that I finally cut the sequence. That era was prety tough on politica level, Subjectivity was forbidden and we had to give information and impose point of view on others [feel eulpabiiy but 'm very afta of contexts and sedentariness. Militant cine rma wants to impose an idea, direction, ‘an information. Anyone can tell you the parts of his of her self-destruction and how he or she was fucked over. I's true that Ihave a certain admiration for fathy films. like Tim didactic American Robin's Bob Roberts or Altman's Tanner. 1 don’t make films like tha Amceeeecinimnys EOEDE BI COKMS, MM. LO7-7EYA LaNMR Le. BOOMERS ATES MRM, EMERY CU, MALED A, HMIEMTS IED WHERIANS#SORAD oA. jidiiemesscciccameane WEBER HA, Ae ARMM. OF BCeD ae CER, AUGELPPRMZ ASH, HEMMERIANE C8, APOIO I AES DIER ELOISE a JERE, Rk, SY 4) ORME ROMER < HEB L CY 1092) 78 Ee YO [r= 7 eR AMALEM) [Tanner(2+—)] (1988) 2% ae 6 because I prefer to work om things that 1 don’t understand. For example for Walk '¢ Walk or Route One/USA, 1 didn’t now until we got tothe editing i t was ng to work or not. Maybe I'm wrong and its arrogant, but I don't like the idea hat I'm going to make something for you IE 1 want others to Jend themselves t the dventure, Ihave to take risks myself. 1 don't understand how people can spend ORES DIM tot, RK, HMR THB, ERA, ARAM, Cb, WEADRBICMM ENED EL ED ELI MSIE LE EOAL, MOAT AHIR ETSNS TE CRAIC BELTS. MEM, (OREN TOMA 5, MAEMELED. ima esetFAE TELE AOD EET ACM cM Lede esinnsEMRE RMIT BO? Cb, COME ANE SEMICEREKo TREE, MRED REDON 2 605, GUM AERIS ARIE Lees, RODE We [ry -a-#0] [92903 (1996) BHOBOE EOE CHS, EFALMNEDAR, 172d PCO LETE ARE. OES HAYMOBREE. Dat AARERS EDI, MES AK, Abt LO 6 FORIN KEM ED DME DE CHeIg | Ltr B REAROI WOR e he says something like “Robert, Fim not sure that you're faithful to our under round.” Ihave suce ded in living off of my work and I don’t think that this sue ess makes it rot. There is a magnificent story by Fitzgerald, “The Crack-Up,” which the main character turns around and says “T was my own assassin.” I debate with myself about this, and everything is ways thrown back into doubt, Ths is why I'm very taken with compasses, maps and navigators, And with C ad, All of lose their western orientation with the ‘aking any territory and navigating it. 1 didn’t choose the margin, it just happened that way. Why? I was brought up to be at follywood situation and yet I ime Tam writing i the edi With my detachment, state MRR EH, <8, Feeciss 5. mismIai, Mise S. Bh BONROH 5m: SMADIIC, Bia Ase, MERON, MTS eMARDULeaT, weit, (24080, BPR e to COS Ly OPO eR ta Wome 250 C8 Ma (RO > ASME F HTH, (ROE > EM Mh, EIRBIANR IE 30 Wem 5BUtH ‘or me. No, I never thought E fice part of myself 1 serve the was the first arena that I found. ‘myself, comfortably with ‘eventually, with others, 1 used polities fr this and copraphical distances and continue to-make the films {o make, [had to cut my tis, have films, maybe I'd be out seeking about people with live, The experience of films tose who appear in the ered, of fulfilling this need foro atraid of everything that can shut up in group, a culture or af iF Pve been living withthe for twenty-five years and have family with her. The real find is between things neither Am Europe, neither documentary noe Lite precedes films and my films an expression of this tempt a ceae-meen, 29b—Rn, AH 2, KALB EME, ELMS KOWAL WE, AUPE EC. ERR TSADCROELEMVOM OME > b MELOAWIZALHE AML 2, LOK, AOI, REP Ash AU UA. EARO MED em MED BCE c. PEM SUS ORIG oe, 6 UR OMA, AeA, TES AA EE OEMIIIRLE TE. 2b Do MENTS BARE HICK DBO Pe el HERE, CONOR EI AT PRE, At eH SMI, b BIE, bSEMIMCLBSCLOTR SASH BAL REA, MOU AHee 8, HIME LTERELTH, KEI OE DORRENRL TERE LTER MODS WEL, WHOM BEE, TAY ACEI Dy NCEBK, FAS AYIYA=CET APY THRE ADAMI. L. MRODRMI. IEE BESHETSENI COMAORREL Aren't you wortied that this desire to be owhore, oF to be inthe interstices, Keeps you fom al poltical discourse? I talked about this recently with Kathryn Bigelow, who makes political cinema from inside the system and was reproaching me for my isolation, She isn’t wrong—films are there t co something, and if that doesn’t happen, you have to ask why. Are we mad? After al the insane are always convinced that they have something to say. Fine, think that I have to do this work in the shade, and that it's not the official history but rather an indispensable one. If 1 don't make it, no fone would know that there's another way of looking at things. That's my work. I {don't know if I'm sill searching to have a Political efficacy, We live in an era in which nothing dominant pleases me. For me, the 1980s are a repetition of the 1950s: oppressive, wild and with little Aexibiity. had the chance to make a film in Hollywood after fe and I couldn't even ECOUBTE, BEWAMMELETE RATTOARGY. REORREASICRT STeCEDELELEBNRD LBD? Wi, BOVE CHEM [TF Lo - 74 X—1900 ASIEN) ee OTHER YAY Y EDDLEDTE OU THLEAR. Meet, ROME WEL A, RCM Cite, OF 1, PRU ARAB RWIS HELE BO Chot, ENTREES, BILT AAI MELNNT SOMES. EDA ROM, A RARER ICM 5 SECLORRE LMM SH ONS. & NES. HEREORII, COKE BISEREMBBS THB. ZOKEWIE AGRICUL, QR to B, OLOU MEAL, Wh ENSMONMRZLOICES, Me M5 BOER CLED, ANAM OnE, ESTA Abi 21% 6-2 CE EMRUTH ZONES METER POG. BE, MOMMIES = 5CI MEN, $A SHO’, bibha HETOSOR, ERDLOOF fem e ties KI eke Her tw aR e ae HLT f. BOE. IR 1S mn Arab omanentn HOA whet mamocos 8 mR. ORI b Tt HE, 35mmt= the tor ERS Yaak LH Vmm7 (403% #HOF—7 nt LCE oe LEMUR, SIMS assassination of Black Panther leaders and the film The Murder of Fred Hampton, then the Soledad brothers). My translation work (for Fee and Milestones, after Georges Goldfayn had subti- tled inthe Country and The Edge) having shed light on the strc- ture and writing of the films, I was even geting wed to Kramer's anscribed his dialogue himself) and to the typographical problems the subsitler faces because of overlaps spelling habits (he that we only knew from film history (Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse) and that took on a key role inthe plot of The Edge, like the confrontation of materials in Jee. A few days before the showing of Ice, someone was horrified to see the tape splices of 16min Newstee! duped on the 3Smm presentation print. This person understood the film better than others who had not have sometimes thought one would be able fo 6ome to terms films if one could define Rosalyn Tureek’s key with Krame