Four films by Peter Tscherkassky

Austrian artist Peter Tscherkassky’s craft, which he calls ‘manufracture’, involves taking an existing film sequence and laboriously reprinting each frame in a darkroom. The film frame, sprocket holes and soundtrack are used as visual elements in their own right. Certain objects are highlighted with a laser-pointer. The results are astonishing, and hard to describe. This programme features the award-winning CinemaScope Trilogy: L’Arrivée (1998, 3 mins), Outer Space (1999, 10 mins) and Dream Work (2001, 11 mins). The second and third films both rework sequences from 1981 Barbara Hershey thriller The Entity, one to create a nightmarish barrage and the other a delicate flight of fancy. Also included is Instructions for a Light and Sound Machine (2005, 17 mins) which dismantles The Good, The Bad and the Ugly in order, as Tscherkassky puts it, “to transform a Roman Western into a Greek tragedy.”

Today's screening also includes a chance to see the 35mm print of Harrachov (dir: Hulse & Van Veen) along with a brief introduction to the project by Matt Hulse.