A FILM BY PETER VOLKART
Transcription
A FILM BY PETER VOLKART
H O M M A G E À R A Y A FILM BY PETER VOLKART M O N D R O U S S E L with_PAUL AVONDET SANDRA KÜNZI narrator_VOLKER RISCH BODO KRUMWIEDE cinematography_HANSUELI SCHENKEL compositing_VOLKART&VOLKART PAUL AVONDET sound design_VOCO FAUXPAS sound mix_CHRISTIAN BEUSCH editing_HARALD & HERBERT producer_FRANZISKA RECK © 2005 RECK FILMPRODUKTION Unterstützt durch: Bundesamt für Kultur (EDI) Stadt und Kanton Zürich, Migros Kulturprozent re:view Familien-Vontobel-Stiftung, Dr. Adolf Streuli-Stiftung Ernst und Olga Gubler-Hablützel Stiftung, Volkart Stiftung Stiftung Birsig für Kunst und Kultur Friedrich-Jezler-Stiftung H O M M A G E A À R AY M O N D F I L M B Y R O U S S E L P E T E R V O L K A R T Fiction, 35mm, Deutsche Originalversion (s.t. français, english subtitles), 15 min, Switzerland 2005 He was in the headlines for a brief period in the late 1920s: Igor Leschenko, the young physicist from Hermannstadt, whose bizarre experiments cast doubt upon the law of gravity. The debacle at the pataphysicist convention leads to a secret expedition to the point of zero gravity. Rare film documents of a hazardous journey beyond Zentropa through the Karfunkel archipelago. Will Leschenko ever find the Nanopol island? Igor Leschenko a brièvement fait les gros titres à la fin des années 20. Le jeune physicien d’Hermannstadt qui avait ébranlé la loi de la gravité avec ses expériences bizarres, c’est lui. La débâcle au congrès des pataphysiciens fut suivie d’une expédition secrète jusqu’au point d’anti-gravité. Des films documentaires rares retracent un voyage au-delà de Zentropa à travers l’archipel menaçant de Karfunkel. Igor Leschenko découvrira-t-il l’île Nanopol? Ende der 20er Jahre war er kurz in den Schlagzeilen: Igor Leschenko, der junge Physiker aus Hermannstadt, der mit seinen bizarren Experimenten das Gesetz der Schwerkraft ins Wanken bringt. Das Debakel am Kongress der Pataphysiker führt zu einer geheimen Expedition zum Antigravitätspunkt. Rare Filmdokumente einer Reise jenseits von Zentropa durch den bedrohlichen Karfunkel-Archipel. Wird Leschenko die Insel Nanopol je finden? (...) Volkart pays homage to both Raymond Roussel and Pataphysics and, in a certain way, continues where “The Young Eskimo” left off. With the difference that then a stranger reached the unfamiliar shores of this earth while here, on November 31, an expedition to unexplored regions in high latitudes begins. ”But above all” the narrator asks, “what is this Leschenko doing in my head all this time?” – showing images half-“Zelig”, half-“Gizmo” of bizarre experiments made by the young physicist from Hermannstadt, pictures which are soon replaced by wild and empty landscapes and “temporarily nailed-together” futuristic cities, leaving us without any hope of ever arriving somewhere. NZZ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) 89º 1 5´ Production and Worldrights: RECK FILMPRODUKTION Dienerstrasse 7, CH-8004 Zürich, Phone ++41 (0)1 241 37 63 [email protected] www.reckfilm.ch Distribution Switzerland: LOOK NOW! www.looknow.ch north 113º 75´ east AWARDS | FESTIVALS TERRA INCOGNITA A FILM BY PETER VOLKART WINNER «BEST SHORT FILM» FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DES FILMS DU MONDE - MONTRÉAL 2005 WINNER SWISS FILM PRIZE 2006 «BEST SHORT FILM» WINNER «BEST SHORT FICTION FILM» FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE DEL CORTOMETRAGGIO DI SIENA 2005 WINNER «BEST SHORT FILM» NOMINATION FOR MÉLIÈS D’OR (EUROPEAN FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVALS FEDERATION – EFFFF) SCIENCEPLUSFICTION – FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE DELLA FANTASCIENZA TRIESTE 2005 WINNER «BEST SHORT FILM» PRIX SSA/SUISSIMAGE FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DU FILM FANTASTIQUE DE NEUCHÂTEL 2005 WINNER «BEST SHORT FILM» «ZÜRCHER FILMPREIS 2005 – ZURICH FILM AWARD 2005» WINNER «BEST SHORT FILM – FIPA