berg Variations ard touch in the fiest phrases of Bach's G before the images of his firs film, rendered by the whiny sound of the large basement theater in Pesaro (where a few days before/after Pasolini would the Smm film on the death of Kennedy known by the Abraham Zapruder then the American, bitter voice of 1nd finally and foremost the woman's voice, neutral Jess, How to define intonation, texture, timbre, what . ique (this was theme in La Chinoise)? Pesaro when in all countries (Canada, Meni 2 7 > SAN OER CAME SoU Aeait : or ce ® WAM SORE ROME, M5 bya PA YH ‘i ' AON] (1974) La? EMIS CED, CF LAMOR BEARS HER. Bi: aS, EL = UR suis foe ALAR DOR . : AAI L-COM (THK, EI RPE Ab 5 )). MRO MANE: OS — 8H Be connection and lack of love between characters playing what ‘Yuri Norstein calls “the Heron and the Stork.” There is centrfu participating in the movement and contemplation of the action femains, an echo: a diary, accounts of visits tothe city, the self ratifying reassembly of a machine gun, or a show—watching militant cinemas, sniggering atthe news on TV (“They cover the $0 nicely"). Something else was born in this perception which was not yet public domain—of the anesthetic function of f s. Newsreel. How the films issue from experiences he has lived, as Kramer has ways insisted, i is because each stage corresponds toa cet number of formal rules that determine the particulars of the film how itis shot, relationships with the actos, ete. From film to film, stem changes with the concerns ofthe fil maker. Theie length, increasin poloncot aptegs eat ose close to him and through his own state. Kamen polit sve MMe s DAME RCS &. Kotte AMOI: be. hb AWh SUID KOMI Ht . REALE I SHA ORROW " PbO MMOL MIEMHLE ENS. H HHTSOR serait 21 AGRE BarCORReHS ETRE Enid 0 208 DAMIR EWES BC HOWE LONI, EOMWOeN eA a aie be. 740 Sat ATA POMOISE THD STH. MNES ECR Emap, Jem EPLEML RET 2 ‘ mowko7 Pam eMUC, WLUA eeSPE SDEPELELTHOSD SLEWAL ADEN IBVEMT IN RL y PABENEAOLOT EE AeL. ANID 7 9) UES ARISARUTD MVE RR 5 IY RooREE, ARR MOIDDI, 2L4-7=18. HERO AOR -TEEID EL, OTIS OBE POE CHIME SR SCL OBITS Be TRE ical fiction, science fiction, noveistic form—these are nothing more than labels, but, instead of the stereotypes that fitional ‘iting could only suggest to him, Kramer finds in them con straints tha ve each film unity and keep it from becoming diary oF a militant declaration The Ege: The threat ofthe police frames the characters as if they were pinned. Presented inthe firs images with the sound of 4 projector in the background, they are no doubt under surveil lance, as indicated by one of the frst tracking shots from a ear that follows Dan and as dictated by the organization ofthe film in numbered days, like informers'reports. The voices and the bodies take independent courses, as ifthe point of view could be that of fragments gathered and putin order by some unknown calito. We find the nesting of sequences, the cquetry of the characters and thie crossings, These are challenges to symbols: Dan on the steps of the Capitol. The sacrifice of the Russian rev ‘lutonares of the Will f the People, “taking on the government in single combat” is given as a model. The films are documents, ‘corroborative exhibits. Here the material is the solidarity of the 1p conversations with sudden ‘utbursts, resentment abruptly coming to ight, the ends of night nd pickups, wth no solution of continuity between the political ‘question and personal concerns. The film spans several days, antculating progression towards an end we know can only be a altering. In this film with no specified narrator (or whose na SI MOETOTHS, £72), WORRIES, BC = FIR ESEMSNTOS, RO LMTMONO EL, RIDING nO CHAE NSA, OMTME, EARLY ID HEHE RIO HEMOMWOD LOBE EDC, 8 Fics PLE MME ROMA EI. BNI HEGRE. ME MBSA BADR IRE SA, 23 eee SRLS. 6-C. RING UOAM IS CH PMU <8 6 RAIN NS BMC BD EH 7 KAN SBA, TA LORNA 2S. YEN SMBMOMELE £5 CK, ROONME, We AZREROML CHE ESERTS | OY TOMAM [AB OCRMNEF LL LCRA ENE, 74 LIER OM RHE LORI PREBOME, REOR a. LORI, ICOM, MERLE 5 mit HDD 9 7 GEIL A MO BUF MNBES ZO, RCHIM, Bb D =H CHRO NEA ACG, LORD DEMON D ARNE Li * 5. MR ERAN FOE (HSVEOMD BIE, LEEK OTH SMMOEMT, K KoCRERTOS) COP 4 AI, MOMMIES tte HicwAs Rm 2199 ALORS J 9 CH OBOE OMALEROETS E,W. £2) OMNEL EABENST Sk ORE DOFKE LT. CROSOMMOEREH rator is specified by his absence, in the hypothesis left open in the police report) there is already a question of distance: t find the right distance between what we see and what cinema eat alyces, Cinema is included in each of these four films as an ‘ction—the only militant action we see, along with the violence {in Jce—and something like a narrative process With the last film we should have been in known territory If an authority ike Robert Lout saw Zee as a science fiction film, a label ‘ype lacks meaning when not applied to formalized genre like those of Hollywood, where the category takes prece- dence over the pleasure of storytelling whereas here the opposite {is the case it is not For reasons of simplification, the idea that elon” to somethin films eady closed and that nothing is ‘new but always recalls something that is already there, but because of his (Louit's) knowledge (as testified by his editorial activities) that in literature, atthe time, science fiction (from Dick to Sheckley, Delany, Silverberg or Spinrad) a literature hich no doubt had a more extensive vision than Kramer him: self, was the place that bore witness to the movement and the feeling of catastrophe about the situation in the USA as per ceived by his actors, the young generation sacrificed by Vietnam and internal repression, Today echoes of Kramer can be found in the works of English author J.G, Ballard, whose novel High Rise for example is description of urban guerillas comparable o Fee Without speaking of science fetion, which neither the Cahiers. Melville, presenting Dew homme land Ts thothROKok. = ; > FOR mH ODM ame P D189 KOM D4 = a FSBO) FOMTINEA 7 hina MUTHEBOT b st MEDI TRBOOKM, DELOPIA USA)) O&O [L] ik, TAVAROLOEM KML OMUISERL TOR, BSAAMLD EEE T A » D9 YAY A= ED ELD MY CON, WEEDS BkweR), £5 LEC ELIT eens (ae, BEUEL, mOASoMM), we REOROE, LUNE POY y 2YO=AOM| (1988) ERLE, a 1-7ic Me oRC Lata ity fi 1 he had never set foot in New York before Cn lm. “When you know American cine 2, you know New York” Did Kramer know i? Probably not inking more of Alp the detour had passed