remodernist film manifesto

7/29/2019 Remodernist Film Manifesto

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W E D N E S D A Y , A U G U S T 2 7 , 2 0 0 8

http://jesse-richards.blogspot.com.au/2008/08/remodernist-film-manifesto.html

Remodernist Film Manifesto1. Art manifestos, despite the good intentions of the writer should always be taken with agrain of salt as the clich goes, because they are subject to the ego, pretensions, and plainold ignorance and stupidity of their authors. This goes all the way back to the Die Brckemanifesto of 1906, and continues through time to this one that youre reading now. A healthywariness of manifestos is understood and encouraged. However, the ideas put forth here aremeant sincerely and with the hope of bringing inspiration and change to others, as well as tomyself.

2. Remodernism seeks a new spirituality in art. Therefore, remodernist film seeks a new

spirituality in cinema. Spiritual film does not mean films about Jesus or the Buddha. Spiritualfilm is not about religion. It is cinema concerned with humanity and an understanding of thesimple truths and moments of humanity. Spiritual film is really ALL about these moments.

3. Cinema could be one of the perfect methods of creative expression, due to the ability ofthe filmmaker to sculpt with image, sound and the feeling of time. For the most part, thecreative possibilities of cinema have been squandered. Cinema is not a painting, a novel, aplay, or a still photograph. The rules and methods used to create cinema should not be tiedto these other creative endeavors. Cinema should NOT be thought of as being all abouttelling a story. Story is a convention of writing, and should not necessarily be considered aconvention of filmmaking.

4. The Japanese ideas ofwabi-sabi(the beauty of imperfection) and mono no aware(theawareness of the transience of things and the bittersweet feelings that accompany theirpassing), have the ability to show the truth of existence, and should always be consideredwhen making the remodernist film.

5. An artificial sense of perfection should never be imposed on a remodernist film. Flawsshould be accepted and even encouraged. To that end, a remodernist filmmaker shouldconsider the use of f ilm, and particularly film like Super-8mm and 16mm because thesemediums entail more of a risk and a requirement to leave things up to chance, as opposed todigital video. Digital video is for people who are afraid of, and unwilling to make mistakes.**Video leads to a boring and sterile cinema. Mistakes and failures make your work honest

and human.***

6. Film, particularly Super-8mm film, has a rawness, and an ability to capture the poeticessence of life, that video has never been able to accomplish.***

7. Intuition is a powerful tool for honest communication. Your intuition will always tell you ifyou are making something honest, so use of intuition is key in all stages of remodernistfilmmaking.

8. Any product or result of human creativity is inherently subjective, due to the beliefs, biasesand knowledge of the person creating the work. Work that attempts to be objective willalways be subjective, only instead it will be subjective in a dishonest way. Objective films are

inherently dishonest. Stanley Kubrick, who desperately and pathetically tried to makeobjective films, instead made dishonest and boring films.
http://jesse-richards.blogspot.com.au/2008/08/remodernist-film-manifesto.htmlhttp://jesse-richards.blogspot.com.au/2008/08/remodernist-film-manifesto.html


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9. The remodernist film is always subjective and never aspires to be objective.

10. Remodernist film is not Dogme 95. We do not have a pretentious checklist that must befollowed precisely. This manifesto should be viewed only as a collection of ideas and hintswhose author may be mocked and insulted at will.

11. The remodernist filmmaker must always have the courage to fail, even hoping to fail, andto find the honesty, beauty and humanity in failure.

12. The remodernist filmmaker should never expect to be thanked or congratulated. Instead,insults and criticism should be welcomed. You must be willing to go ignored and overlooked.

13. The remodernist filmmaker should be accepting of their influences, and should have thebravery to copy from them in their quest for understanding of themselves.

14. Remodernist film should be a stripped down, minimal, lyrical, punk kind of filmmaking,and is a close relative to the No-Wave Cinema that came out of New Yorks Lower East Sidein the 1970s.

15. Remodernist film is for the young, and for those who are older but still have the courageto look at the world through eyes as if they are children.

** The only exceptions to Point 5 about video are Harris Smith and Peter Rinaldi; to my mindthey are the only people who have made honest and worthwhile use of this medium. (Aug.2008)

***(The position on digital/video has changed since this manifesto was written in 2008- thegroup is inclusive toward use of any motion picture format. See recent essay here).

This manifesto may be appended/added to in the future, as further ideas develop.

The following is for further study for those interested in what has influenced remodernist filmphilosophy.

Honorary remodernist filmmakers

Amos Poe, and all of the No-Wave filmmakersAndrei TarkovskyJean VigoKenji MizoguchiMaurice PialatYasujiro OzuJean EpsteinWolf HowardBilly Childish

Other influential artists/art groups/ideas

Die BrckeLes Fauves
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StuckismThe DefastenistsVincent Van GoghEdvard MunchMono no awareWabi-sabi

Some Films That Influenced and Led To Remodernist Film

The Foreigner- Amos Poe

Zerkalo- Andrei Tarkovsky

Andrei Rublev- Andrei Tarkovsky

"Zro de conduite- Jean Vigo

LAtalante- Jean Vigo

Ugetsu Monogatari- Kenji Mizoguchi

A Nos Amours- Maurice Pialat

"The Fall of the House of Usher"- Jean Epstein

Tokyo Story- Yasujiro Ozu

----Jesse Richards, August 27, 2008

A new series of articles to further develop and explain Remodernist film concepts have beenwritten by Jesse Richards, Peter Rinaldi and Roy Rezaali for the new issue of MungBeingMagazine (more to come from other Remodernist filmmakers in future issues as well):

http://www.mungbeing.com/issue_28.html?page=31#2219
http://jesse-richards.blogspot.com.au/2008/08/A%20new%20series%20of%20articles%20to%20further%20develop%20and%20explain%20Remodernist%20film%20have%20been%20written%20by%20Jesse%20Richards,%20Peter%20Rinaldi%20and%20Roy%20Rezaali%20for%20the%20new%20issue%20of%20MungBeing%20Magazine%20%28more%20to%20come%20from%20other%20Remodernist%20filmmakers%20in%20future%20issues%20as%20well%29:%20%20http:/www.mungbeing.com/issue_28.html?page=31#2219http://jesse-richards.blogspot.com.au/2008/08/A%20new%20series%20of%20articles%20to%20further%20develop%20and%20explain%20Remodernist%20film%20have%20been%20written%20by%20Jesse%20Richards,%20Peter%20Rinaldi%20and%20Roy%20Rezaali%20for%20the%20new%20issue%20of%20MungBeing%20Magazine%20%28more%20to%20come%20from%20other%20Remodernist%20filmmakers%20in%20future%20issues%20as%20well%29:%20%20http:/www.mungbeing.com/issue_28.html?page=31#2219

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