D’OR» FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL FIPA BIARRITZ 2006 - FRANCE 40. SOLOTHURNER FILMTAGE 2005 – SWITZERLAND PREMIERE 58ÈME FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DU FILM DE LOCARNO 2005 SELECTION OFFICIELLE NEUCHÂTEL INTERNATIONAL FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL 2005 SHORTFILM COMPETITION FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DES FILMS DU MONDE 2005 – MONTRÉAL SELECTION OFFICIELLE FANTOCHE 5TH INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL 2005 – BADEN-SWITZERLAND FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA DE CATALUNYA 2005 – SITGES-BARCELONA SELECTION OFFICIELLE CINÉMA TOUT ÉCRAN 2005 – GENEVA INTERNATIONAL SHORTFILM COMPETITION SCIENCEPLUSFICTION TRIESTE INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE FICTION FESTIVAL 2005 EUROPEAN FANTASTIC SHORT COMPETITION FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE DEL CORTOMETRAGGIO SIENA 2005 – ITALY INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION RESFEST DIGITAL FILM FESTIVAL 2005 – ZURICH-SWITZERLAND FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DE PROGRAMMES AUDIOVISUELS FIPA 2006 – BIARRITZ, FRANCE SELECTION OFFICIELLE MANCHESTER INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL 2006 INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 7TH JEONJU INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2006 – SEOUL-KOREA SELECTION OFFICIELLE FLICKERFEST 2006 – INTERNATIONAL SHORTFILM FESTIVAL – SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FESTIVAL DU COURT MÉTRAGE DE CLERMONT-FERRAND 2006 INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FESTIVAL PREMIERS PLANS D’ANGERS 2006 – ANGERS, FRANCE INTERNATIONAL SHORTFILM COMPETITION 35TH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM 2006 INTERNATIONAL SHORTFILM COMPETITION 25TH VIPER INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL FOR FILM VIDEO AND NEW MEDIA 2006 – BASEL INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 7TH FESTIVAL INTERNATIONALES DE JÓVENES REALIZADORES 2006 – GRANADA INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION SIGNES DU NUIT 2006, 4ème FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DU FILM COURT – PARIS, FRANCE 4ème FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DU COURT METRAGE ABIDJAN FICA 2006 – ABIDJAN, CÔTE D’IVOIRE 3RD INDIE LISBOA-LISBON INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILMFESTIVAL – LISSABON 2006 OFFICIAL COMPETITION IMAGO YOUNG FILM FESTIVAL 2006 – FUNDÂO, PORUGAL INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION EUROPEAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL EMAF 2006 – OSNABRÜCK, GERMANY FESTIVAL DE CANNES, CANNES 2006 – TOUS LES CINEMAS DU MONDE NEW DIRECTORS / NEW FILMS 2006 – FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER AND MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK CITY www.reckfilm.ch contact: [email protected] PRESS TERRA INCOGNITA A FILM BY PETER VOLKART (...) Der Zürcher Peter Volkart erobert mit seinem Kurzfilm Terra Incognita die Herzen von Publikum und Fachwelt (...) Tages-Anzeiger, Zürich (...) Du côté des courts métrages, le premier prix est allé au remarquable Terra Incognita du Suisse Peter Volkart. Présenté en fin de semaine, cette œvre pataphysique avec collages hilarants et brillants racontait en folles images les experiences d’un jeune physicien au cours des années 20. (...) LE DEVOIR, Montréal (...) Le 1er prix est allé à Terra Incognita, un film très marrant, réalisé par le Suisse Peter Volkart, dans lequel le spectateur est entraîné dans le monde de la pataphysique (...) LA PRESSE, Montréal (...) In Terra Incognita erweist Volkart dem französischen Schriftstelller Raymond Roussel eine Hommage und fährt in gewisser Weise dort fort, wo «Der junge Eskimo», aufgehört hatte. Mit dem Unterschied, dass damals ein Fremdling an die unvertrauten Gestade dieser Erde geriet, während hier an einem 31. November der Aufbruch in deren unerforschte Regionen in hohen Breiten erfolgt. «Vor allem aber, was treibt dieser Leschenko die ganze Zeit in meinem Kopf?», fragt der Erzähler und zeigt Bilder, halb «Zelig», halb «Gizmo», von den bizarren Experimenten des jungen Physikers aus Hermannstadt, die bald von solchen wilder leerer Landschaften und «provisorisch zusammengenagelter» futuristischer Städte abgelöst werden, ohne dass wir doch hoffen dürfen, je irgendwo anzukommen. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, NZZ (...) Every once in a while I see a short film that amazes me and makes me wonder why short films aren't more available outside film festivals. Terra Incognita is one of those awesome films. What a nice treat! The atmosphere is very dreamy and that the film shares many aspects to the popular computer game Myst. Everything about this film is perfect. The set designs (in the case of the very few real sets) and the computergenerated decors are truly astonishing and they successfully immerse the spectators in a strange and unreal yet strangely familiar world where the laws of physics don't abide, thanks to the twisted mind of a scientist. The directing is brilliant. When I write capsule reviews I usually try to be objective but for very few films I can't. This is one of them. You literally need to contact your local film festival directors so that they include this film in their programs! The film is an homage to French novelist Raymond Roussel. There are no explicit references but rather many subtle and obscure links to his work. I'm not particularly familiar with his work and I'm not all that familiar either with pataphysics theories — who the heck in the world is? — yet this film turned out to be very fascinating and genuinely entertaining. A masterpiece! (...) IONCINEMA.com Nella sezione European Fantastic Short, tra le novità di questa edizione 2005, è stato premiato all’unanimità il cortometraggio Terra Incognita di Peter Volkart. Il cortometraggio svizzero ha ricevuto il premio assegnato al miglior cortometraggio fantastico europeo – in collaborazione con l’European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation – "perchè in grado – ha concluso la Giuria – di costruire un immaginario fantastico attraverso la dimensione del viaggio, con un raffinato gusto grafico e un linguaggio sperimentale, che combina materiale di repertorio in forma di finto documentario con una trama narrativa originale e un sottile umorismo". IH Magazine, Settimanale di Cultura, Italia www.reckfilm.ch contact: [email protected] PRESS TERRA INCOGNITA A FILM BY PETER VOLKART (...) Ce film de 18 minutes chrono est un petit chef d'œuvre, et je pèse mes mots. Dédié aux écrits de Raymond Roussel, ce voyage aux confins du globe a un charme fou. En le voyant, on a l'impression de partager avec les aventuriers de l'époque une expédition dans l'antarctique au temps de Charcot, voir même de vivre en direct un roman du Jules Verne, l'humour en plus. Car les scènes sont émaillées de clins d'œil appuyés au cinéma de Jeunet («La Cité des enfants perdus», en particulier). Un bijou, vous dis-je. Courier de l'ouest, Angers-France (...) Courier de l'ouest, Angers-France (...) Intensiver im Gedächtnis haften bleibt schon Peter Volkarts "Terra Incognita", der als bester Schweizer Kurzfilm des letzten Jahres ausgezeichnet wurde und durch seinen Einfallsreichtum besticht. Wie Volkart im Stile von Woody Allens "Zelig" eine Dokumentation über einen Wissenschaftler fingiert, der in den 20er Jahre des letzten Jahrhunderts zu einem sagenhaften Ort in der Arktis aufgebrochen sein soll, ist einfach hinreißend. Brillant werden alte Wochenschauaufnahmen, Fotos und Zeitungsschlagzeilen kopiert, von stupendem Detailreichtum und feinem Witz sind die ins surreale verschobenen Bilderfindungen und grenzenlos die Fabulierfreude Volkarts, der in rund 20 Minuten eine ganze Legion von Abenteuer- und Entdeckerfilmen verpackt. Da gibt’s kaum einen Dialog, aber zu hören und