2019: Film

At the bottom of this text - below my usual end-of-year lists and my year in viewings - is a list of my ten favourite (feature) films of the same decade, as submitted to an online feature, one of far too many. In what I selected, I chose films that I felt had a lasting influence on how I watch films, those that reflected that sense of discovery that connects taping films off television, taking trips to places to see them on screens, searching for them on forums and downloading them online, to whatever means of access prevails going forward. Some of them were the first films I saw by directors who became favourites, whilst others sent me off in a new direction or demonstrated something new. They are films that represent what were often first steps for me, typical to a certain type of cinephilia. Seeking out films, searching for them, travelling to see them. Tracking, listing, rating and ranking them. Talking about them and thinking and researching and writing through them. At the tail end of the decade, I think I do a lot of this less than ever before, my viewing tied much more to existing structures and organising principles than the creation of my own pathways. Less cave-worlds, few new tunnels. Lots of echoes, lots of closed loops. As daft (and often damaging) as all these lists are, looking back over a decade of film-viewing is a nice way to remember why you keep doing it.

At the start and end of the year, short film programmes by Another Gaze. In Jan at [LSFF], one addressing rape, with films by artists including Deborah Stratman, Ana Mendieta and Jennifer Reeves, and in Dec, one on labour and protest, with work from Joyce Wieland, Tanya Syed and others. Right at the top of the year, Gregg Araki’s ‘Teenage Apocalypse’ trilogy at home, but mainly the super grungey, emo-inflected Totally Fucked Up. Also indoors, David Robert Mitchell’s Under The Silver Lake, a real spectacle, a proper mess, bloated, mis-guided, self-indulgent nonsense, entirely enjoyable despite this. Revisiting some favourites on the big screen. Hou Hsiao Hsien’s City of Sadness at a packed out screening at Prince Charles Cinema. Hirokazu Koreeda’s Still Walking at Overnight Film Festival]’s pop-up screen, shortly after. Claire Denis’ The Intruder at the BFI, one Sunday in June. Seeing some of Isiah Medina’s films again at Closeup, with the filmmaker present and humble, wearing big shorts, talking larger ideas. Taking a last minute half day off work in October to see Josh and Benny Safdies’ Uncut Gems after finding out it was the surprise film at [London Film Festival] and that there were still some seats available. Sat next to sweaty Safdies nerds high up in the air at the new Odeon in Leicester Square. Coming out of it more pumped for life than any film has made me in memory. An adrenaline injection, a full nervous system rearrangement. Pure cinema. Dan Salitt’s Fourteen, one quiet afternoon on my laptop. Likewise, Garett Bradley’s America and Theo Anthony’s Subject to Review, same setting, not exactly cinematic. Small films, private treasures.

At [IFFR] - expanded cinema. The 35mm slide projector exhibition, maybe the best thing I saw all year. ‘Blackout’. Raha Raissnia and Panagiotis Mavridis’ hand-painted. hand-made wind instrument flicker film punk performance at WORM the evening after. 16mm films and magic lantern performances by Charlotte Pryce, mid afternoon, dweebs in communion. A small and dark room and an attentive audience who had been told that something special was afoot. The hot flicker of an open flame, hands passing over the strips of celluloid, slides passing in sequence, soft colours and hushed storytelling. Cauleen Smith’s intoxicating, expansive Black Utopia LP. Melting film stocks making swirling shapes on the screen in Luis Macías’ double 16mm projector performance the eyes empty and the pupils burning with rage and desire. The somewhat alarming smell of burning celluloid in the cinema screen. Splashes of stars in Makino Takashi’s feature length intergalactic odyssey Memento Stella. Every year at this festival, so many things that are not like other things. Not just new ways of seeing, but whole new ways in which to see.

Along the same (live) lines, Zia Anger’s amazing My First Film at [Sheffield Doc Fest], a lecture performance about making art as a woman in an industry (and world) that is actively hostile towards you. Rainer Kohlberger’s Brainbows at [Open City Documentary Festival], an assaultive AV performance building on the filmmaker’s ideas around perception, but morphing them into a total sonic-visual barrage. Something like battery. At the [Essay Film Festival], Christopher Harris’ remarkable first feature still/here, and the Q&A after with Karen Alexander which was amongst the best I’ve ever seen. Then his parallel lecture-performance at Birkbeck in which he revealed some of his process and his thinking, and how these things develop in tandem. Jessica Sarah Rinland’s tender lecture a few days later, digging even deeper into process, craft, and the relationships that lie behind making films.