noma that we called also and above all nveau regard), cinema steel, of which foe isthe sym Ke which was s0 fashionable atthe time because and I sre the “as iF) would develop independently and engen- eat, fake Newsees inserted i th And ao th pectators.” Or what the Italians—Tavian and Fereri—defined and its two shoo, in 38 and 16mm, the fetishism could have quoted Gramsci! ne nea th hich Babeuf, the one who American landscape of communities—sill so surprising to the . esp a. “anything is political” and the personal account of Vietnam acts Krame iow Louis Marcorells) spoke mostly of dis- somewhat like an exorcism. Until the poem of Ho Chi Mi Melis by Jean-Pierre Léaud in The service you render is no small one; people will remembe: T ca of puting situations what you've done.” Cine i have found the right distance | FROME Cobo BIRI5% \ —UN— b+ 2U4 2—-LOMM OMeF AUT PaTt{w. F1LV—+WtH Real Life Is Elsewhere eInterview by Olivier Joyard and Thierry Lounas m b LEM DMB. OR f ¢ me eD ema, sae saster; the ylming sense of apa thy and fataism. In France the maj nellectuals are left et In the United States there is no such st ture capable of reacting and fightin here? The world of culture, art and ah all, cinema has never existed beyond laws ofthe marketplic unrcle ing filmmakers tried to exist in parallel the mainstream, But even in the | Hollywood was still thee, more power than ever. A large number of independent ir work when filmmakers abandoned they found themselves on their own with fami eS to support and needing to earn a living. A few solitary souls remained. forming a type of rearguard underground ; Fy eee ce comms (aun) eno nmonn SENEe= Semen Megietechcur recom cmnicus. emanes srs. | : iepanemcqrsce—emucy 24797 OMMIERE TS. 7 E e Deep Saweacimimantmar yr camemnos. 97697 28E Latnisesaboe. Tenis ec weernervoceace Uh A478. Pex Smee, 797 RENME? 4 FY NORMA, SOEIERICO 8 Rigs 8A AMOWICHIEL TE » Bi, ERE MULE setae. -weamronee Ml RE. RE=a—3-7EOT, the migmercisee ot. 0 e as HERRL TOR [bRbnIEAOR CLAOR wrmissnt wee a ae tee Shy SF MC, GBFSNEDRDRODL i wot. Wistim s menien ' tno aisiee ey : x F x tose” 2 M17 4 9 9 COBLPICROE LO EE bho YR =WH Pe. RIMS ALK Sh et fe. abba mtica became a central issue: with the white The th me. 1k youth on one side and the Black Panther Thi ee onthe other, what links there were to be was itl M oe = 8 in America, leave the United States to go and i except perh na Brazil. This for me was the com 5 aan 08 from its struggles for liberation, a fe ; — ment, Blacks years before the general’ putsch. Iwan a ica put into practice my theory of oe. unbearable in one place the peopl reterreaing: aaa A up and settle down a litle fate PAE Nae ac, the land of no limits, thought that Ce AENS MANGES sae ; sim Brazil—in short, 1 was searing fo a which does not even con iss 3 a deal America, that of te 19th ct on a es Then my father died and we Wes a i's home. Nevertheless, forthe first time >t. MUFRIRRE, 729 2 ee [4It) Kot. & PRCT OMG EAM, HFS IEKOM eT 92, 19ND TY 2 EHO WHLALM oR. BEML E 8c9% A DEMME ATR EE 0. ELT HL RL EM, LOKI, WEBER fee LiL, SOMME TED BED TO “HBS” Maye 2c hie, WEEREDME LTO. Bik SMTEMA-TOTEICD GREL I. ROL TELOEMS REDD LEMUR REM ot. BOAT Bhi, SOMME MAA MI LEE BO REOMAERNL TOR. TAL rs ees. zones EPIRA SANS SIMO AS OMOKRIEIUTO. & zigbabno chur RS DSCERE MIT, RE TEBE Pht. Whe, SDAA Bko eM, DLE mimes aa, ta AG. OMETSSE, ME ce mse 23. Atha aeRO 741) AO Kid ME EWE AORMLI SHE SehMTeAHoh, HRUITL KO the sound barrier, Now someone needs The example of Africas: How Are You Doing with the '97) in Japan and 1 understoo it the way I think Depardon meant it the film in Paris and hated it. I coulda’t stan that kind of consensual powerless Then I saw it again at a festival involved, ing of help «damn about that in Europe because this very helplessness has Jong been & major the fairest and most honest work poss As a result the film b me too, Tis bri it may be, Yo + us back to our prob: pce acceecany. Ws) boar pron’ ADEE. eusorsD? 6 Soren, SURI PRIRDEMD A REDE URHE RII om? SReIKOMIE ERENCE. ME OM CLE LICMMONCEEERK. U mR need 3s imo“Oe Bok. & BY OSE ‘a, men Set trot, Lida OMRTe 2202 mbt Homesit, WH ne ce HAL OWI it er known how to-do versaity, Inthe Uni States people are shocked by my most personal films hey are arrogant and egotistical. They annot possibly interest anyone: they are Ive always bee here between he two—where the disparity is th widest. After the 1950s, community became the main subject of einem —h to recognize one’s own people. The bin the idea of community in the United States was both a joyful and a painful mRIB is L-CRDAMORL sabceon RISA a 455 5m, FRSETRALSIOUROME - RABID. RBC oo mpocaLSnRm v C. ORTON t SEAL MEMHEL MIN, KOMBIZES " EBD. S108 AGEN Me BIT COROMME, LORRI PRISE Ce, A SPUN 3. SURNAM MOE PHA ENS LE EMTS, > bao t, RABE unity of gestures, the sharing of fame, a space and a time, But had no idea what the possible repercussions on the spectator would be, [didn’t know who would see iy films, Inthe end, my strategy was that in a bottle. A ery whose echo would no doubt never be head. In my relationship with the world and with always been profoundly alone. I have never been able or wanted to cha yeyeic MT L wm ae 7 ‘ niet etme PHM MALDADHOMNOF tet, RS S08 (m,) a2 "i ge. ELAM, MIME k wae pene nets aye eM ae 4 miei eb 3m. ste : Fas, AFIS MMME HE ” e947 4 FRSRAL! 5s PHM OH AD eH c 268.1998 MO DOREML. (EDT ne eeu men who have been reduced to For me, at the beginning of every behind we make. Now choice manual fo ‘movie, there is always virtually no ms to have been reduced tothe follow-_ancedotes. You could carve this ¢ ing options: being a bastard or a jerk. I Thats my conception of political cine 1d to be the executioners on one side Pais, April 14” 1998, Something can be done with even the and the victims on the oth Most miniscule fragment of life; an ideal level ha ink! Being part of a com- —Translated from the French by Monique father, Manders 'o be reconstructed. Thi on munity is not about being Jewish, a Sant movement, an entire existence being American or French. 