Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet
To Make the Revolution Also Means to Put Back Into Place Things that Are Very Ancient But Forgotten
CGAI-Filmoteca de Galicia (December 29, 2016 - February 22, 2017)
TABAKALERA - Centro Internacional de Cultura Contemporánea, Donostia / San Sebastián (January 13 - March 31, 2017)
Filmoteca Cantabria (August 30, 2017 - October 1, 2017)
La Filmoteca - Institut Valencià de Cultura (January 9, 2018 - February 7, 2018)
NUMAX, S. Coop. Galega (February 6, 2018 - December, 2018)
Museo Reina Sofía presents, in collaboration with Filmoteca Española, a comprehensive retrospective on the film-makers Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet. The series, comprising works spanning from 1962 to the present day, reflects one of the most cohesive and relevant film projects in the 20th century, whereby cinema is both an artistic form and a way of politically bursting forth in the present. Engaging in dialogue with Jean-Marie Straub, the series includes new translations of the vast majority of the films, original format screenings, remastered copies, a significant number of premieres in Spain, and a new publication featuring essays on the film-makers.
Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet are a key reference point in the field of cinema and contemporary art. Distantly inseparable in one part of the French Nouvelle Vague (Rivette, Godard, Moullet) and on the margins of New German Cinema, the production of their early films was divided between Germany, Italy and France, characterising a filmography shot in three countries and in different languages. This trait would not only distinguish the scope of their work in the aesthetic and political debates at the time, it would also set out a profound reflection on history, identity and European borders.
The poetics of Straub-Huillet adhere to the technical origins of film, whilst also readying us for a new relationship with the world’s sounds and images. Their work, like that of those they greatly admired - Cézanne, Griffith, Mallarmé, Chaplin and Schoenberg - opens up new pathways. Both figure among those to have obdurately reformulated what a new art, an art that starts, could become, while retracing a brief history of film before moving back to the point that is transformed in its inception. In the origins of their films we find artistic works – dramas, novels, music, music scores and paintings – rather than scripts, works that the directors reappropriate, uproot from their cultural contexts (Classical Antiquity, the Ancien Régime, the French Revolution, the Paris Commune, post-war Europe…), and place in the present as a critical event; they are destined not to be translated into a new language, but to be received and interpreted as an emancipatory tool for their new audiences. In the films of Straub-Huillet texts, works and images form a sequence that describes a revolutionary pedagogy of culture and history throughout time.
Following the death of Danièle Huillet in 2006, Jean-Marie Straub continues to work, upholding filmic poetics such as rupture and revelation, with his recent films, some of which will be shown for the first time in Spain in this film season. These works demonstrate social conflicts, citizen repression and the violence of power as they continue to explore the limits of representation on a political and artistic level.
Programa
Communists (Kommunisten, 2014, 70 min., HD archive)
The Algerian War! (La Guerre d'Algérie!, 2014, 2 min., HD archive)
With introduction of Giorgio Passerone, Christophe Claver and the curators of the series. Due to health reasons, the presence of Jean-Marie Straub is canceled.
Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach, 1968, 93 min., HD archive)
Introduction: José Luis Téllez
Machorka-Muff (1963, 18 min., DCP)
Not Reconciled or Only Violence Helps Where Violence Rules (Nicht versöhnt oder Es hilft nur Gewalt, wo Gewalt herrscht, 1965, 55 min., DCP)
Eyes Do Not Want to Close at All Times or Perhaps One Day Rome Will Permit Herself to Choose in Her Turn (Othon) (Les yeux ne veulent pas en tout temps se fermer ou Peut-être qu'un jour Rome se permettra de choisir à son tour (Othon), 1970, 88 min., DCP)