zu sehen wie der trockene sachliche Ton des Erzählers die aberwitzigen oder auch abgründigen, durch Farbbearbeitung fast auf schwarzweiß reduzierten Bilder kontrastiert, ist ein pures Vergnügen. In jeder Einstellung dieses unerschöpflich reichen Kleinods, das zum mehrmaligen Sehen einlädt, sieht und spürt man die Sorgfalt und die grenzenlose Liebe zum Kino, mit der Volkart "Terra Incognita" gedreht hat. (...) Walter Gasperi, Kultur-online.net Cinema - Il regista svizzero Peter Volkart vince il Siena Short Film Festival Miete successi il piccolo film Terra incognita Terra incognita ha vinto il X Festival internazionale del cortometraggio di Siena. Il Festival si è svolto dal 18 al 26 novembre e il piccolo film svizzero di Peter Volkart ha ottenuto il premio speciale per la fiction: «Per la ricchezza delle immagini utilizzate con grande ironia e inventività e per l’utilizzo di tecniche miste, ben calibrate assieme – si legge nella motivazione della giuria -. Ottimamente gestita l’integrazione di immagini di archivio nell’universo del regista». Terra incognita, già passato al festival di Locarno nella sezione Pardi di domani, è un cortometraggio sulla patafisica, la scienza delle soluzioni immaginarie. Varese News, Italia www.reckfilm.ch contact: [email protected] RAYMOND ROUSSEL «Le plus grand magnétiseur des temps moderne» _André Breton Only a small group of enthusiasts were aware of the “oeuvres” of the French writer Raymond Roussel (1877 – 1933) during his lifetime. There is hardly any author who is so unrecognized, yet at the same time so legendary as Raymond Roussel. His influence on later writers is enormous. Some of his admirers include Raymond Queneau, Georges Perec, Boris Vian and Marcel Duchamp. André Breton called him “the greatest magnetizer of modern times”. «The president of the Republic of Dreams» _Louis Aragon Raymond Roussel was a great dandy, chess player, pistol champion and millionaire, but also an extraordinary eccentric and a neurotic addicted to barbiturates. At the age of 19, he had a decisive experience: everything he wrote seemed to be surrounded by rays of light, so he closed the shutters to keep the light from shining out onto the street. His intention was to set all of humanity into a state of illuminated amazement – in one single blow. He was terribly disappointed when his book was published and this phenomenon did not occur. Raymond Roussel: writer, dandy, chess player, pistol champion and millionaire Roussel on the road... ”For me, the power of imagination is everything˜ _Raymond Roussel From that moment on he would try to chase down these radiant hours of happiness. In “Impressions of Africa” he creates his imaginary Africa and becomes the discoverer of new worlds. A narrative filled with meticulous details. In his novel “Locus Solus”, the history of a genius inventor, he becomes the builder of fantastic machines and a visionary architect. Raymond Roussel, this fanatic of imagination, had no intention of merging literature with vulgar reality. Together with Marcel Duchamp, Alfred Jarry and Franz Kafka, Roussel is one of the great Pataphysicists, a representative of the “science of imaginary solutions”. ”It’s true. Man is a microcosm – I am my world˜ _Ludwig Wittgenstein In his search for peace and seclusion, he has the most luxurious “recreational vehicle” of his times built for him. In this peculiar vehicle, he crosses Europe, drives all the way to Asia Minor. But on the way he never leaves his living room on wheels. Exotic countries are not the least bit interesting to this poet with an exotic imagination all his own. He kept his curtains closed and all he wanted was to be able to work in peace. His inner world was perfectly enough for him. In 1933, Raymond Roussel’s journey ends. Financially ruined, he dies from an overdose of barbiturates in a hotel in Palermo. Novels and books by Raymond Roussel : La Vue (1902) Imressions d’Afrique (1910) Locus Solus (1914) Pouissière de Soleil (1926) Nouvelles Impressions d’Afrique (1915-26) Terra Incognita is an homage to Raymond Roussel. The references to him are never direct, however. The film is a web woven from almost invisible threads and finely constructed references which link Roussel’s life and work with the film Terra Incognita. T H E F U T U R E O F L I G H T N E S S By Peter P. Schneider There are no charter flights to Nanopol. Which is very strange, really. It’s a place that everyone would like to go to! Because the appeal of Nanopol, on the far side of the 75th parallel, is that there is no gravity there. The researcher Leschenko dares to journey there on his own. He hopes that by finding the point of zero gravity in Nanopol, he will be rehabilitated. His career as a scientist had come to an abrupt end when he was defamed as a swindler by jealous professional colleagues during the Congress of Pataphysicists and was subsequently expelled from the Academy. His stumbling block had been his genius: in a spectacular self-test, he overcame the earth’s gravity and managed to walk up the wall of a room. Another time, he made himself disappear entirely: body and soul could not possibly be lighter than when you actually make them disappear. Igor Leschenko may be a bold dreamer, but he does not fantasize. He succeeds in turning whatever he wishes into reality. All the way to the bitter end – to his self-elimination. In Nanopol he disappears into an unknown parallel universe – terra incognita. He doesn’t disappear into higher spheres, but dives into a wormhole, into the dark depths of the earth. He poses the question, „Isn’t home that place where I have not yet been?" as he once noted in his diary during his travels. Leschenko arrives where he always had wanted to be. For a fleeting moment, pure uncertainty and lightness rule – the end. But then we see the body of the scientist sitting in a run-down den. The scenery appears somewhat dismal, but Leschenko himself is quite relaxed and not unhappy. There is just one little thing which this figure in an armchair must get rid of in order to discard all earthly weight: that Leschenko in his head. A kind nurse helps him. Her injection sends waves of beautiful music through Leschenko. Through her needle, even old shellac discs release their melodies. Peter Volkart discovered the story of the pataphysicist Igor Leschenko through film footage and photographs which he found by pure coincidence in archives. This strange fellow really fascinated him. With a patient and loving meticulousness he gathered biographic fragments about this man from Hermannstadt. Fragments which he had left scattered throughout half of the world over the course of more than half a century of existence. Slowly these treasures of photos and film sequences were pieced together into the life story of a romantic eccentric. A personality as peculiar as he was fearless, who follows his highest goals – his happiness, really – and, in the course of doing so, experiences peculiar encounters: with the nightlife in Novosuburbia, with a city on high stilts, with the offshore entertainment centre Morphopolis or with the island of Subotika and its dwarves who feed themselves through a funnel on their heads. Any gaps in this reconstructed life portrait which may have existed between the photos and films that he found were carefully bridged by Peter Volkart – with subtle colored scenes made in a décor which he designed himself. With their patina, they perfectly emulate the world of the scientist, explorer and inventor Leschenko. Volkart „befriended“ Leschenko, became a scientific expert in the area of Leschenko. In the course of time, he stumbled onto some peculiar documents which provided him with many a amusing moment, but which made him doubt his own sanity from time to time. Did these worlds that Leschenko researched, that he documented with his pictures, really exist? Are the documents he found real? And should we spectators believe the unbelievable?