1 am very wary of 8 he ser. Staying face to face withthe blood ties and fatherlands. I try to dodge Cahiers du cinéma Word, head held high, without embling, the bullets, to not lose myself: I Ary 0 matter what, Politics has become, at move ahead without complaining, how int isha best, atopic of conversation whereas it er uncomfortable it may be to do so. ae should really be the determining factor Politics is no more than this: a survival B27 Ofiliti e- VIP THD Creating Doc Paul Mclsaac ok H YAM re nkKOR amemicmenne meek. HOKE b x ue 20, WIM a i KETC ARDDIC, 6 SPS, ORE ‘ ALE SLES ai $C. HERMON: sometimes even forthe better, To understand our work We were comrades back then, But we were also competitive watching each other with both respect and suspicion. People mets ask if we are brothers and have mistaken oer. Back then Raised in New York's Greenwich Village after WWI with all the beeing and education liberal Jewish professional family ould provide, Rober, the leader, But became community organizer, a radical filmmaker, a founde the skills and confidence to lead but what he wanted to help ead mpletely turn the ater” upside down, On the America, My father was a house painter illegally hete fom Scotland. My mother factory worker from Geors lockups and the Amy. Instead of college I found my way it theater and film, acting and directing. We came from ends ofthe social stata and met at an insurectionary moment si Fe men ‘ " ‘ 3 2». Though we came fom very different worlds Robert and I wer both part of what was called, the Movement. Made up of df cent political tendencies, exacerbated by race and class differences hy American individualism, the Movement was Black Civil Rights the ast ofthe Beat Generation, the era middleclass and the remnants of the traditional Left, suppressed ring the Cold War. Ks ranks were filled with dedicated evolu hers, Jooking to avoid the draft and get on with We were Red Diaper Babies, Pacifiss and members of the naehists, (of many’ varieties), racial and cultural merging activists ofthe Women's Gay/Lesbian and 'y movements. We were radicalized workers and war vet formers, street kids, agent provocateus, spoiled- : wis teoeveanan, 2 ic Heth Mi me x nh {78h 10 Dene RPL iba ; * aT 0 Fe, MBAR OHO Lee n seit 5 ‘ na 7 or c , » 14 i meet " n Hoh. Bit CIM: 7 et WHOBOEES tM fi io i ieee te eer ee i : “ o30 brats, crazy fools, spiritual explorers, drugged-out hustlers ax ca 8 part and yet n few real heros. Inthe late 60s Robert was ladin New Left, but he was also making independent, ateu film exploring ideas years before they emerged in the Left in the US orn Europe r E radical film group in America, Newsre During that same time was living in Europe connected tt 1 the Black Panthers, the student Anarco Antists network inspired by Antonin Artaud, the L he W Movement and the wor Theater, psychedelics and anarchism. We wanted t a lism, Imperialism and Capitals Social and political events, demonstrations, concerts and dail th film as an organizing life ino... Art 1 arrived in Pais in May of °68 and joined th i ncendiary. I imagined this group could theater of insurrection” on the streets. One night during atl tendencies onthe left the cultural and th the action a young woman, filled with “esprit revolutionnain told me the history of Revolution in Pais. Holding a cobb Robert in action at 1 Newsree! meetin in her hand, she said these were the same stones her ances arly int There were maybe fifty people meetin had! dug upto fight the army and the police all the way ba rn near New York City's gumen the French Revolution... it was intoxicain Th and talented men and. wom When I arrived back in the Stats, it was th fi mn he group was controlled by’ a small group of im the mide of «year that was more lke a decade hooked up R In the old days someo with the Yippies! and helped stage th Life a th : me or two other (male) leaders would ha Fae and run the group directly, But this was the New ware of splits in the Movement, part cont nd sexy charisma, Lurking inthe b ww 7 ‘ ans " q a 2 IE De io r2 " " " R nome nee slat mi ¥ mit who me i36 nd was also their acess t0 money, information, power and army. I'm sure he saw himself as a commandanta. Ofcourse that ce and intimidation, 1 admired and resente not on—at the time though it seemed that anything was ni 1. Thad (or thought Ihad) so many oftheir sible, Robert responded to this “revolutionary” moment by but litle oftheir power ing fietion film which expressed the dreams, nightmare Robert was the most dynamic of p. His karate dsci- aspirations ofthe Movement. It was prophetic, disturbing ne gave him an easy and strong physical presence, while his an important document ofthat er, it’ called Ie n boil over at any moment. Moving in and out ne lrtng with that one, stepping into the light to make a point aving a atrial a t + dismiss someone's ideas with his body language. . he was an : 1 any thers, a nt ive and threatening force. He had long thick dark hair. ake fl ve, ta pte eaten 1 knew he might have a knife. Armed with his class and skin ivileges, now in service of "the people,” Robert worked hard Rot a er 1968-69, is image as the urban guerrilla lade nomen, [asked Robert ws fle that oth evo the revolu- _lutionary change and serious repression were imminent. What ferment was waging war abroad and in at home. Do we peacefully protest or jonary leader he said. .“'m looking fo the Army.” We're mt RELIED 74) HE ME i 6 gerigoeeh se ht 5 ee es Bob iRaeoweRtaR 2 EO Mi m wn 0 FD 2 Do we support the VietCong (NL tthe US out of South East Asi We struggled with th death atmosphere of a revolut films and actions ma that every decision we made F onscamrea spec, 2 ems vt a ee t he United States had ctional group called the N dent Revolutionary Organiza n New York City in prepara an ip was in turn tral roles in Ie a h ould be ot how it would play. Af ind yet I agreed with those J just Robert's pers - think fee took c nw armed clandestine 0 strategy, Newsrel got a filmit refuse to distribute Recently I asked two old friends what they thought about X then. One said lee was great! We said right on! That what we need to do,” and he did... as member of an armed re luvionary group he spent time underground and a decade in ji The other friend, a pacifist anit hk ny of K oer fils said, “When I saw Zee in Paris in the early "705, 1 od up in the middle of it and yelled, "BULLSHIT, thi BULLSHIT Today Ise Ic differently... I's a cautionary tale “science nit worked as a kind of psychodrama forcing the viewer to lake sides. "You're either part of the solution or you're arto ‘Underground, the Black Liberation Aemy inthe States the Red a a ees 2-1 . 