Perverts Guide Presskit en
Perverts Guide Presskit en
P Guide Presents
A Lone Star / Mischief Films / Amoeba Films Production
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SYNOPSIS:
‘Cinema is the ultimate pervert art. It doesn’t give you what you desire - it tells
you how to desire’ - Slavoj Zizek
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PART 1
What can the Marx Brothers tell us about the workings of the unconscious? And
why exactly do the birds attack in Hitchcock's masterpiece of horror? Part 1
explores the fictional structures that sustain our experience of reality and the
chaotic netherworld of wild drives and desire that undermine that very
experience.
PART 2
Playing on cinema's great tradition for romantic narratives, Part 2 unlocks what
these narratives tell us about the critical role that fantasy plays in sexual
relationships. ‘Why does our libido need the virtual universe of fantasies?’ asks
Zizek.
Zizek excavates the nightmarish truth behind Tarkovsky's dreamy sci-fi Solaris
and its chilling reverberations with Vertigo, Hitchcock's great romantic epic. The
consequences are alarming. For the male libidinal economy it appears, 'the only
good woman is a dead woman.' Zizek argues that it is the very excess of female
desire that poses a fundamental threat to male identity.
Fantasy can be both pacifying and radically destabilizing. From David Lynch's
Lost Highway and Ingmar Bergman's Persona to Michael Haneke's The Piano
Teacher, fantasy is the battleground of the war between the sexes. Part 2
interrogates the structure of fantasy that makes the sexual act possible. But it
also asks whether this very plague of fantasies is finally staged - like cinema
itself - as a defence against anxiety.
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PART 3
Part 3 plays with appearances. Appearances are not deceiving, but extremely
efficient. When Dorothy & Co discover The Wizard of Oz is actually an old man
behind a curtain, they nonetheless expect him to work his magic. And so he
does: the illusion persists. Says Zizek, 'There is something more real in the
illusion than in the reality behind it.'
With iconoclastic gusto, Zizek evokes the Gnostic theory of our world as an
'unfinished reality' where 'God bungled his job of creation'. If film itself is
structured through cuts, edits and missing scenes, then so too is our own
subjective experience. This is perhaps why we can believe in cinema – as well as
other systems of faith, paternal, religious and ideological.
Zizek shows us that the key to cinema is beyond the narrative, beyond the 'story'
that we witness. What provides the density of cinematic enjoyment is material
form beyond interpretation.
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FILMS FEATURED:
Possessed (1934) / Clarence Brown
The Matrix (1999) / Andy and Larry Wachowski
The Birds (1963) / Alfred Hitchcock
Psycho (1960) / Alfred Hitchcock
Duck Soup (1933) / Leo Mc Carey
Monkey Business (1931) / Norman Z McCleod
The Exorcist (1973) / William Friedkin
Testament of Dr Mabuse (1933) / Fritz Lang
Alien (1979) / Ridley Scott
The Great Dictator (1940) / Charles Chaplin
Mulholland Drive (2002) / David Lynch
Alice in Wonderland (1951) / Clyde Geronimi,Wilfred Jackson & Hamilton Luske
The Red Shoes (1948) / Michael Powell
Dr. Strangelove (1963) / Stanley Kubrick
Fight Club (1999) / David Fincher
Dead of Night (1945) / Alberto Cavalcanti
The Conversation (1974) / Francis Ford Coppola
Blue Velvet (1986) / David Lynch
Vertigo (1958) / Alfred Hitchcock
Psycho Theatrical Trailer (1960)
Solaris (1972) / Andrei Tarkovsky
The Piano Teacher (2001) / Michael Haneke
Wild at Heart (1990) / David Lynch
Lost Highway (1996) / David Lynch
Dune (1984) / David Lynch
Persona (1966) / Ingmar Bergman
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) / Stanley Kubrick
Blue (1993) / Krysztof Kieslowski
In the Cut (2003) / Jane Campion
The Wizard of Oz (1939) / Victor Fleming
Frankenstein (1931) / James Whale
10 Commandments (1956) / Cecil B. DeMille
Dogville (2003) / Lars Von Trier
Alien Resurrection (1997) / Jean-Pierre Jeunet
To Catch a Thief (1954) / Alfred Hitchcock
Saboteur (1942) / Alfred Hitchcock
Rear Window (1954) / Alfred Hitchcock
North by Northwest (1959) / Alfred Hitchcock
Stalker (1979) / Andrei Tarkovsky
Kubanskie Kasaki (1949) / Ivan Pyryev
Ivan the Terrible, Part Two (1945) / Sergei Eisenstein
Pluto’s Judgment Day (1935) / David Hand
City Lights (1931) / Charles Chaplin
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NOTES ON MAKING THE PERVERT’S GUIDE TO
CINEMA:
For the shooting of the guide, there was no script in the conventional sense and
neither was this an interview. However, work was done in advance to shape the
film’s agenda; an outline comprising of theories drawn from a document supplied
by Zizek was augmented with further theories selected from his books, producing
a document that served as a map during the shooting.
