New York - Twenty-Four Dollar Island
Eye on Art: New York - Twenty-Four Dollar Island
Fabulous digital restoration (up to 5K) of avant-garde films made by adventurous directors including Robert Flaherty, Charles Sheeler and Mary Ellen Bute. The theme is New York, the films were selected from the collection of film curator and archivist Bruce Posner’s Silent Avant-Garde project and from the collection of Eye. The silent films will be accompanied live by Oscar Jan Hoogland (piano) and Mary Oliver (viola).
New York has inspired from the start of the 1920s onwards. The city invited cinematic experiments as abstract, poetic and daring as the conurbation itself.
This programme brings together the highlights of the ‘city symphonies’ dedicated to New York, the modern metropolis. The screening will be accompanied by live music provided by Oscar Jan Hoogland. The screening copies are from Eye’s collection and from the film archivist and curator Bruce Posner’s collection of digitally restored, silent avant-garde films. He is the initiator of the Silent Avant-Garde (film archive) project, which focuses on American experimental film from 1893 - 1941.
Programme
Manhatta (Charles Sheeler & Paul Strand, US 1921, B/W, 11’44”)
Avant-garde urban photography, made by precision painter Charles Sheeler and Paul Strand, one of America's most famous artistic photographers.
The Twenty-Four Dollar Island (Robert Flaherty, US 1925, B/W, 14’32”)
Filmmaker Flaherty – known for Nanook of the North, the first documentary – was enamoured with the telelens effect whereby distant skyscrapers fold together and the field of depth is intentionally flattened.
New York in vogelvlucht (Onbekend, US 1929, 35mm, 5’)
New York from the sky’ is a report on the city featuring aerial footage, Manhattan’s skyline, the Brooklyn Bridge, Broadway by night…
Skyscraper Symphony (Robert Florey, US 1929, B/W, 35mm, 9')
Florey opens with static shots of the tops of buildings followed by a sequence of flowing, varied footage which increasingly reveals New York’s high rises and the city itself.
Escape, Synchromy No. 4 (Mary Ellen Bute & Theodore Nemeth, US 1938, colour, sound)
First colour film by Mary Ellen Bute the painter, theatre lighting designer, math and music connoisseur. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor imprisoned in a series of (5’) pulsating light shapes.
A Bronx Morning (Jay Leyda, US 1931, 14'31")
An ode to the Bronx: an intimate urban symphony for a New York borough. Streets swarming with kids, shopkeepers and shoppers. Leyda received a grant to apprentice with Sergei Eisenstein thanks to this film.
N.Y, N.Y., A Day in New York (Francis Thompson, US 1958, colour, 35mm, sound, 15'20")
New York in the 1950s. The footage was shot with a Kodak 16mm Cinecamera, equipped with secret mirrors, kaleidoscopes and even reflective hubcaps.
This is part of
Details
Production year
2023
Length
74 min.
Event language
English
Country
NL
Part of
Eye on Art
Eye on Art is a programme on the intersection between film and other arts. Eye on Art keeps up with current events, with presentations on contemporary artists and programmes that coincide with important exhibitions, manifestations and Eye activities.
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