Films under Discussion I (4)

Nestler is, for Jean-Marie Straub, “someone who simply films what he sees, without imposing a form and, therefore, without causing reality to disappear”. These words not only praise the filmmaker but also, and above all, the documentarist. Nestler’s films stand out for their realism, their solidity, their austere sensualism and their poetry. In Spanien!, Nestler travels to Sweden, Finland and Germany to interview former International Brigade-members from the Spanish Civil War, and then portrays exiles and Communist militants in the country. The Bridegroom, the Comedienne and the Pimp was the short film with which Straub and Huillet, in Germany, countered the events of May 1968, which they were unable to take part in due to Straub’s exile. Chance is vital to the film’s formal composition. To quote the authors, it is their “most random” film, comprising a (short) series of blocks that are clearly differentiated but with no easily determinable relation. The effect of chance applied to a simple structure is also crucial in one of the most fascinating films of Spanish independent cinema, Contactos.

7 p.m. Screening: Spanien!, Peter Nestler, 1973, 16 mm, 43 min.

8 p.m. Screenings: Der Bräutigam, die Komödiantin und der Zuhälter, Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, 1968, 35 mm, 23 min.; Contactos, Paulino Viota, 1970, 35 mm, 64 min. [new restored copy].

Followed by a talk with Paulino Viota and Manuel Asín