From this point on, shooting itself was quite free-wheeling. Space was given to
let Zizek deliver a theory line in long takes of up to 10 or 15 minutes, often ending
with a ‘fuck it, but you can cut it!’ Sometimes theory lines were re-delivered in
different settings, to allow for cutting possibilities and at other times ideas
emerged during conversations on set. The aim was to document Zizek’s thinking
on cinema and perhaps the process of thinking itself, as a performance,
something caught, alive in its moment.
The result was 20 hours of material from which Parts 1,2 and 3 were constructed.
Zizek did not take part in this process. Organising material in the off-line was
done through cross-referencing theories with films; its hard to imagine such an
editing process using pre-digital methods. The original written document was
now obsolete, and in its place were files of transcription.
The primary factor that determined the tone and style of the cutting was clarity –
to allow the critical reading to come through as fluidly as possible. It was
miraculous to see how the images from these masterpieces of cinema that are
featured in the Guide were transformed through interaction with the theories; the
images and sequences seemed to fill up and take shape, like dresses revealed
through the body that wears them.
Jump-cutting Zizek in picture was forbidden, as the detail and density of the
ideas as they gather momentum seemed to call for precision, not pixilation;
frames should work as visual anchors and make it possible to go seamlessly
from one film into another, adapting to each film’s own rhythm and language.
The first shooting week took place in April 2004 in Champaign, Illinois (material
from this period is in the final film, in the ‘Blue Velvet Garden’, Part 2). The main
purpose of this initial week was to develop the project with Zizek, and to create
material with which to secure funding. This material was shot on a Sony
PD150/PAL.
Material was also shot on Bodego Bay, in San Francisco city and in front of the
tree named The Father of the Forest. Material from the second location shoot
was shot on Panasonic DVX 100/PAL.
All remaining interior footage was shot in Holland, in August 2006, on sets built to
replicate those from the films analysed in the Guide. Material for the interior
studio sets was shot on XDCAM/ PAL with pro 35 lens adaptor. Production was
undertaken by Kasanderfilm, in Rotterdam, with the support of the Rotterdam
Film Fund,
The major bulk of the editing period took place from September 2005 to April
2006 in London, using Final Cut Pro, and for colour correction, Final Touch. Final
post production was carried out in Vienna and Bratislava, care of Mischief Films.
The initial TV commission ( Art Shock Channel 4/UK and WDR/Germany ) was
for one film with a length of 48’ and minimum 54’ minutes respectively. The
original TV commission comprises Part 1 of the Guide, Parts 2 and 3 were edited
on spec and subsequently acquired by More 4. All three parts, with 6 minutes
additional material, makes up the full theatrical version of part 1,2 and 3.
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BIOGRAPHIES:
SLAVOJ ZIZEK (Presenter)
Widely acclaimed as one of the most original thinkers of our time, Slavoj Zizek is
a dialectical-materialist philosopher. He is the author of more than fifty books on
diverse subjects ranging from opera to religion, film, and the war in Iraq. He has
taught at universities including Paris, London, Columbia, Chicago, Duke,
Princeton and the New School in New York. He currently holds a post at the
Department of Philosophy, University of Ljubljana and is Co-Director of the
International Centre for Humanities at Birkbeck College, University of London.
He has been the subject of numerous media profiles in various publications
including the Guardian, New Yorker, Liberation (France) and Asahi (Japan). He
contributes articles to the Guardian, London Review of Books, and Le Monde
(France).
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BEN ZUYDWIJK (Production Designer/Studio)
15 years ago Ben started as a painter and decorator in the fields of film and
theatre working on the sets of the famous Peter Greenaway features Prospero’s
Books, The Baby of Macon and The Pillow Book as on the for Production Design
award winning film Orlando, by Sally Potter.