3) unleashed in very effective campaign code named COINTEL PRO, It worked, they succeeded in inflating and destroying the Movement. Militants, particularly Blacks, were targeted an Women, Blacks and other “minorities” rebelled, split or threw contingent of original Newsreelers, (some would say led by Rober ater the rejection of fe), left New York City and went not as an escape, but the first step in a Che G Others in the 36 n a ‘ k 1 The original idea Robert had for Route Or in a film crew to go back wo the States, travel 1 from the Canadian border along the eastern seaboard, though th clones, Boston, New York, Washington, D. inal the South and all the way down da. At we than a decade in “il ies" wh uld Robert find going back home to America? Robert cal and asked me to help find interesting places and people he co imclude on his film trip. I agreed and started mak q first Doc was never mentioned, But as we began working tet planning Robert's trip, Doe “insisted” on making the trp. | was just lke everything else inthis project idea Doe just emerged from the process of our working togcthe (Our team took six months, shooting nearly every day, to make the trip. Every day the same motel ooms and dinners seemed ‘move with us down the road. But the people and th on the road were always different and compelling, This time twas behind the camera himself. Richard Copans pr: ‘duced, did the cinematography and lighting. Olivier Schwob . und. Jordan Stone and Christine Le Gor duction assistants. We were never more tha 8 He RC OME Icy i rs a UE = Oe , ting to th Ronis Col al f Typically i Qn r an's cabin on W P 4 community AIDS centr 1 then jus uly time hing stopped while 1 a uld get into some scene. Ot 114 moment, Finally we'd discover what was On the road the new people we met were completel ih T was playing a doctor coming hon knew they were “playing” themse times Robert took the camera and went " ithout Doe, some very pers the filmmaker, Robert. By the time we got to Georgia thin " more complex. In the South we were building Doc's his cople and places out of my, Paul's, past, M in it, they called me Doe, but interact i RRO MNNE Mea f pmisint sti ™ eR RRAL AA Sic oMONs Loe mia Hh pit LOO A AMMEN DM E, EMLTUTHALALDIMBSDS. ied Bom EAMES t 0 wk < “cM icy Coe ik niet : ching it, After sereenings people have come up to ask me if us still doctoring, Others want to know . .. "Where is Doe now.” and not all are being ironie, People have very different feelings about this shifting between fictional and non-fictional realities. For me this is one ofthe most interesting and subversive pects of Route One. Ths process sal very risky. The common and go flat, A strong self possessed charactor like Doe ean ni rmok, like some blob of ink that jumps out of the cartoonist ink se and takes over running around changing shapes and defy onal las ofthe seen, If much too anarchic, andi ject is “serious.” its hard for the viewer to sit back and just be entertained. Route One does have a story, narrative and ‘haracters” . but the perspective is always shifting between 4 ‘Over the last decade, people ask (we ask) if we'll bring Doc eve tatked about pain and death and that Doe would be a good o38 Bibel. MDE AI SAH Ode CHE Reset eee <. 10 OWRD kato CH Brkith De into that dark ‘companion on a journe How would we do that? We'd walk a talk. Robert would write, we'd talk some more, he'd rewrite. We'd share book films and audio tapes and tales and secrets from the past. W ‘open to each other's paranoia and dreams. We'd drink, get hi share long meals. Doc and his relationship to certain ideas an places would begin to emerge. The process of discovering could begin again, July 1, 1998 Dear Robert... we promised that when we approached deat! T kno yo understand. That promise was just another of those in But even though I was prevented fdeas. we were always having, like making ing ar. All week while you were in & coma and inaccessible I wanted to be there at your side, standing fr the “other Rober.” watch ing, unrepentant, the observer. Not the beautiful-warm-accept ing-spirtul side many of our lovers and friends an s0 blessed With. No the other side, the intellect with ideas and ready for action, “We've to think of history and seize thi me TM ws. MOMMA A + ie eisMLOS EBA COMM EME HWEUEG, PSB REO Ltt bh —o io) FRNABODIE 19996611 12 NMR Let's get a camera in here let's document this hen after they'd throw vs out ofthe Intensive Care Unit we'd find our way down into the unpainted basement of the host! where the dirty work gets done, Them out into the sees sets ing for the underbelly of the ety. Wandering al night til italy 'd come face to face with the violent dark euth ofthe wort J of our own hearts... then ina insane drunken age weld ¥¢ into the night. Just before dawn we'd fall quite and sudden you'd be ready. You'd hoist the eamera up on your hour st Capture that one stark, beautiful shot that reveals & deep th aout the world, Another unique image later tobe mixed with When our loving family and friends gather to quietly mete 1 be with them, Then later that night FIL get ath with you 1nd pray Tike inthe old days and howl and laugh and I'm crying. New York City, November 12, 1999, FE IZ HEA DBI el IL4y— Rolling along Together Erika Kramer ome. IBAA mS 2 a0 2m ee KOLLow tore ¢ Ro CMENM LEAS, RRC Oat Pr MOTD. él KOT 5H PHOBIC nif oA sce, 5 4 mot. & ec Ah & MIPS BLOB Lomee: SAR: LURE evening at sunset to gather like a celebration as the sun disap pears into the sea. A spontaneous carnival with musicians and vendors. Sitting on the pier with my crystals, gongs and bells yy song, I began the rainbow journey, surrounded by a gavin crowd, Robert came and went in his own spirit. Later tthe sign marking the zero point of Route One, I planted a larger erystal in Discovering the road by ear, not knowing exactly how to proceed with my plan, I started to throw the erystals out the open win the world rated by « meditation of ps crysta-lght. Every few miles I planted erystals, most often disadvantaged areas along the way Robert litle by litle entered the spirit of this, without it being disturbance. He asked me if minded his throwing the erystals| that I drove the car. He entered into the action during the peri dynamically with abi letting them fly fre ti positon marking the rainbow route ‘When I met Robert in 1969 