Ernst Schmidt Jr.: Stones & 20 Action and Destruction Films ( Steine / Ja/Nein / Weiß / Prost / Rotweißrot / Schnippschnapp / Filmisches Alphabet / Burgtheater / Gesammelt von Wendy / Eine Subgeschichte des Films / Denkakt / Mein Begräbnis ein Erlebnis / 12 Uhr Mittags - High Noon / The Merry Widow / Gertrude Stei ) ( Stones / Yes/No / White / Cheers / Red-White-Red / Snip, Snip / Film Alphabet / Imperial Theatre / Collected by Wendy / A Subhistory of Film / The Act of Thinking / My Funeral an Experience / 12 Noon - High Noon / The Merry Widow / Gertrude Stein would ha )

Ernst Schmidt Jr.: Stones & 20 Action and Destruction Films (DVD) (*)

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Original Title: Steine / Ja/Nein / Weiß / Prost / Rotweißrot / Schnippschnapp / Filmisches Alphabet / Burgtheater / Gesammelt von Wendy / Eine Subgeschichte des Films / Denkakt / Mein Begräbnis ein Erlebnis / 12 Uhr Mittags - High Noon / The Merry Widow / Gertrude Stei
Alternate Title: Stones / Yes/No / White / Cheers / Red-White-Red / Snip, Snip / Film Alphabet / Imperial Theatre / Collected by Wendy / A Subhistory of Film / The Act of Thinking / My Funeral an Experience / 12 Noon - High Noon / The Merry Widow / Gertrude Stein would ha
Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
German ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
France ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
98 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Black & White
Booklet

Movie filmed in 1965-1979 and produced in:
Austria ( Germany, Central Europe )

Directed By:
Ernst Schmidt Jr.
Peter Weibel

Actors:
Sara Suranyi
Brigitte Kowanz
Hermann Nitsch
Günter Brus
Otto Muehl
Peter Weibel
Valie Export

Synopsis:

Stones: Steine (Stones) is a documentary film on a sculptorsŽ symposium in St. Margarethen, Burgenland. Behind this short description of content lies one of the most intelligently filmed and concepted documentary films in the history of Austrian film. The date of the last showing of this film could not be reconstructed. Yes/No: Expanded cinema with a real and a projected curtain. (This film is part of the 20 Action and Destruction Films.) . White: In a blank film, holes were punched with a office hole-punch. During the projection, only the black scratches present in the material, which form over the course of time, can apparently be seen in the holes as well. Cheers: This is a film with minimal content. Using a film pen, a line was drawn across a strip of clear leader, until it hit the edge of the frame ('cheers'), and then the line was drawn back to the other side ('cheers'), etc. This strip functioned as the film negative. The projection is the drawn out line as a white line that wanders back and forth, bringing light and darkness into the theater. Because of this one should not only watch the movie screen, but also the light that comes out of the projector and the reflections in the theater. A 'light play.' Red-White-Red: The formal deconstruction of an Austrian tourist advertisement sign. The national colors red white and red have been removed, filmed separately. In the 'white' area is the word 'information.' The sound is a montage made of parts of Filmreste (Film Remains) and is only audible when the 'red' areas appear on the screen. This film echoes preceding films as well as the semantic meaning of the colors red-white-red and their 'information'-value. Snip, Snip: This film has two parts. In the first part, the film material is on 8mm uncut film, so that in the 16mm projection a 4-fold film can be seen. In the second part of the film, the 16mm film is shown in full size, that means the picture is now enlarged four times its size. I drew over the film after the fact, and abstracted it in many different ways. Film Alphabet: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ - each letter is one frame (1/24 of a second) long and each letter originates from a company sign. The film shows the paradoxical relationship between film and written language. Imperial Theatre: A nostalgic honoring as well as a reciprocal re-make of the film of the same name by Willi Forst. A setting to film of a 1930s book, literally: page by page. Collected by Wendy: At a party, which was organized for Wendy, each person invited brought a photo of themselves. Each photo was filmed according to a strict scheme: each 7 frames, 5 frames, 3 frames and 1 frame (1/24 of a second) long, and then intercut with the other photos. A Subhistory of Film: All of the photos in Eine Subgeschichte des Films (A Sub-history of Film) by Scheugl/Schmidt (Suhrkamp edition 471) one after another, cut inside in the camera using the same scheme as in Gesammelt von Wendy (Collected by Wendy): each therefore 7, 5, 3, 1 frame(s) long. The film of films. The Act of Thinking: This is a portrait of Peter Weibel, and at the same time a reflection on the medium film. The Act of Thinking: This is a portrait of Peter Weibel, and at the same time a reflection on the medium film. 12 Noon - High Noon: A person sticks it out for 24 hours in front of the camera. Every ten minutes a short clip was recorded, 8 frames per second (which is then projected at a speed of 24 f.p.s.). The tiredness of 24 hours in a time lapse of 4 minutes. The Merry Widow: Through the use of a time lapse effect (single frame shots), the changes in a face covered with a cream cheese mask for 30 minutes are condensed into one minute. Gertrude Stein would have liked to see Chaplin in a film where he had nothing to do but walk down a street and then around a corner, then around the next corner and so on from corner to corner. N: Recorded during a presentation of the 'Performance Art Festival' in the Modern Art Galerie, Vienna. The presentation was officially put to an end by the police because of the infernal sound made by the accompanying noise orchestra. In this film short shots have been 'mounted' in the camera. The film material is shown twice, whereas the sound is composed over the entire length of the film (out of elements of the real sound from the performance). Kunst & Revolution: 'Kunst & Revolution is a documentation on the famous action known as the 'filthy uni mess', which led to a jury court trial. I only had a few metres of film with me and they were quickly spent, but still the film gives one a rough impression of the events. As a whole mythology quickly arose around the event, I altered the material to counteract this effect (through repetition, and adding other material, for instance from a film about keeping dogs, and my own leftover footage from the Muehl action number 54 'Im Freudenauer Wasser').' In film 16 of his anthology Ernst Schmidt Jr. documented the actions of Günter Brus, Otto Muehl, Peter Weibel and Oswald Wiener. Bodybuilding: In May 1965, Ernst Schmidt Jr. films the Otto Muehl performances Rumpsti Pumsti and Body Building. In this period Muehl conceives his actionist works almost exclusively for photographic and film documentation. The necessity of a spontaneous confrontation with the public, which plays a major role in Muehl's later actions, does not apply to these works. Film Scraps: Material actions: Otto Muehl. Montage of left-over film material from film scraps, amateur films, film leaders, recordings of material happenings, etc. Edited according to an exact plan (60 blocks of 10 takes each), then largely drawn over. My most destructive film, the 'model for a futuristic newsreel.' Color Film: In this film the goal of destroying film semantics has been consistently followed though. Part of the film is composed of a seemingly collision of picture and sound. Whilst filming, the colors called out in the sound were really filmed. Because of the 'mistakes' made (unfocusing, copying process, color temperature) the colors in the final printing were wrong. The audience is then confronted with these discrepancies.

This product was added to our catalog on Saturday 15 October, 2022.

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