Invited to the London International Film Festival premiere of Breaking the Frame, a feature-length film directed by Marielle Nitoslawska, part of the Experimenta strand of programmes curated with flair by Mark Webber.
Breaking the Frame is an excellent example of the power of audiovisual cinema. Nitoslawska, in her portrait of Carolee Schneemann and her work, interweaves the visual with the equally varied and expressive music of James Tenney, who was a key person in Schneemann’s life, both as partner and collaborator.
Breaking the Frame is also an unusual collaboration: in her introduction Nitoslawska told us how she worked closely with Carolee Schneemann on this film, and after the screening she explained the importance of her collaboration with her editor, Monique Dartonne.
In her film Nitoslawska also shows us less well-known examples of Schneemann’s work, so we see how her early paintings relate to her famous films, like Meat Joy and Fuses, and how these works relate to her writings, and very evocative scrapbooks, the textures of which are captured so that one can almost touch and smell them.
We listen to Schneemann talking about her life and work, and Nitoslawska’s own observations and responses are heard in the audiovisual weave of her film.
Early in the creative process, Nitoslawska was struck by the powerful atmosphere of Schneemann’s New England farmhouse, full of mysterious dark spaces from which are unearthed things as varied as a chipmunk on a tray (freshly beheaded: a gift from the cat) or a box of poems typed on cards, which can be chance-ordered.
This is an artist’s film, so Nitoslawaska, when she was faced with the extraordinary range of Schneemann’s work, found ways to organise this proliferation: films, dance, performance, collages (in 2D and in 3D), paintings on snow and on canvas, poetry, installations.
Nitoslawska uses Schneemann’s house as an evocative anchor for this variety, which includes the rhythms of the passing seasons, each bringing their own light to the surrounding wild landscape, and into the house. Periodically a train passes by, rolling against the rhythms of the body and the changing weather.
The very process of organising the variety of material is part of Nitoslawska’s film: at the end of Breaking the Frame we watch Schneemann as she organises the order of some of her photographic work, for a gallery show. She tries out various combinations for these big identically-sized works, which are still bubble-wrapped: so to us they remain as mysterious as the process of successfully organising a work of art itself.
Nitoslawska's Breaking the Frame will be screened at London's
National Film Theatre (NFT 3), on Friday 19th October, at 21.00, as part of the London International Film Festival.
Breaking the Frame is an excellent example of the power of audiovisual cinema. Nitoslawska, in her portrait of Carolee Schneemann and her work, interweaves the visual with the equally varied and expressive music of James Tenney, who was a key person in Schneemann’s life, both as partner and collaborator.
Breaking the Frame is also an unusual collaboration: in her introduction Nitoslawska told us how she worked closely with Carolee Schneemann on this film, and after the screening she explained the importance of her collaboration with her editor, Monique Dartonne.
In her film Nitoslawska also shows us less well-known examples of Schneemann’s work, so we see how her early paintings relate to her famous films, like Meat Joy and Fuses, and how these works relate to her writings, and very evocative scrapbooks, the textures of which are captured so that one can almost touch and smell them.
We listen to Schneemann talking about her life and work, and Nitoslawska’s own observations and responses are heard in the audiovisual weave of her film.
Early in the creative process, Nitoslawska was struck by the powerful atmosphere of Schneemann’s New England farmhouse, full of mysterious dark spaces from which are unearthed things as varied as a chipmunk on a tray (freshly beheaded: a gift from the cat) or a box of poems typed on cards, which can be chance-ordered.
This is an artist’s film, so Nitoslawaska, when she was faced with the extraordinary range of Schneemann’s work, found ways to organise this proliferation: films, dance, performance, collages (in 2D and in 3D), paintings on snow and on canvas, poetry, installations.
Nitoslawska uses Schneemann’s house as an evocative anchor for this variety, which includes the rhythms of the passing seasons, each bringing their own light to the surrounding wild landscape, and into the house. Periodically a train passes by, rolling against the rhythms of the body and the changing weather.
The very process of organising the variety of material is part of Nitoslawska’s film: at the end of Breaking the Frame we watch Schneemann as she organises the order of some of her photographic work, for a gallery show. She tries out various combinations for these big identically-sized works, which are still bubble-wrapped: so to us they remain as mysterious as the process of successfully organising a work of art itself.
Nitoslawska's Breaking the Frame will be screened at London's
National Film Theatre (NFT 3), on Friday 19th October, at 21.00, as part of the London International Film Festival.