The Screen - A Subversive Art: Woman of the Dunes
A SUBVERSIVE ART
Raiding the archives of Amos Vogel’s legendary film club, Cinema 16
Woman of the Dunes (1964) Hiroshi Teshigahara, 147 mins. Cert 15. BFI
The Screen at Contemporary returns. This season we celebrate the act of people gathering in a darkened room to watch films together. We present a selection of shorts and features from the infamous film society Cinema 16 (1947–63), run by Amos and Marcia Vogel, which proposed an alternative canon of avant-garde, underground and commercial film. Cinema 16 strived to show only the most pioneering films, and in the process was a major influence on postwar cinema.
An entomologist travels to remote sand dunes inspecting insects. When he misses the last bus home, the villagers take him to a widow’s hut to stay the night. In the morning he discovers that he is trapped. The mesmerising cinematography frames the alien landscape as a subtle hell, whilst also zoning in on the minutiae of grains of sand and pores in the skin in a way that becomes hypnotically intense. An unsettling experimental score underlines the sense of doom, claustrophobia, and discomfort. This is an original, trippy, heady masterpiece that’s hard to shake off.
For the full programme of films, please click here
Event:
The Screen - A Subversive Art: Woman of the DunesDates:
16 Mar 2022, 6.30pmVisit Safely:
Viewing conditions tickets will be sold at 50% capacity. Guests will be asked to leave space in between each other.