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Victor Erice, L’Esprit de la ruche (El espíritu de la colmena), Espagne / 1973 / 98’ / coul. Photographie de plateau, DR. |
Victor Erice and Abbas Kiarostami: Brothers Corresponding in Practice |
Abbas Kiarostami, The Wind Will Carry Us (Bad ma-ra khahad bord), 1999.
Abbas Kiarostami, Le Sud (El Sur), Espagne / 1983 / 94’ / coul., Photographies de plateau 1 et 2, DR.
Bordeaux Piece, 2004, Installation (video-projection), colour, two channel audio (2 speakers and headphones), 13hours, 43’, Collection Centre Pompidou, Nouveaux Médias, Paris.
Abbas Kiarostami, Ten, 2002, Photographie de plateau, DR.
Victor Erice, La Morte rouge(Soliliquio), 2006, Espagne / 2006 / 33’ / coul., auteur et narrateur du texte: Víctor Erice, Produit par le Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelone et Nautilus Films, 20 photographies, DR. |
Centre Pompidou The destinies of Victor Erice and Abbas Kiarostami seem to have been intertwined from birth, born the same month and year, June, 1940: born into similar confrontations with difficult political systems, Francoist Spain for Erice and Iran for Kiarostami, the same passion for the cinema. Refusing to submit to the laws of industry and marketplace, both filmmakers have demanded for themselves independence, a freedom of tone, and uncompromising artistic morality. This consanguinity constitutes a natural dialogue between them and in their work in the exhibition, Correspondances is a forum of eight short films made by the filmmakers and exchanged for this event. It also gives opportunity to observe the integrity of the films, of both filmmakers and to give Victor Erice a carte blanche for presenting about 20 films linked to childhood. The multidisciplinary exhibition, like the work of both artists, is marked by two other events: the presentation of the exhibition conceived by Abbas Kiarostami, Looking at Tazieh, and a dialogue with the public between Kiarostami and Erice, with the public, surrounding their recent films. The collective work published in Centre Pompidou catalogues sheds light on their unpublished work. Erice was born on June 30, 1940 in Karrantza, Spain. Fascinated by the cinema that he discovered as a child, he became an important critic and a very significant film director. With only three feature-length films, L’Esprit de la Ruche (The Mind of the Beehive (1973, Le Sud (The South) (1983 and Le Songe de la Lumiére (The Dream of Lumiére) (1991) after 30 years, he is undoubtedly one of the rarest Spanish film-makers of his generation, also one of the most unsung. But he knew precisely how to reveal the secrets of a country in shadow of years of Francoism, his secret of one and his work where the mysteries of childhood, as much as the practice of art, prove to be the glowing core in which he knew how to create form. Since the end of 1990s, Erice created three short films, the sweetest of which Enfantement (Childbearing) (2002). Though it is unfortunately seldom screened, Erice counts as one of the most active filmmakers. His three feature-length films, two inventions and a documentary, are milestones in the history of the modern cinema. Some of his texts have been published in French by the magazine Traffic. Knowing the taste, feelings and intelligence of the cinema of others and their importance and influence of him and his own films, the Centre Pompidou gave him a free hand to introduce to the public 20 films that matter to him. Kiarostami was born on June 22, 1940 in Teheran, Iran. Very early interested by drawing, he participated for eighteen years in the competitive graphic arts field. It was followed by studies in fine arts while converting into cash his talents as a graphic designer, poster artist, and director of commercials. In 1969, he founded a cinema department at an Institute for the intellectual development of children and the young adults. It was in this context he made his first short films. From his first film, Le Pain et La Rue (The Bread and The Street) (1970), Abbas Kiarostami ruminates on the weight of pictures and the admixture of realism and fiction. His chosen subject, the world of childhood, delineated in the course of a long series of short, medium and feature-length films, during which he managed to find a subtle equilibrium between the narration and documentary approach. Devoirs du Soir (Duties of Evening) (1989), the ultimate look on childhood, is a good example of a warm-hearted cinema and with Close-up (1990), a page seems to turn. In less than week, the filmmaker responds to a news item and, with the cooperation of the protagonists on the pretext of thought process, was able to produce the project. Et la Vie Continue (An Uninterrupted Life (1992) and Au Travers des Oliviers (Through Olive trees) (1994) finish a trilogy begun with Oú est la Maison de Mon Amie? (Where is the Home of My Friend?) (1990), where the destructive effects of an earthquake in the north of Iran serve once again for giving an account of the lie of the cinema. Le Gout de la Cerise (The Taste of Cherry) (1997) is a work of maturity and consecration. The film, which relates the fixed moment of the suicide of a 50-year-old man, is an ode to individual liberty torn apart by a criticism reported by Iranian religious authorities. The slow and contemplative rhythm, the limited intrigue, the references to Persian poetry and Western philosophy are the mark of this deeply original author. His sense of improvisation is impressed on scenarios with very little text and amateur actors. One finds another example of this with Le Vent Nous Emportera (The Wind Will carry Us) (1999), the story of a group of townspeople who have found something in a village to which they have returned. Since 2001, Abbas began a love story with the small camera and now works only in digital. He has found more freedom with the aid of this small camera and with its aid has since finished several films of different nature and length: ABC Africa (2001, Ten (2002, 10 on Ten (2004), Five Dedicated to Ozu (2003), Roads of Kiarostami (2005) … This exhibition in the Centre Pompidou is also opportunity to discover a more neglected facet of the artist, his work as a photographer. Often confronted with difficulty in doing his work freely in his country, Kiarostami buys a camera, a more discreet tool to capture the moments he encounters. Kiarostami's photographs exhibit more graphic qualities: minimalist frames, purity of lines, purified landscapes. He photographs roads in the rain, snowy landscapes, trees, the earth, immensity, nature. The artist likes photography because it leaves more room for the imagination: pictures in motion readily telegraph their intentions too readily while a photograph offers a multitude of stories. |
Abbas Kiarostami, Et la vie continue...(Va Zendegi edame darad), 1992, Photographies de plateau 1 et 2, Crédit: Les Grands Films Classiques. |
