Veteran experimental filmmakers Danielle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub helmed this unusual adaptation of a novel by Elio Vittorini. Focused on the triumphs and failures of a group of laborers and farm hands who pooled their resources to operate an alternative collective farm after the end of World War II, Operai, Contadini features a cast of 12 actors who read aloud from Vittorini's book for the duration of the film, either reciting from memory or using a clearly visible script. Hardly designed to be a crowd pleaser, Operai, Contadini proved to be controversial among the audiences for its showings at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened as part of the Directors' Fortnight series. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide The group makes up a primitive community which seeks to erase not only the distress created by the war but also the hardships of life and hunger, and to protect them from violence, misery and fear. Amid the ruins of this post-war period, the characters build and invent a rapport both in their professional and daily lives between themselves, the sexes, generations, diverse social and geographical origins, and antagonistic political camps. The group maintains a 'register', a kind of diary, as if it were entering the minutes of an inquiry or a trial. -Steve Grayson my favorite Straub-Huillet films are Too Early, Too Late and Operai, contadini (2001), both color landscape films with especially acute senses of place as well as of nature in all its harsh beauty. - Jonathan Rosenbaum
Joachim 是一个生活在巴黎、事业成功的电视编剧。四十岁生日的临晨,他决定放弃一切——孩子、友人、敌人、爱情与遗憾——去美国从零开始。之后,他带领“新滑稽艳舞团”(New Burlesque )回到故乡进行巡演。艳舞团团员因Joachim 而对法国巴黎充满向往。幽默的表演和脱衣舞娘丰满的身材令男女老少沉迷不已。尽管下榻的旅馆平庸不堪,使用的电梯音乐(musique d’ascenseur )乏善可陈,又缺乏资金,女演员依然营造出了新奇、热情而欢乐的气氛。但是,他们决定在巴黎演出压轴戏,将巡演推向高潮的梦想破裂了:Joachim 的老“朋友”背叛了他,取消了其预定的演戏场所。巴黎之行似乎注定来去匆匆,过去种种伤感的回忆突然被揭开…… Joachim, a former Parisian television producer had left everything behind - his children, friends, enemies, lovers and regrets to start a new life in America. But he returns with a team of New Burlesque strip-tease performers whom he has filled with romantic dreams of a tour of France, of Paris! Traveling from town to town, despite the cheap hotel rooms and lack of money, the curvaceous showgirls invent an extravagant fantasy world of warmth and hedonism that wins an enthusiastic response from men and women alike. But their dream of a tour culminating in a last grand show in Paris goes up in smoke when Joachim is betrayed by an old friend and loses the theatre where they were due to perform. An obligatory return journey to the capital violently reopens the old wounds of his past...
Soo-ha leaves the city and goes to the roadside rest stop inherited from her father. The rest stop, however, is losing business as much as Soo-ha’s life is losing vitality. Because of a new road, few people pass this way and there are two employees who don’t really fit in. Even worse, her brother comes and passes his partial ownership to her and leaves his daughter behind. As Soo-ha gradually wears down, a South American band ‘Kawsay’ drops by the rest stop in the middle of their trip. Soo-ha welcomes them thinking they might attract more visitors.
Since 1977, Sam Klemke has been recording himself on film, the #selfieavantlalettre. In that same year, NASA launched the Voyager with the Golden Record. Whereas NASA primarily sketches a positive picture of humanity, Klemke's honest self portraits zoom in on the individual. A special film about time, memory and what it means to be human. ‘This year will be my year, it has to be!’ Since 1977, Sam Klemke - a pioneer status updater - has looked back on ‘his year’ using video. With the illusion of progress, he hopes to encourage ‘personal growth and improvement’. Documentary maker Matthew Bate met Klemke on Facebook and became acquainted with his video 35 Years Back Through Time, a super-cut in which Klemke counts backwards from 2011 to his ambitious teenage self. Intrigued by this obsessive film project, Bate used Klemke's personal archive to create a documentary collage that feels like an intimate road trip, with Klemke providing valuable lessons about time. Along the way, he dismantles the dream of success and happiness. Klemke's self-mockery and honesty give the whole thing a light, breezy feel. Through this, Bate interweaves NASA’s Golden Record Project which, just like Klemke’s video project, was launched in 1977. This juxtaposition creates a reflection in which Bate sketches the comprehension of time and self-documenting stories as an inherent human need.