Patrice Kirchhofer
Un cinéma pariétal
Author(s) Raphaël Minnesota
Format 15x21cm softcover
Year 2022
Language(s) French
Pages 196 pages
Description
Raphaël Minnesota retraces the career and surveys the entire body of work of Patrice Kirchhofer (1953-2019), one of the most mysterious and mythical filmmakers of French experimental cinema (with numerous documents, a preface by Nicole Brenez, and texts and interviews by Kirchhofer himself).
The singular work of Patrice Kirchhofer immerses us in the prolific era of French experimental cinema in the 1970s. A radical filmmaker, he never wanted to commercialize his works, going so far as to refuse purchase offers from the Centre Pompidou. Inspired by linguistics and structuralist thought, he created series of films with mysterious titles, Sensitométrie, Chromaticité, Densité Optique, Anorexie, with which he explored the plastic and kinetic potential of cinema. Particularly active in alternative cinema circles (Collectif Jeune Cinéma, Light Cone) and initiator of several collectives (Coopérative des Cinéastes, KMP), he was also the cinematographer for filmmakers and leading figures of experimental cinema (Louis Skorecki, Gérard Courant, Martine Rousset, Gisèle and Luc Meichler, Stuart Sherman, Dominique Noguez).
From a meticulous study of his filmography, the author explores Patrice Kirchhofer's image-making. Decomposition of film stock, elaboration of movement-images, abstraction, narrative experimentation—so many creative gestures that open the door to a semiology of cinema and delicately weave a link between cinema and parietal art.
Behind this monograph of Patrice Kirchhofer emerges the panorama of a generation that left its mark on the history of experimental cinema.
"The Godard of experimental cinema. The prince of the underground."
Louis Skorecki
"In a cinephile's life, the discovery of Chromaticité I, a 1977 film, represents the kind of experience that makes one mad with admiration and happiness."
Nicole Brenez
"In Chromaticité I, the repeated freezing of movement, the colors of atomic glow, the characters as if at bay and already irradiated, the terrifying music—everything contributes to making this premonition of the end of the world one of the strongest films of the French avant-garde."
Dominique Noguez
ISBN: 978-2-37896-041-4
EAN: 9782378960414