Film Ist.

Film Ist. | Gustav Deutsch | Austria, 2002

Gustav Deutsch was a master of the found-footage film genre. Deutsch scoured through film archives all over the world to find the images he wanted for his film collages. He has been called a ‘film-maker without a camera’ and a ‘found footage juggler’. As a cinematographic archaeologist he gave the public a glimpse of film history, which he then rearranged to achieve his own creative ends. Film ist. approaches the principles which lie at the foundation of the media. It does not claim to be a theoretical work but tries, on the basis of a long engagement with the material, to track down some of the building blocks of perception and some of the effects of moving images. The product is neither an analysis nor a documentation but rather an artistic experiment. Deutsch had been working on this project since 1986. The first concrete results were seen with the compilation Film ist. 16, that was dedicated to the science laboratory as one birthplace of film. Since 1999 he has been working on the making of the next chapters which are concerned with the funfair and variety as the second birthplace of film. Film ist. 17 focuses on such phenomena as stop tricks, time lapse, slapstick sketches, phantom rides, instruction and spectacle.

Music by August 38th
August 38th is a vocal ensemble consisting of 10 women vocalists from The Netherlands, Italy, Mexico, USA, Ukraine, Australia, Turkey and Latvia. This stunningly international collective is based in Amsterdam. The focus of this group is improvisation, exploring different possibilities in creating musical textures, atmospheres and stories by using the human voice. Their performance might make you laugh, cry, imagine colors, shapes, landscapes or remember your childhood dreams. Together they explore the possibilities of the human voice and how it can be used in different contexts and interact with the audience. The group works with musical pieces that are written especially for them and use improvisation based on each performer's unique expression. August 38th is an ensemble that works with the space in which their concert takes place. Moving through the space, surrounding the audience at moments, or walking while singing, creates a situation in which the listener is immersed in sound that moves through the space.