The Bridegroom, the Actress and the Pimp (Der Bräutigam, die Komödiantin und der Zuhälter, 1968, 23 min., HD archive)
Every Revolution Is a Throw of the Dice (Toute révolution est un coup de dés, 1977, 10 min., HD archive)
Introduction: Paulino Viota
History Lessons (Geschichtsunterricht, 1972, 85 min., HD archive)
Introduction to Arnold Schoenburg’s “Accompaniment to a Cinematic Scene” (Einleitung zu Arnold Schoenbergs Begleitmusik zu einer Lichtspielscene, 1973, 15 min., DCP)
Moses and Aaron (Moses und Aron, 1975, 105 min., DCP)
Jackals and Arabs (Schakale und Araber, 2011, 11 min., DCP)
Fortini/Cani (Fortini/Cani, 1976, 83 min., DCP)
From the Cloud to the Resistance (Dalla nube alla resistenza, 1979, 105 min., HD archive)
Introduction: Ana Useros and Miriam Martín
Too Early, Too Late (Zu früh, zu spät — Trop tôt, trop tard — Troppo presto, troppo tardi, 1981, 100 min., HD archive)
En Rachâchant (1983, 7 min., 35 mm)
Class Relations (Klassenverhältnisse, 1984, 130 min., 35 mm)
The Death of Empedocles or When the Green of the Earth Will Glisten for You Anew (Der Tod des Empedokles oder Wenn dann der Erde grün von neuem euch ergläntz, 1987, 132 min., 35 mm)
Proposition in Four Parts (Proposta in quattro parti, 1985, 41 min., HD archive)
Cézanne. Conversation with Joachim Gasquet (Cézanne. Dialogue avec Joachim Gasquet, 1990, 51 min., 35 mm)
A Visit to the Louvre (Une visite au Louvre, 2004, 48 min., 35 mm)
Introduction: Natalia Ruiz
Black Sin (Schwarze Sünde, 1989, 42 min., 35 mm)
Introduction: Manuel Asín
The Antigone of Sophocles After Hölderlin’s Translation Adapted for the Stage by Brecht 1948 (Die Antigone des Sophokles nach der Hölderlinschen Übertragung für die Bühne bearbeitet von Brecht 1948, 1992, 100 min., 35 mm)
From Today until Tomorrow (Von heute auf morgen, 1997, 62 min., 35 mm, original version with French subtitles)
Sicilia! (1998, 66 min., 35 mm, original version with French subtitles)
Introduction: Santos Zunzunegui
The Wayfarer (Il viandante, 2001, 5 min., DCP)
The Knife Sharpener (L’arrotino, 2001, 7 min., DCP)
Workers, Peasants (Operai, contadini, 2001, 123 min., 35 mm)
The Return of the Prodigal Son (Il ritorno del figlio prodigo, 2003, 29 min., 35 mm original version with French subtitles)
Humiliated: That Nothing Produced or Touched by Them, Coming From their Hands, Proves Free from the Claim of Some Stranger (Workers, Peasants— Continuation and End) (Umiliati: che niente di fatto o toccato da loro, di uscito dalle mani loro, risultasse esente dal diritto di qualche estraneo (Operai, contadini — seguito e fine), 2003, 35 min., 35 mm, original version with French subtitles)
Dolando (2003, 7 min., DCP)
Incantati (2003, 6 min., HD archive)
These Encounters of Theirs (Quei loro incontri, 2006, 68 min., 35 mm)
Europa 2005, 27 October (Europa 2005, 27 octobre, 2006, 11 min., HD archive)
Joachim Gatti (2009, 1 min. 30 sec., HD archive)
Corneille-Brecht or Rome, the Only Object of My Resentment (Corneille-Brecht ou Rome, l'unique objet de mon resentiment, 2009, 27 min., HD archive)
Oh, Supreme Light (O somma luce, 2010, 18 min., HD archive)
Introduction: Jenaro Talens
Artemide’s Knee (Le Genou d'Artémide, 2008, 26 min., 35 mm)
The Witches / Women Among Themselves (Le streghe — Femmes entre elles, 2009, 21 min., 35 mm)
The Inconsolable One (L'Inconsolable, 2011, 15 min., DCP)
The Mother (2012, 19 min., DCP)
Lothringen! (1994, 21 min., 35 mm)
Itinerary of Jean Bricard (Itinéraire de Jean Bricard, 2008, 40 min., 35 mm)
An Heir (Un héritier, 2011, 20 min., DCP)
Concerning Venice (History Lessons) (À propos de Venise (Geschichtsunterricht), 2014, 23 min., DCP)
A Tale by Michel de Montaigne (Un conte de Michel de Montaigne, 2013, 34 min., HD archive)
Dialogue of Shadows (Dialogue d'ombres, 2014, 28 min., HD archive)
Communists (Kommunisten, 2014, 70 min., HD archive)
The Algerian War! (La Guerre d'Algérie!, 2014, 2 min., HD archive)
The Aquarium and the Nation (L’Aquarium et la nation, 2015, 31 min., DCP)
Introduction: Albert Serra (November 19 only)