he and I were s ‘others’mythos, and we exposed each other worlds. The merging practice on that voy Vincent Vatrican and C ‘Aix en Provence, France: Institut de l'mage, 2001 A Matar 1 us J ho | Seba ATE WIL DAU YTR — Working with Robert Barre Phillips fen u be mi tit . : f hs a i He sth eintuce ‘4 Wet RY em fi nusic shouldbe like someone looking down from outer space at J telling in music what he sees happening ther of vi hat present in the film, From that n Robert opened up to me and we had a deal. We stat ether seriously, both of us finding our wa music. I was a litle unsure of just what to d hou recording the music, so I called a musie produ h sand, ke at that time at ECM r rom Munich ime with the recording. He 4 and th Q small studio in Paris, ver low budget. music was recorded I had to leave Pats rk and [lft tall with Robert, who then started buildin his sound track. didn’t participate in any of th itn xing and onl athe had done at the first seen ears of work together I wa ye at mn came up I was busy somewher tn For ears was unhappy with this situation but now I know that was meant to be that way and that it was for the best. 1 worked on Roberts films to be of service to him, to help him UA SORE ROS nm BHM i Boe. § t i it WR, MEIC BoC Aa te / ie “ a wt Call Me When You Get There"(ECM 8 th the making of his film. It was never. form Jo my thing, even though Robert always said: “OK Barre On almost all ofthe films that we made together I was cola rating with him from the very fist moments, when he would start to wi io oF throw around ideas fora film, In some 1 was for Robert's filming process a kind of so rd which gave him feedback. 1 feel that in the process of put inds to his images I was helping him to clarify to himself wh ry interested in the improvisti can and 1 know that that had an influence on how he worked and in particular how he shot his films. Being a “child of the siti the moment, to live and work by what is mow, right now, an it into the corporate mold of planning everything aad. In tems and a bunch of people and making a film from day to da his dichotomy be intrigued by the process and stati mngrland, By the time that Route ¢ first screening plished composer inthe cutting 00m, “ \ From early on in our collaboration we often spoke of someday to tel him th magical voyage 4 Robert ing a film starting first withthe music and then shooting th tit ‘m told it, He sent the texto (Our first work in that direction (1982/83) was in the prep Germany and the record was ara scanned the i tion, recording and packaging of ord that I made inal napkin an them directly tot sic, "Call Me When You Get There"( ECM 125 Ironically, four of five yeas was chose b fu terest e 1 some time with me at my home and I would gi a a pes of the m preparing forthe recording and he the past years and it was reproduced in their magazine. But, we write for me the story that he heard in the music. Then neve 1 as far as making a film starting with the musi work some more on the music using the imput that he Next time, Robert! We di, aborate through the years We kept up this process until the recording d n several projects whe sie c where During the studio work he have me daly feedback on the music 1 filming was an equal partne process—concerts that were ding. The day following the recording s had filmed by Robert and projected simult in real reduction decide about the graphics and line ral collaborations with Sarkis— sculpture / music /flm—al had asked several artists to paint « map ofa fictitious 1 qualified ste Robert Kramer's. thirty-five None ofthese paintings really pleased me. At this meet a maki 1 of what he was trying t0 say oF ng were Rober, me, Manfred Eicher, the producer, and Barba {he said. My experience in working with him was that each ic artist fr the project, We were siting around trying t lew project raised new questions and presented new problems to wr ofthis mess when Robert passed me pap pe solved, We never told the same st But, nevertheless, nd aballpoint pen and asked me to sketch what this map there was always a preoccupat istry, and the fail. kod ike did and Barbara sai, “That it nut the nap- The family ofeach one of us and the family of man in inher briefcase, the meeting was over and Robert and I took In to Paris. Now it was time forthe liner notes. [had Puget-Vlle, France and Kobe, Japan, July 200 asked Robert to write them, Once in Paris, be sat me wn, 100k out his old Olympus portable typewriter and ash aa TEAR & ic BRIS DIT 4 eye ANA Testing the World eRichard Copans Remembrances Iris nigh Ina printing plant in Montreuil, occupied by workers why April 1974. Pompidou has died. The electoral sirike background of the electoral campaign: we wil film the strikes from the bottom up (the-only-politically-correct-way-t- advance-class-conseiousness-and-to-transform-society) by ‘opposing them to the electoral lies (to-the-ties-of-hourpedis democracy-and-to-the-betrayal-of-eformists-and-evisionists). 1 suit a LOHMAN, ALORA 5 7 MENLO L, WHS. 1TUEGOMLIM RYE K aA ARIE RRA TAT. BIDE MOD Dt 1 ib 3. Bs PANEL >) sR EM ERENRE LT FABRA A517 2 Bi (RRR Se te i Seb IE Lok Oni) & MROMOMA (7 RebkRowaé du ERA EEREOMUD) CMMEATMSOTHS, Hit StL Ne. 20 ACH te, ies SARS RUBIA C. MSE. ai. + oC, WILE OM, Malle BESS, ees 2 exit pote me 248) (1974), 757 ZCAAPRITORED 151 EBok. MEM [ASAMSMMOHO1IONESEAL THSLHATUS. TNSOMELE, FPA. MES night. Unknowingly, I et militant cinems re are fifteen militant cinema vises in the large machine of the revolution.” Employed and defined strikes politica line, their rl ms and working within hazardous from other pro- work for free) these groups are also intoler other, We shun deviations and mistaken _ UMM LOMBIC RO TREN, AED LER BUTBEWCAETHSH (HONKY SOMERTON. MRETOROHR. Se IEL TAM. MAM, ORTE D757 ACRE) PSALM, MRO). 