“This is an exuberant manifesto that celebrates the infinite possibilities of what cinema can be.” - Jonathan Romney, Observer
“A truly radical and liberating work.” - Peter Watts, Time Out
March 26 & 29 | One of the most innovative and influential films of the silent era, Poland-born Dziga Vertov’s MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA utilizes rapid editing and innumerable other cinematic effects to create a work of amazing modernity and power. This dawn-to-dusk view of urban Soviet life - primarily in Odessa on the Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea - shows people at work, at play, and at the machines that endlessly whirl to keep the metropolis alive. It was Vertov’s first full-length film, and it employs all the cinematic techniques at the director’s disposal - dissolves, split-screens, slow-motion, and freeze-frames - to produce a work that is as exhilarating as it is intellectually brilliant.
Vertov is often considered a “Russian filmmaker”, as are many other Soviet-era artists. Poland-born Vertov produced films both in Russia and Ukraine, eventually leaving the Soviet state film company Sovkino, where his filmmaking style, his groundbreaking, innovative ideas about film equipment and techniques, and his experimental aesthetic clashed with official dictates of the Soviet rule. He created MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA during his tenure at the VUFKU (All-Ukrainian Photo Cinema Administration), where he enjoyed the freedom and support to express his talent and mastery of the craft of filmmaking.
Restored by the British Film Institute, this edition features an orchestral score composed and conducted by Michael Nyman (THE PIANO), first performed on May 17, 2002 at London’s Royal Festival Hall. (Kino Lorber and RF)
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