At [CPH:DOX]. Seeing some good non-fiction films like Sarah J Christman’s Swarm Season and Brett Story’s The Hottest August, but mainly seeing Jonathan Vinel and Caroline Poggi’s Jessica Forever, a perfect blend of internet aesthetics, videogame references and formal invention. A film with a great a mood that riffs sulkily on 90s grunge and emo, and one that is bold and open, and has a big heart. Putting on some videogame movies at the BFI. Getting Second Life weddings, Asherons Call, Justin vs Daigo and SonicFox, and a an AI deer in GTA V up on the big screen in NFT3. Seeing Michael Snow’s seminal Wavelength for the first time at the Tate Modern at a screening with loads of normies present, many of whom seemed angry and confused! Snow, now into his 90s and still making work, performing his new piece, a wash of synths and the sea. Heading up to [Berwick], shortly after working [Open City Documentary Festival], well worn and seeking rejuvenation. Receiving it in England’s Northernmost town. Seeing some great things like Jenny Brady’s Receiver and Miko Revereza’s Distancing, but also just walking about a lot, seeing and hearing birds, looking at cows, spending time with the spirits, smelling the sea.

Mostly perhaps, the various [Experimenta Mixtapes] over the year at the BFI, in which the programmes are put together without an overriding focus, theme or structure, and in which nothing is revealed in advance. Turning up to the first one without understanding even the format, and learning that everything that screens will seemingly play in its entirety, whether archival film, television programme, news clip or internet video. Realising that this means sitting with something you don’t necessarily enjoy, and haven’t chosen to subject yourself to, whilst not knowing how long it will last, or whether the thing that follows will be any more or less enjoyable to you. Absolute subjectivity. Seeing some of the oddities that can’t be found a home for usually, and also what a curator wants to get away with but regularly can’t. Experiencing frustration, boredom, confusion and excitement, often all at once. Seeing Morgan Fisher’s Projection Instructions, the music video for A Guy Called Gerald’s Voodoo Ray, some weird arts programme from Channel 4 in the ‘80s (with ad breaks intact!), Larry Achiampong’s Ph03nix Rising: The 3rd Son, an amazing malfunctioning moment from BBC News, some old archive with live radio broadcasts over the top. Lots of other things I didn’t really like, many that I did. Occasional revelations, or even just the thrill of recognition, or of coincidence and circumstance. Institutions trying to open some things up. Things place next other other things, echoing other things. Old things made new. As you get older, surprise becomes rarer. For me, seeking it remains the most important thing of all.

The Hottest August (Brett Story, 2019)

TEN (NEW)

1. The Hottest August (Brett Story)

2. No Data Plan (Miko Revereza)

3. Vitalina Varela (Pedro Costa)

4. You Were An Amazement On The Day You Were Born (Emily Vey Duke, Cooper Battersby)

5. Uncut Gems (Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie)

6. Lore (Sky Hopinka)

7. The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open (Elle-Maija Tailfeathers, Kathleen Hepburn)

8. Subject to Review (Theo Anthony)

9. Rushing Green With Horses (Ute Aurand)

10. America (Garrett Bradley)

Wavelength (Michael Snow, 1967)

TEN (OLD)

1. Wavelength (Michael Snow, 1967, Canada, 45’) (16mm)

2. still/here (Christopher Harris, 2001, USA, 60’) (16mm)

3. La Petite Vendeuse de Soleil (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1999, Senegal, 45') (DCP)

4. Moral (Marilou Diaz-Abaya, 1982, Philippines, 140’) (DCP)

5. Sweetgrass (Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Ilisa Barbash, 2009, USA, 115’) (DCP)

6. The Wall (Jürgen Böttcher, 1990, Germany, 99’) (35mm)

7. Places In Cities (Angela Schanalec, 1998, Germany, 117') (35mm)

8. The Queen of Diamonds (Nina Menkes, 1991, USA, 77’) (DCP)

9. The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (Jean-Marie Straub, Danièle Huillet, 1968, West Germany, 94’) (35mm)

10. Longing (Valeska Grisebach, 2006, Germany, 90’) (35mm)

Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming-liang, 2014)

TEN (DECADE)

1. Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming-liang, 2013)

2. Three Sisters (Wang Bing, 2012)

3. Arboretum Cycle (Nathaniel Dorsky, 2017)

4. Happy Hour (Ryüsuke Hamaguchi, 2015)

5. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2010)

6. The Day He Arrives (Hong Sang-soo, 2011)

7. Leviathan (Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Verena Paravel, 2012)

8. The Illinois Parables (Deborah Stratman, 2016)

9. Robinson In Ruins (Patrick Keiller, 2010)

10. Nana (Valerie Massadian, 2011)