2 BUCH DOTARB TESS, BBPRO ALAR. fi UMHS. REED LOL TUBUOIC, MII BECKEMSNSL. DNDNeiEMMOMMICMD > Ut, PADONEMMTEEDL. BOMTAR é D, REERNDASEAIS. MEBONE [HMEM) T BS PXUAWEEM ORNT. BLEREIN Fy b— ORCRALMIC, Tx hTL AMM E WIC, XI OMR iE ZOWEBES-E—WICMBLTO BEBICTAMAS. ELT. TOMOMMICBLT. ETETPETET “ORD ke, Brose —nRE TI SNS RSOMNTSLOVAY ho. NUD y KRMEL SI RUSNRGE, DNDN, BSEMIT. BAT. B MWC, Sa—AV-WES SMITHS. TNikNdoNDo REORETHS u aN a F ti hehe. 99M nt 46 speak rarely of cinema, even though we make it, We are part of a planetary movement. We are not alone. Everywhere people are picking up arms and filmmakers picking up cameras. Even in the belly of the most deserted form of Imper lism, americanimperialism, collectives are filming with blacks in the os, with the antiwar move ment, with Mexie ral laborers, with, with, with On a national seale, we make dozens of copies for, for, for... Every shot they film isa na in Hollywood's coffin Like us, they are collective, anony us, political. They are called Newsreel. They are our brothers inf we Parisian suburbs, 1 8s not thinking at all of Newsreel Its highly likely 1 wasn’ How to film sleeping workers? How to film when noth ‘ : AUN, MENACE, ANN TS ALN S.E5 2, Ae h wat We omnE stot sy toie, TIC SAC, eR u r wr ibn 1749 HA . wea sc Fns am - To) r bit. 6 Ato K . Kiso COMMO ROS hs Luckily Thérése is not asleep. She is an offset printing techni: ofthe young people asleep, one who continues to snore, a hi mouth, semi-ong hair, a shor, tight belted leather jacket, Late we will imagine adventures. But for now, the only activity in hese offices is Theres pencil, her sketchbook and 3 solly-moving hand And it is without a doubt because she is watching that I can film, My gaze is possible, behind hers. Like an open door, I can lm, As they say, I can enter into the scene. I press myself onto her to film those who sleep. A gaze, the direction of a look, aa a tendemess, a feeling. HI be overcome by the moments of the fight, none of the desperate waiting for the the “leit ous depth to the moment, given rhythm by the breath of those Jeep, without a doubt touched by this sudden intimacy with sill bodies, this somewhat surprising intimacy which the power which it has given me and the confidence it has granted me do) SEI, BRON 8 ER * Rowand & TiER! a L. CORRIOS oA Wide stEM, B Be ni amonat he DL 42=0 [AUR DSM. WisC/ hoyxi ERS. Beco AER SOM? Orch, Wise. EUS cnaRE ROD? BLEUSAEOBS ican TO mBIEIMN BM. MIST NMR, KaxXY SURED (UP. B35 CHEAATOROCALSNTUR. REHOME BER. BAL OROM). Hist OI- HEP OMEN Sct ote EC CRAPO RMB ECE. BED PALICEELDU Te, RMEENTESA SSO OT. A SOR, BEEMATRUADENSBOMMICE oT. e Dy RES a AU IVER eI BH LT x Grace (as a moment of shared grace). Recall One night in December of 1975 Milestones ina theatre 1 eried as I rarely cry atthe theater. It fe. Was this film? Was it life? A moment in Ines you and it hurts U thought it was for real, a documentary (but no and the blind man was also operating the camera). I made aities had become sens and feeling became c Hollywood and the Newsrecls gave birth to new cinema. le Milestones as one of the Les Cahiers du cinéma wil in best films of the year 1 dare approach the worker who snores, “covered” by his snonts, Another, dozing, smiles at me softy. Therésé looks at sme. fl, [itm with « Coutant, an cai 16, no doubt “borrowed!” from DAL + Fa + YRY) BEDHORABFIEE [YAAK AYA) RANBEBS. Peps: ; fi J Kavi DICIDHEC (769 MA m 19a a, SoM J098, LOREM: MO * a wim i " ° e IDHEC for a student project. A marvelous camera, but on 1¢ arm down intoerably—it You have to hold idly, when you are looking down er someone asleep. The phys physica hin And yet there is f distance. We are together. Lam not “stealing” r het for sever all, There is also it tered by our presen Be 979 12H. RADRIEIOF3—Y-THTL—2 S72 MILES, EOMRAPORMEDS poTSisMDOON—hEBNLTCNS. =a—ZU— We [PAWAR-YA) OMETAENTUROT. IEA EROTOAUL, WERETTIBLTNS. tHERLT USRMEORMERS LSB. LELIEORIBMBLIE CFEAT RMD. ORCTACRL, RBORMERT BRBNTETSEOR. BRL. BUICEMLS IHR, HAT SERN, AMEORTAS OBERT AR race. An idea much more vast and fundamental than “it is good tal together, we are all human beings” of “the more the mer Recall In December 1979, a producer friend, Hé eV duced me to Robert, recently arrived from Portu to his images of ¢ struggle, Bathed in the aure, Newsreet Mitesiones, he The tech wld say him already min search of work who director is often in thi state of generous availability, ready The the time of a 8 search for work, the mutual need desire for images to share, the want tof nes place in a power relationship, all of these come together to create scenes with a strong potential for seduction. Ves, seduc 1 think there was a drama underway there, in the mid of the Atlantic more precisely: Robert, half-exited, in OMEN EAI R A cnSeNtHRDOT. Mi pimp Wes, £3. WIEN 22 CHSMOMMERUSNTURERS. EME, KGROMAHT. OC MEAECMLTNT, HERR, DHS. WEKEPXVDAT. AADAMICBIOLT PAU (CERN ERIAKED) OL ERMD I CHSWRLTUS. DNDN aMICMTSELTURGOLEI TRUM SATO feo CA YE ROSA we e va iE CGT (9etmseta) RR EWA ne wastes ese Low aI PR sae, ste : Fa itm WT ‘ 1, half-American, curious about this Ame and, even if only halfway that I refused so obstinately, and half- already departed for . Reunited in what we wanted to escape and love at the same time. Since then, we have become friends. unity like any other. Falening that night, juris, Even the contrary —it ke a film (not vague residue with politi 2) Wis night. Nota work: mystery, magic of bodies Ie’ hard to be “anttevisionist” at « moment like this, Even if this sete of occupation breaks with the CGT official party ine, Lam no filming the illustration ofa tactic. Lam trying to seize the full feeling ofthis commo of a common experience, I am trying to be init entirely. With my desires for images, my ideas too well formed and the depth of life that I wish to taste. Deleuze would surely speak of the arrangement of my desire. The com munity is even stronger because this moment is made of my film 1's desire and of the workers’ fatigue, the one adding to the s founded in difference, in singularity and of time lived in th 2 of to live this experi is HME RIEL. 05 a 4 PROS 1 F : a tem Hn OR 23. REIS se Iex ‘ ce REWER ATURE, Bat 2) 2OMA . >a Me ote en ‘ Mh be L. MwA. MORAN hic aieuen : se weevitern : , wnt u ie r ¢ upied factory in all its dept, Prettying it up abit, o tes, to fel out the world? But who is atthe test of the use, but Ihave an excuse: it was only the beginning ofa lon cer in his experi yet traveled, a road which seems to becom: To be completely inthis experience, the ecing ofthe present Uravel ime in the process of pa isthe level on whi A small moment of life whose lessons Ihave been able to perience unfok RESONANCES, tors and the crew. Sharing expeien Experience An English word, pronounced “expirentz"an excellent example J8zz fa word that cannot b This m ich ing all da I iter accumulated father broadcast zon the ra Deep River) Io