Scene from the film Last Supper

Last Supper

Direction
Year 
2005
Country
  • Austria
Duration
9min 

A white field dominates the picture, which is bordered by narrow black lines. Slowly an image of a fruit basket moves up from below. This classic motif of a still life is followed by a home movie from the 1960s: A man and a woman are eating and drinking?a normal everyday activity, though there is nothing natural about it. Their movements are slowed down, the gloomy soundtrack accompanying these scenes implies a threat in the near future.
Gradually the film strip starts to crack, scratches appear, crossing the picture like veins. The colors change, and it dissolves.
The degree of damage increases successively. Before long the unknown family’s outings and coffee klatsches, documented in these home movies for themselves and their children, are no longer recognizable. In the same way as the memories of these events, their film document fades. The images’ equivocality is lost, and with it their trivial nature. Chemical treatment has given these home movies a painterly quality, and the immediacy of their unspectacular everyday themes yields to the threat of transience. The film proceeds in fits and starts, its images begin to resemble frescoes or abstract paintings. Near the conclusion the scenes which are still recognizable become increasingly serious: A church and a hospital suggest a last supper. Again and again faces appear in the damaged footage as if struggling against their deletion, which cannot be stopped. (Aki Beckmann)

Details

  • Original title
    Abendmahl
  • Direction
  • Duration
    9 min (1-15 min.)
  • Year
    2005
  • Country
    • Austria
  • Colour
    • Colour
  • Festivals
    • 2005 Wien - Viennale - Int. Filmfestwochen
    • 2006 Barcelona - L’ALTERNATIVA - II Mostra Internacional de Cinema Alternatiu
    • 2006 Barcelona - Sonar Int. Festival of Advanced Music
    • 2006 Chicago Underground Film Festival
    • 2006 Clermont-Ferrand - Festival de Court Metrage
    • 2006 Cork - Int. Film Festival
    • 2006 Granada - Jovenes Realizadores Film Festival
    • 2006 Graz - Diagonale, Festival des österreichischen Films
    • 2006 Helsinki - Avanto Media Art Festival
    • 2006 Kalkutta - Kolkata Film Festival
    • 2006 Kassel - Dokumentarfilm- & Videofest
    • 2006 Linz - Crossing Europe
    • 2006 Madrid - Semana de Cine Experimental
    • 2006 Melbourne - Int. Film Festival
    • 2006 Osnabrück - European Media Art Festival
    • 2006 Paris - L'Etrange Festival
    • 2006 Rotterdam - Int. Filmfestival
    • 2006 Seattle - Int. Film Festival
    • 2006 Seoul - EXis (Experimental Film- & Videofestival)
    • 2006 Victoria - Antimatter Underground Film Festival
    • 2006 Zagreb - 25fps Film & Video Festival

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