Page 90 - Studio International - July August 1975

which matches that of Telfer resisted for nearly three years
Feedback Stokes's previous books, Vision since the proposal was first made
Passage, Foolscrap and Spaces . . .
that it should make grants to
Beau Geste Press publications, group projects not aimed at the
Their cat, monkey or available from Barhatch Farm, Oberhausen production of 'a specific film'. It
Tasmanian devil (printer's devil ?) Barhatch Lane, Cranleigh, I made a brief visit to the 21st means that workshop equipment,
colophon is again given the Surrey, GU6 7NG, are also West German Short Film installation and facilities can now
front cover of Weproductions distinguished by a high standard Festival at Oberhausen in May be financed by the BFI. While
latest paperback publication of production, while still with an invited programme of recognizing that this step needs
Loophole, by Helen Douglas and preserving the element of British AG films by Chris additional DES or industry
Telfer Stokes, which costs £1.50 invitation in their work. The latest Wellsby, William Raban, Liz finance, the Board has shown an
from 11 Lady Somerset Road, batch are The book of the Sphinx Rhodes, Anthony McCall and awareness of the immediate need
London NW5. The endpapers of by Colin Naylor (£0.60) which myself. The inclusion of this work, by not waiting until extra funds
Loophole are photographs of need never end, Night visit to the together with films by B & W Hein have been raised before
early and late pages of the book National Gallery by Endre Tot and Werner Nekes from Germany considering applications in this
still at the page proof stage. A (£0.60) an alternative guide to the and Kurt Kren from Austria, area.
curiosity of one of the prefatory N.G. collection after lights out represented something of a new
pages is that it only appears as a (but how will one be able to read direction of interest by the Arts Council Film Finance
photograph of itself and not as it in the dark?), Taken the days festival organizers - Oberhausen The important boost which has
the substance of the photo. The after we had beef curry between has been dominated by the been given to experimental film
wholly visual contents, while 28.7.72 & 28.10.72 by Allen directly political film for some work in Britain by Rodney
listed as named sequences at the Fisher (£0.45), and years. The screening was well Wilson's Film Committee at the
end, in fact flow into each other w.o.r.k.s.c.o.r.e.p.o.r.t . (£2.50). attended, aroused significant Arts Council looks like being
effortlessly. This last book is the most interest and led to extended seriously curtailed by the
There is a non-verbal substantial of the four and is a discussion particularly Council's financial arrangements
narrative running through the complete anthology of the concerning the relationship this year. A large proportion of
book which sometimes hangs activities of the Canadian-based between radical 'formal' film and their 75/6 film budget has been
only by a thread. We witness the group W.O.R.K.S. (we ourselves radical politics. The show was well frozen - a fate shared by all the
baring of some brickwork, and roughly know something), covered by two major German AC departments mainly
then the removal of bricks to between 1971 and 1973. 'The papers, the Frankfurter Rundschau concerned with direct grants to
reveal a segment of an urban book is a group report, considering Raban's three-screen practising artists. The frozen
scene, in particular a billboard. intertwining personal projects as Diagonal to be one of the most proportion is being held as a
We then home in on the billboard articles, scores, important films in the festival. contingency fund against the
and watch as the page itself stands photodocumentation of Following the interest in this almost inevitable inflation debts
in for the board and is covered environments, concerts, events, screening, I would expect future of the large theatre and opera
with the parts of a poster which videowork.' There is rather a lot Oberhausen festivals to pay much commitments. I hope film makers
is then overlaid by another and of pure documentation which greater attention to this aspect of will join with other artists and
another until the image of a really only tells you where European cinema. Though the their organizations to make some
Chinese Take-Away prompts W.O.R.K.S. were when and with invitation for this special 'out-of- protest about the way in which
the reversal of the image and its whom, but there are also scores, competition' presentation came institutions like Covent Garden
taking away, not by a straight of varying detail, for to me directly, like most continually soak the resources
reversal of the sequence but by the performances, and plenty of international film festivals, away from the finance of
rough and ready peeling of the provocative statements, selection of 'official' entries at developing culture. Who knows
posters. Having thus looped the descriptions and photos. Oberhausen are made with the - stringency at Covent Garden
loop we are led back through the Tom Phillips must have been aid of the British Council. They, might even give rise to some
loophole in the brick wall and pleased that Hansjorg Mayer of course, are limited in their relevant twentieth-century
then follow the narrative as it agreed to design the paperback selection by their information and opera!
