This morning, I sat in on Claire Denis' class. We watched the first half of her film "Trouble Every Day" (amazing!) and then she gave a very moving defense of the idea of beauty. She has a very refined sensibility, and spoke eloquently about the difficulty of translating one's own personal experience of beauty to a viewer. We also talked about the difficulty of filming landscapes and at the same time avoiding postcardism.
This afternoon, I sat in on the Quay Brothers' class. We watched a few of their shorts, including one of their dance films (apparently the inspiration for Guy Maddin's "Dracula" film). Hearing them talk about their work, what struck me is how hard a time they have had getting their work funded. I would have thought that the makers of "Streets of Crocodiles" would have been given carte blanche to do whatever they wanted for the rest of their lives, but apparently not.
This evening, Claire Denis and Jean-Luc Nancy gave a talk on Godard's "One + One." Jean-Luc Nancy has an astonishingly agile and rigorous mind, and it was nice to be reminded of why French philosophy is so prized. He has a way of talking and of thinking out loud that reminds me a lot of Derrida.
Afterwards, D.J. Spooky transferred a bunch of his favorite recordings into my ipod, including: Marshall Mcluhan reading "The Medium is the Message," Phillip Glass' "Concerto for Saxophone," and Jean Cocteau reading a poem about opera in French. He also showed me how to spin.
It's kind of surreal being here.
posted by Caveh Zahedi at
6:33 PM