nk and prepared bo fk A music lightly improvised (in part or in enn Se dll of this together Iisa way of being in ht Theres Africa, th he fanfares, the shythms, the one’ et the win rn a body in pain Se feet there tnpcter. We ofen ime Wey But there isnot ut the moment. There sm al eroups of actors and technical atthe cam toe without a proj Ct ra, Olivier doing the sound, Katell adjusting ital and me, Ard the projet i all cinema, noth m glued 10 the sky, the lens and that which is ot of range Without Robert having ever ateach momen A nem irre Ns rch to inser ai But how to make on For Robert, who has One/VSA, this time is Between tachi, brshings, 7 " PIRITeS ¥ st nthe work. But Tobe, 10> Politi ee 12 (GMNONONE 2 eRe RIEL VP HEN S| it 8 Ee Aa) © Tom) new Foroomieos WUE, WMHEHO tite NSS | 288 i nn mm 34 BIL 2 \y ion: I was incapable of thinking about anything but the There is “Appreciation” and “To Vert tues of collective action. I had an old Leninist foundatior Who puts the other tothe T had always loved to “make h T reserve did not at ll keep me from abandoni we afilm December 199 i Robert appeared. Te took me a long time to accept that politics is more than Translated from the F Sarah Tease be a flag. More a way of liv ing in the p sting. 1 earned very late hat Robert, one of the founders of Newsreel, had tet it so use he w suffocated in the collet It took me a long time to understand that grace lives in m ind that spending one's life making these moments mean: inning one's life, not losing it. It took me along time to ati te desire and politics, the singular and the communal Tit 1 n searching forthe ile for along ime Testing the world” (E poses atest om th i a it does on the filmmake, The Larousse says that i is “tying something in onder fy its value or quali rove 10 oneself” (S is not so far away. Th Test” (Epreuve) and Proofs (Pr : BOWE. = BD 4X-VE i XT ce HRSEAS My Life Will Survive My Images Laure Duthilleul pocorn porn) st im roll his camera or say"moteur,"the French version of nd Besides, Robert uses neither a clapperboard nor rd “action:” in fact, 1 think that if technical conditions Jet him, he would even not say “moteur.” Robert constant els against a technical crew who resist him, exact! ca echnical. And he rebels also against acto because they too are part ofthe “technicality” of film. He doesn't like cinema's way of creating a scene, the cinema of filmin is cus cinema from its reality of the world. Kramer does not nema, not does he like morality acess I give myself to him, itis for my own sake, not the sake of sending more or less gratifying image of an tress (an actress who works with Kramer leaves her narcisi dressing room and her owa images inthe makeup room, urse). He likes actors who disappear. He does not like th ions told by actors it sas if they take up too much room in story—emotion is his, not taking shape di e instant of filming. He needs to see them, to film them aif ng them, but he does not show them in his film—emotion com him, itis his connection to the world that marks the ima So why? Why work with him? Robert interests us posh 1 myself, to discover my profession, to di F myself. To work with Rober is more than anything else 1 On the self—itis supreme ingratitude and ton Me. WRENN CS. 7 AoA EMA OIL). RERENE, OR 13H hr OA canis — Wom wm ‘ 2 Been k a 0 Kramer calls up oppositi in resis es me ht ino revolt— revolt against my condi nan sins the human condition. W A pushes me to the test, somewhere ese: he Cf is th ing?” when he ask a mother who has the cour a phi daughter and her man to lea acter who has the courage Kramer isnot interested in the mech KH nalty aea—I forge an elasticity, an pieces. He alway to be when we are the centre of th ith Robert 1nd I hear him murmuring to his assistant, dear Katell Djia out the point on which he sets his zoom lens; [always want to him wh a blade of grass that quivers or the flock of bla avis f fer my head at that exaet sent. To play with K let oneself lean om the frame heart the limits, sh apart the bound es, 10 pi is out of range, all to better push he sme resisting him in the that he wil that a characteris fiction and that and Walk the W Wh 5D FE | [ete | BSUS es a } (1K 5$2000488 A Jtcouyce— 4 ‘e A Letter from Robert —Inheritance, or Hiroshima 08/2000 Suwa Nobuhiro BM MENS 350M EM CE MN Lt BickOB B= kod Bo LUA, a DH ALD MLW lh >t >. ROL KeOLOeL , Fare snoteae fem ResrnomwD. 19 A f nie rounicee bs wry Wc 8 ARCO SiMe aA et . tacsskeeee TERRA THLE. MERCY 2 SEIPK, WEMMOT. MEBTECLE Fis, SEROBMICBML RL. a LOMA OUTS UMMSETELY, C6 AMES DEFATUS, WERHT2, SAOARTOMBHM ESAT BOMANTTUC CERBA TUS, [MTHS RH Sei), MRLEKORRT SCE, BATRIS 8, THSEUSSDAE—MICHRT SC LEBATOS camera on me as I filmed, We began to imagine a film shoot hich two shoots were happening simultaneously. And then, in November of that year, he died 1 troduced here i the last e-mail I received from him, sent forty days before he died. It is without a doubt a private nd describes only a rough sketch for an idea. However ter asking for and receiving permission from Kramer's widow Erika I would like to reproduce the letter here, almost exactly as it in hopes that it will give even a small sense of Krame reject. dear suwa: fest buried in the editing room. things look good enough now so that i cam lift up my head. in advance, ¢ thank you for your ‘am thinki tion with a crew of 2 oF 3 people including myself iam this ndering-and-finding, 0 {to work with in japan, jam think in DY with the intention to blow up to 3Smm/L.¥S (whi ©cis this kind of “produe- the formula for my current fat rest to you? does it give ton’ something that is of int possiblity of the you might want? ACT. RC, MABCEDERA TOS, 9531.05 (HK ORLORMOI 4—T 7b) KBLEMIET LOMA. F + FSW F¢FATOMBERATOS. CAL (MER | WK ESEDIN? CAT, SELOROTOS RH, EF CAN SMM SES 9 97 ENE TEAPORMOLDONMEL TES, LORROD ED, SELOMMESEAOPRE, O80. BROOM FMAM ONFEMRE SEAVER TOS. HEL OPREMYRVEBTOS, HEL, BEEK £LT COWBICRD SAA ERIE RUEBS TUS. 268 APMEWCRIDS ILD CRRELAWL EVER RK MIL OTC NIMC MB ES EL BEATERUBODH ELIE, CASPOKT. AF0R DUT, UC OPOMOERL TS, EHSOMULBEEEO MOE. REA HOMERS 21RD, TORO BOE, BERLOWRH (KROME) ORME BAIN BUBEROTCNSEROTUS, ALRONR, SELOM H. SERLTOMDOATEMSLL IUOMMERTANT (NOES IH? [MECRSIE) LUSMMERUANTC NSEBIO? cr WAROPREEA GS ICMBL TR ROPER TILE AE, COME (ME) OL

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