tails off. As we coast to the end book, which was published to contacts which tend to be through
we become involved with the coincide with his retrospective the established organizations like NE London Poly makes
rhythmic operations of a Singer exhibition at the Hague the BFI and Arts Council. experimental film redundant
as it sews the narrative thread Gemeentemuseum this year. Whatever questions there are A young film maker, Guy Sherwin,
into a book, and then with the Tom Phillips: Works, Texts, to about the structure of festivals has slowly built up one of the
revolutions of another singer on a 1974 might appear expensive at - and I am completely opposed most interesting experimental
turntable until it's over and out. £5.50 but is not for what it to the competition concept and film 'courses' in the country. He
To attempt to give a sense of comprises: nearly 300 pages, think normal rentals should has done this within a non-
the narrative, however, is not to about 80 high quality colour ALWAYS be paid for films diploma communications course
describe the book. The space of plates and a great many half- shown - film makers should be at the North East London Poly.
each sequence varies: for example, tones. Mayer has played it aware of the selection machinery The strength of the work produced
at one time the action takes straight, the way the book has and inform the British Council if under Sherwin's guidance was
place in a shallow lateral space, at been conceived is conventional, they wish to be considered in displayed by a remarkable series
other times one plunges deep into indeed were it not for the general for festival screenings. It of shows presented on five days
space, at other times again there format, the thoughtful layout, the was almost by luck that Cinema during May. In other
is no depth, the action is across choice of paper and the quality Action became aware of this circumstances the work would
the surface of the page; a of printing and production, procedure, eventually being able deserve a full review as it
sequence may occur both on the things one usually notices by to show their Miners Film to the contained a very large proportion
surface and in depth. There is a their absence, there would be Oberhausen selectors. The film of exciting new films by film-
continual dialectic between the little to suggest the presence of became one of the three official makers who have hardly been
printed image and its content, and his hand, However, within its British entries to the competition, seen before .As well as Sherwin's
a regular reminder of the limitations it is a fine going on to win two major own excellent new performance
mechanics of its generation and production. As well as prizes, one of which was a half pieces, Self Portrait, Hold My
of the conventions of the book. reproductions of works, studies, share of the prestigious Hand and Paper Performance,
But even when one sees the image photographs and source material, FIPRESCI (Critics) Prize. films by Steve Farrar like Silk
reproduced as a single frame in a there are several pieces of Screen, John Smith's
roll of film, one tends not to see writing by Phillips including Group Support Association and Tim Bruce's
it for what it is, rather as a biographical notes and Following a BFI Production Meeting would stand up well
secondary narrative. Even then commentaries on most of the Board decision to spend its to any international comparison.
all is not necessarily what it works, plus scores for `Group Support' money for 74/5 The work has a quality and
seems, wholes turn out to be parts musicians and details of other on cameras and sound-recording maturity beyond that expected of
for instance; our perceptions are works. It is in fact at least as equipment to be held by the students and the series of shows
continually at risk. comprehensive as any of the Institute, the virtual demise of did not need any contribution
I haven't even mentioned the monographs on living British the grant-in-aid fund which had from Liz Rhodes (a Poly student
wheelbarrow as narrator, or the artists that British publishing previously assisted a number of from last year) whose work has
artists' uncanny ability to imbue houses were once able to turn the main film/video groups already been shown
inanimate objects with an out. caused sufficient protest that the internationally. The strength of
organic, sometimes almost Clive Phillpot Production Board has finally the student films is further shown,
visceral quality, or their included group finance within its by the fact that three students in
sensitivity to printed images, or normal terms of reference. This is the last two years have been given
the quality of the production, a major step which the Board has places at the RCA Film School.
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