FM-M082-1929

Man With the Movie Camera

Video

DVD

F&MS

No

Available

Described by Dziga Vertov, its director, as an "experiment in the language of pure cinema," MAN WITH THE MOVIE CAMERA is perhaps the most dazzling and sophisticated work not only of Soviet but of world silent cinema. In part it is a "city symphony," although its urban landscape is actually a film synthesis of shots taken in Moscow, Kiev, Odessa and elsewhere. In part, it is a panorama of and a manifesto on he nature of socialist society in the late 1920s. But it is especially a revelation of the possibilities of non-acted, nonfiction films: We see the cinema projectionist show the reel we are actually viewing; the "star" is the film's actual cameraman at work; the shots we see him take will reappear elsewhere as we see the film editor create emotional and intellectual moments from unrelated lengths of footage. Original score composed and performed by the Alloy Orchestra, based on musical instructions written by Dziga Vertov. Audio essay by Yuri Tsivian.