Since 10 years he has been making a name for himself as a Production Designer
and Art Director working on National commercials, shorts feature films and
photoshoots as on International productions as Claim, Fogbound, la Captive Kill
Kill Faster Faster, Crusade in Jeans and The Pervert’s Guide To Cinema.
Martin Rosenbaum’s other productions for BBC Arena, BBC Music & Arts and
Channel 4 include Last Supper by photographer Robert Frank, Placido
Domingo’s Tales From The Opera, The Last Soviet Citizen the story of the
cosmonaut stranded on the Russian space station MIR when the USSR fell
apart, Tony Bennett’s New York And Looking For The Iron Curtain - the Iron
Curtain ten years after its fall.
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KEES KASANDER (co-producer The Netherlands)
Kees Kasander entered the film industry in 1978 as Head of Distribution for a
Dutch company called Film International. This company was also deeply involved
in the organisation of the Rotterdam Film Festival and from 1982 until 1985;
Kasander was the official producer of the Festival program. He has been an
independent film producer since 1981 and as such has worked all over the world.
Until now he has produced over 50 feature films. His collaboration with Peter
Greenaway has brought him international acclaim. The film The Cook, The Thief,
His Wife And Her Lover (1989) has also been a great commercial success.
Kees Kasander has won both national and international prizes for his film
productions. He won the nationally esteemed prize for best feature film at the
Dutch Film Festival in Utrecht three times: Secret Wedding in 1988, director
Alejandro Agresti and Prospero's Books in 1992, director Peter Greenaway and
Abeltje in 1999, director Ben Sombogaart. He received a prize (100.00DM) in
Berlin for the film Crush Proof, director Paul Tickell.
His most recently produced films are: Tempesta (director Paul Tickell), an
adaptation of the best-selling Spanish novel by Juan Manuel de Prada, and The
Tulse Luper Suitcases, Peter Greenaway’s most ambitious project to date. As a
co-producer he participated in films by Alexander Sokourov (Elegy Of A Voyage)
and Philippe Garrel (Sauvage Innocence). Amongst the films in postproduction is
Crusade In Jeans, based on the well-known Dutch children’s book by Thea
Beckman and to be directed by Ben Sombogaart. The premiere of this film will
take place in November 2006. Amongst the films in production is Nightwatching
by Peter Greenaway. A film about the creation of the famous painting 'The
Nightwatch' by Dutch painter Rembrandt.
In 2002 he founded Mischief Films with director Georg Misch with the intent to
produce creative documentaries. Films include Edgar Ulmer – The Man Off
Screen (dir: Michael Palm), Calling Hedy Lamarr (dir: Georg Misch) Miss
Universe 1929 - Lisl Goldarbeiter, A Queen in Wien (dir: Peter Forgacs), No
Name City (dir: Florian Flicker) Ich muss dir was sagen (dir: Michael Nguyen)
The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema (dir: Sophie Fiennes).
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GEORG MISCH (Producer)
Born in 1970. Georg Misch is director and producer. He studied at the University
of Stirling and the National Film School, NFTS in Great Britain. Misch works to
date include documentary films for BBC, Channel 4 and ARTE as well as
commercials: Calling Hedy Lamarr, I am from nowhere, Lines, Ere we go,
Trautonium, Insight (selection). In 2002 he founded Mischief Films with Ralph
Wieser.
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CAST AND CREW:
Transcriptions PAPERTAPE
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Additional Research ANDREW WRIGHT
SCENE D’AMOUR
Muir Mathison, Bernard Herrmann
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
© Varese Records
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MICHEL KOLENBRANDER
LE MANS SUITE SUPPLY
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REVIEWS:
Following the lead of a Pervert
And so we find Zizek in the cellar with Mother in Psycho and crouching
on the floor of the disturbing bathroom inspection scene in The
Conversation. It is hard to adequately describe the acute joy of seeing
Zizek attempting to steer a boat through Bodega Bay as Tippi
Hedren did in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, losing control due to his
giddy joking that he is Melanie rushing to screw Mitch.
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Stalinist musical Kubanskie kazaki and Clarence Brown's Possessed,
with its heroine watching the scenes aboard a passing train as if they
were projected on a movie screen - all her desires writ large.
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CONTACT:
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