FILM / NOT FILM PG
Film (wr. Samuel Beckett, dir. Alan Schneider, 1965)
NOTFILM: A Kino-Essay (dir. Ross Lipman, 2015)
In 1936, aged 29, Samuel Beckett sent a letter to the Russian film director
Sergei Eisenstein asking to be considered ‘a serious cineaste worthy of
admission’ to the Moscow State School of Cinematography. ‘I have no experience
of studio work’, he confessed, ‘and it is naturally in the scenario and editing
end of the subject that I am most interested.’ Beckett never made it to
Moscow to study cinema. Nor is the author of The Unnamable and Waiting
for Godot so often thought of as a filmmaker. Yet almost thirty years after
his young flush of filmic enthusiasm, Beckett joined forces with director Alan
Schneider and cinematographer Boris Kaufman – brother of Dziga Vertov – for the
making of Film, a 22 minute black and white silent starring a creased
and wizened Buster Keaton, slapstick screen legend of the 1920s. The richly
experienced Keaton considered Film totally hopeless. For Beckett, of
course, hopelessness was just the point. First released in 1965, Film has
only now been fully restored, and is shown in this evening’s programme
alongside NOTFILM, a new documentary essay by Ross Lipman exploring the
story of Film’s production.
The evening’s screenings will accompanied be introductions and discussions by
Adam Piette, Head of the School of English at the University of Sheffield, and
Alice Honor Gavin, Lecturer in Fiction and Writing.
Watch
Gallery 3 images
- Director
- Ross Lipman, Samuel Beckett
- Duration
- 195 mins
- Cast
- Buster Keaton
Explore
Political Purgatories: Madness, Mayhem and American Politics at Showroom Cinema
The Outrun Review: What happens when we start trying to heal?
Spirit of Independence Film Festival returns to the Showroom
Jodie, Saoirse and Pete at the Showroom
Welcoming Students to Sheffield at Showroom Cinema
Black History Month at the Showroom Cinema: Intergenerational Fusion – Empowering Black Minds