Light Reading: 24-04-2002

Far From Vietnam - 16mm Colour 1967 115 mins film

curated by Brad Butler

£3 ENTRY - DONATION TO THE ARTISTS

291 bar open from 6pm, screening starts 8pm

Far From Vietnam is a collaborative undertaking: Alain Resnais, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Lelouch, Agnes Varda, the Dutch director Joris Ivens and the American William Klein. The real hero of the undertaking, however is clearly Chris Marker, who has, in co-ordinating their materials, made an altogether more cohesive film out of them than could ever have been hoped.

Resnais had said of their intentions - We were concerned to reproduce on the screen the different rhythms to which the Vietnam war is imposed daily upon the citizen. Press, radio, television, comic strips and so on all reflect the reality of the conflict with different intensity, different intentions, in different contexts, so that the connections are not always clear. Among other things in Loin du Vietnam we have tried to bring before the audience the often dramatic variety of these visual aggressions.

I would argue that it is increasingly rare to witness the true artistry of documentary filmmaking. Documentary created for the cinema, that is interpretive, argumentative, political, emotional, factual and skilful in it's individual parts and collective whole. Far from Vietnam, is for me, a

powerful experience because it challenges both form and content. It's contributors read like a whos who of independent thought, and the film is a reminder of why the documentary genre belongs in the cinema. Brad Butler

a mission statement & call for artists & filmmakers

What is documentary and what is Artist F+V. Where are they now and how do they inform the film form? We are not so much looking to answer these questions as we are to get amongst them. Light reading is a forum for these sort of discussions aimed at filmmakers and discussed through their work. We believe there is much to be gained through the examination of the recording eye and the interpreting eye and in prolonging the historical relationship between documentary and the avant garde.

Light reading is facilitated by Karen Mirza, Brad Butler and Simon Payne.