Shadows, Specters, Shards: Making History in Avant-Garde Film

280 Pages·2005·19.08 MB·English

by  Jeffrey Skoller

SHADOWS, SPECTERS, SHARDS
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University of Minnesota Press / Minneapolis London
SHADOWS, SPECTERS, SHARDS
M a k i ng H i s t o ry in A v a n t - G a r de F i lm
Jeffrey Skoller
The University of Minnesota Press acknowledges the work of Edward Dimendberg, editorial consultant, on
this project.
Copyright 2005 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
in Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401—2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Skoller, Jeffrey.
Shadows, specters, shards : making history in avant-garde film / Jeffrey Skoller.
p. cm.
Filmography: p.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8166-4231-1 (he : alk. paper) — ISBN o-8i66-4232-X (pb : alk. paper)
i. Historical films—History and criticism. 2. Experimental films—History and criticism. I. Title.
PNi995-9.H5S46 2005
79i.43'658—dc22 2005010522
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer.
12 ii 10 09 08 07 06 05 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 i
To the coming community
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xiii
1. Shards: Allegory as Historical Procedure 1
Eureka, Ernie Gehr
Dal polo all'equatore, Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi
Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies under America, Craig Baldwin
2. Shadows: Historical Temporalities 1 39
The Man without a World, Eleanor Antin
Urban Peasants, Ken Jacobs
Cooperation of Parts, Daniel Eisenberg
3. Virtualities: Historical Temporalities 2 69
Allemagne annee 90 neufzero, Jean-Luc Godard
Persistence, Daniel Eisenberg
B/Side, Abigail Child
Utopia, James Benning
4. Specters: The Limits of Representing History 109
Signal—Germany on the Air, Ernie Gehr
Killer of Sheep, Charles Burnett
The March, Abraham Ravett
(In vivant qui passe, Claude Lanzmann
5. Obsessive Returns: Filmmaking as Mourning Work 149
El dia que me quieras, Leandro Katz
Chile, la memoria obstinada, Patricio Guzman
Coda: Notes on History and the Postcinema Condition 167
Rock Hudson's Home Movies, Mark Rappaport
Dichotomy, Tony Sinden
Beyond, Zoe Beloff
Notes 193
Bibliography 205
Filmography and Distributors 215
Permissions 219
Index 221
Acknowledgments
First, I must acknowledge that amorphous and constantly transforming entity called
the international experimental film community. Its idealism, energy, and constant pro-
duction of astounding works of art—against all odds—has sustained my artistic and
intellectual life for more than twenty years. This study is my contribution to that
community's continuing legacy. I hope I have helped to show just how vital a world
it continues to be.
I would like to thank, too, all the filmmakers I have written about here. In par-
ticular I thank Eleanor Antin, Craig Baldwin, Zoe Beloff, James Benning, Charles
Burnett, Abigail Child, Daniel Eisenberg, Ernie Gehr, Patricio Guzman, Ken Jacobs,
Joel Katz, Leandro Katz, Jesse Lerner, Mark Rappaport, Abraham Ravett, and Tony
Sinden. I am grateful to many for their friendship and personal encouragement, and
for taking the time to share their ideas with me. I am indebted to all for making their
work available on request. What I got right in this study is due to their articulate work
and the generosity of their thought, which guided me through the often uncharted
territory of their films.
I also thank Ed Dimendberg, who saw the potential in my manuscript and called
it to the attention of the University of Minnesota Press. I thank my editor, Douglas
Armato, and his assistant, Gretchen Asmussen, for their help and support through-
out the production of this book. Thanks also to the two anonymous reviewers for
their enthusiasm and insightful critiques and suggestions.
Earlier versions of parts of this manuscript have been previously published in
Discourse: A Journal for Theoretical Studies in Media and Culture, Film Quarterly, and
Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism. I thank the editors I
worked with at these publications, including Marcus Bullock, Ann Martin, Michael
ix