THE FILMS OF THE TRIBUTE
The two restored films by Maria Klonaris & Katerina Thomadaki are a diptych from their series of film portraits. They are part of the rare films they sign individually in their long carreer as a "double author". |
MARIA KLONARIS-KATERINA
THOMADAKI: Selva by Maria Klonaris
and Falls. Desert. Syn by Katerina Thomadaki: The oeuvre of Katerina Thomadaki and Maria Klonaris is a part of cinematic heritage by virtue of its originality, its avant-garde character and its place in the history of experimental cinema. Multifarious visual artists in terms of their expression, they work with cinema in its wider sense, as well as video, photography, installations, performances, and sound, but also with the writing of theoretical texts. In the 70s, they created "Physical Cinema", incorporating into their artistic language the "political dimension of the female identity". They made many films, while their extensive practice on "expanded cinema", an avant-garde notion for France, led them to multimedia installations and "projection environments". They founded A.S.T.A.R.T.I. for Audiovisual Art in 1985 and held the "International Meetings of the Art of Cinema/video/computer", a landmark for all those working with the moving image. Wishing to preserve their pioneering work, we listed the films Selva by Klonaris and Falls. Desert. Syn by Thomadaki as priorities in our proposals to the Committee for Cinematic Heritage, in order that they be included in the Programme for the preservation of older films, an initiative of the Ministry of Culture which was entrusted to the French Film Archives in 1990. This programme was able to salvage over 10,000 films, made mostly before 1955 in flammable material. Because of the high cost incurred by the restoration, very few films of the 70s and 80s were included, due to their historical significance and the critical state of the original material. The restoration of Selva was the first blow-up by the Archives from Super-8 to 35mm of a non-narrative feature film. Next came the short film Falls. Desert. Syn. These extremely demanding projects were carried out under the supervision of the two filmmakers and were made possible thanks to their extensive knowledge and ability. The result is unique and exemplary for our Foundation, since the form of these two films made necessary a non-traditional restoration method of high precision, and original in terms of the methods we normally use. This wonderful job, unique for the archives-members of the F.I.A.F. (International Association of Film Archives), has won the admiration of numerous foreign Archives and Cinémathèques. Eric Le Roy: Responsible for the Access, Selva. Un portrait de Parvaneh Navaś / SELVA: A PORTRAIT OF PARVANEH NAVAŚ Direction, Concept, Cinematography, Sound design: Maria Klonaris. Editing: Maria Klonaris, Katerina Thomadaki. Sound: M. Creis, M. Burguiere, M. Klonaris, K. Thomadaki. Cast: P. Navaś. Original in: Super 8, Colour, 70min. Stereo soundtrack, 1981-83. Technical crew: Violette Baton, Michel Gonthier-Maurin, Martine Jaudronnet (Laboratoires GTC), Eric Sithavaja, Benot Morvan (Excalibur). Collection: Archives Francaises du Film / CNC. 35mm Colour 70'. France, 1983 I consider the film
portrait as an encounter of two subjects: the filmmaker and the
person filmed. In front of my camera,
Parvaneh Nava becomes a mediator who enters in contact with
and immerses
into the energies of Nature, while her own energy radiates
and echoes in the forest ("selva"). The camera amplifies
and expands
her presence, transforming the forest into an imaginary space.
The camera becomes a painter's brush. Trance dances and out
of body projection. Selva is the portrait-journey of a woman
that
I encounter within the unconscious. M. K. Chutes. Désert. Syn / FALLS. DESERT. SYN Direction, Concept, Cinematography, Editing: Katerina Thomadaki. Movement, improvisations: Syn Guerin. Assistance in post-production: Maria Klonaris. Original in: Super 8 1983-85, Colour, Silent, 15'. Restoration: in 35mm (supervised by the filmmakers): Les Archives Francaises du film, 2002-2003. Technical crew: Violette Baton, Martine Jaudronnet (Laboratoires GTC), Eric Sithavaja, Benot Morvan (Excalibur). Collection: Archives Franaises du Film / CNC. 35mm Colour 15' . France, 1985 Falling as a corporal, musical, existential motif. Syn Guerin says: ŅLetting myself fall, abandoning myself to the spiral of gravitation triggered by the desequilibrium or the leap into the void. Projected energy. The short instant of suspension, of flying before the shock. Falling and rebouncing. Crushing against the sand.Ó Oblique and horizontal spatial components of movement, expansion and desintegration of time, structured events and random variants. Falling as a dance suspended. K. T.
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