Film: Unseen Pierre Clementi
There is inside me the will to not tarnish myself in films that do not deserve to be made. I discovered that it was possible to make images with simplicity, without taking the approach of a particular school. Underground cinema dared. With it, one would equalize its art with its means. I’ve always worked alone and I only ruined myself. If I were to work in the industry, even a very honest one, I would have to do things that I don’t like. And I would have something dead inside me. — Pierre Clémenti, 1986
Friday, July 29 at 7pm
Pierre Clémenti: Unreleased Reels
with live musical accompaniment from David First, Chris Forsyth and Koen Holtkamp
Featuring Pierre Clémenti, Philippe Garrel, Jean-Pierre Kalfon, Viva, Catherine Deneuve, Nico, Tina Aumont, Frédéric Pardo, and many more, these rarely seen and newly restored films by French actor Pierre Clémenti constitute a major period of creative expression and experimentation. Akin to the works of Andy Warhol and Kenneth Anger, Clémenti’s films are lyrical and hypnotic and function both as portraits of those closest to him and distinctive visions from the mind of a world famous actor, poet and free spirit.
Souvenir souvenir …(Reel 27)
dir Pierre Clémenti, France, 1967-78, 16mm, 27 mins, color, silent
Positano (reel 30B01: soleil)
dir Pierre Clémenti, France, c. 1968, 16mm, 28 mins, color, silent
La Deuxième femme (reel J)
dir Pierre Clémenti, France, 1967-78, 16mm, 48 mins, color, silent
Preserved by Antoine Barraud, Catherine Libert, Mirco Santi
Saturday, July 30 at 7pm
Wheel of Ashes
dir. Peter Emanuel Goldman, France, 1968, digital transfer from 16mm, 95 mins, b/w
American filmmaker Peter Goldman made his second feature film in France with Pierre Clémenti in the leading role. Poetry and promiscuity merge as young Pierre searches for meaning in his tormented world. Goldman is an under-recognized auteur whose unique films serve as excellent example of American independent filmmaking during a defining era.
followed at 9pm by
Necropolis
dir. Franco Brocani, Italy/UK, 1970, 16mm, 92 mins, color
A surreal and disturbing distillation of Western Civilization, Necropolis is the unhinged vision of Italian director Franco Brocani. Pierre Clémenti is Attila the Hun, naked and on horseback, while Warhol superstar Viva is a drunken and abusive Countess Bathory. A pop pastiche for the psychedelic generation, Necropolis features a soundtrack by Gavin Bryars.
