Marcel
02.18.10 - 11:01pm
This is that thing I’m doing in Belgium. It sounds pretty grand for something I came back from the pub and mumbled into the microphone. The recent train crash in Belgium made it look as though I wouldn’t be going for a while.
‘MARCEL’ : A film by The Collective Marcel, avant-première @ Netwerk
A collectively made rocambolesque docu-drama about the factual and fictional association between three celebrated artists who gravitated around the surrealist movement in Belgium and France: Marcel Duchamp, Marcel Mariën and Marcel Broodthaers.
Host:
Komplot
Type:
Music/Arts – Performance
Network:
Global
Date:
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Time:
8:30pm – 10:30pm
Location:
Netwerk / center for contemporary art
Street:
Houtkaai
City/Town:
Aalst, Belgium
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MARCEL
A film by The Collective Marcel
Avant-première
Plus screening of ‘L’imitation du cinéma (The Imitation Of Cinema)’ (36′00″, Belgium 1959) by Marcel Mariën.
Saturday 20th February 2010, 20:30
€5 / €4.25 ¢ (concessionary reduced tarif)
Netwerk / center for contemporary art
Houtkaai, B-9300 Aalst, Belgium
T: +32 53 709 773 F: +32 53 709 772
info@netwerk-art.be
http://www.netwerk-art.be
Marcel is a collective, of Brussels based visual artists, writers and musicians, formed to make a film of the same name and give birth to a film director of the same name. The film is a docu-drama about the factual and fictional association between three celebrated artists who gravitated around the surrealist movement in Belgium and France: Marcel Duchamp, Marcel Mariën and Marcel Broodthaers. A rocambolesque mise en scène, hallucinatory decor and spatiotemporal collages make the reappearance of these ghosts of surrealism possible.
Marcel takes as its point of departure a reinterpretation of Marcel Mariën’s controversial film, L’imitation du cinéma (The Imitation Of Cinema) (1959), itself a satire of the book The Imitation Of Christ (Thomas A. Kempis, 1424). Playing on the intentionally outdated aesthetics of this historic film, Marcel critiques current art trends for historical reenactment in a similar way to Mariën who based a film on a book of religious devotion from the Middle Ages to critique surrealism and bourgeois Christian society.
Marcel was shot over five days in summer 2009, within the confines of a “conventional” film shoot, with all the hierarchical constraints it implies. The cast was a blend of professional actors and amateurs from the social and artistic circles around the filmmakers. Through a series of collective discussions, test-screenings and round tables it became a meditative exercise on the collective filmmaking process itself; adhering to Barbara Hammers maxim that: “Collective filmmaking is like walking over dead bodies to achieve your aim, and it’s a paradox which cannot be solved.”
Marcel is a deconstruction of historical persona, which shatters an archaeological cultural experience into fragments of non linear fact and fiction. It is a negotiation which traces and retraces it’s steps through historical landscapes and psycho acoustic fictional spaces using the worn-out cinematic tropes of film set & location shoot, classic cinematographic linearity, sound synchronization and image editing conventions, in an attempt to free itself from them.
For the avant-premiere at Netwerk, Marcel will take the form of an expanded cinema event, that has evolved as the result of collective discussion and experimentation. This event will blend film, music and live performance as members of the cast step out of the frame to create moments of “écran vivant.”
Marcel expanded cinema time: 60 minutes, English / French / Dutch dialog w/ English subtitles. Performing as part of the event will be cast members Merryl Hardt (FR), Grégoire Motte (FR), Douglas Park (UK), Benjamin Seror (FR), Pete Um (UK).
‘Marcel’ will be followed by a a screening of ‘L’imitation du cinéma (The Imitation Of Cinema)’ (36′00″, Belgium, 1959) by Marcel Mariën.
Links:
Trailer: http://www.vimeo.com/8671107
L’imitation du cinéma: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Marien
Cast / Crew:
The Voice Of Marcel: Pete Um
Marcel In Café: Constance Barrere Dangleterre
Young Bored Girl: Maaike Neuville
The Ghost Of Marcel Mariën: Bruno Marin
TV Presenters: Jean-Philippe Convert & Ivo Provoost
Director Of Foundation Marcel: Phillip Van Den Bossche
Independant Art Curator: Anne Grandhenry
Douglas Park: Himself
Soldier / Priest: Filip Gilissen
Performers In Bank: Meryll Hardt, Thibaut Espiau, Gérard Meurant, Laurent Anciaux, Marilyne Grimmer, Grégoire Motte, Benjamin Seror
The Police: Komplot
Based on a script by Jean-Philippe Convert. After an idea by Douglas Park
Filmakers: Jean-Philippe Convert, Kosten Koper
Production: Sonia Dermience, Constance Barrère Dangleterre
Script Supervisor: Eléonore Saintagnan
Camera: Federico D’Ambrozio
Lighting: Lou Vernin
Sound: Eric Tatepo Kembo, Kosten Koper
Decors: Marilyne Grimmer, assistant: Thibaut Espiau
Costumes: Annemie Verbeke
Make-up: Marie Brabant
Hair: Ludovic Constant
Catering: Sofie Haesaerts
Runner: Dany Dermience
Soundscore: Kosten Koper with music from Meryll Hardt, Anne Sorel, Pete Um
Editing / Post Production: Kosten Koper
Produced by Komplot.
http://www.kmplt.be/
Supported by VAF (Flanders Audiovisual Fund) and Netwerk.
http://www.flandersimage.com