Cinema

(de voertaal van deze avond is Engels).

Jeffrey's Underground Cinema has been showing neglected and forgotten films for the last decade. This night:  

THE SURREAL SCIENTIFIC CINEMA OF JEAN PAINLEVE
5 films by Jean Painlevé (1940-1950)

72 minutes

In French with English subtitles

Visionary French film Director Jean Painlevé from the 1940s and 50s was a rare blend of the scientific mind fusing with the creative imagination. At a young age he went to University at the Sorbonne in Paris to study biology. But that was back in the 1930s, and to make money to survive he played piano and bars. Because of the spirit of the times he met artists and surrealists which had a big impact on his vision of the world, and got him unstuck from only thinking hermetically in a scientific logic. He became determined to marry art and science.

Like almost everybody in Paris at the time, he became excited by the possibilities of cinema. He got his first camera with the intention of documenting different scientific phenomena, but especially the world of underwater creatures. All of these mind blowing experiments were influenced by surrealism, and he would often put eccentric music soundtracks to accompany the images and his narration. The music would range from the hut jazz duke Ellington to Avantgarde music and even the electronic sounds of Pierre Henry.

On this evening at the marionette theater we will screen five short films, and deep dive with Jean into the lives of seahorses, octopuses, the cosmos, the dances of sea urchins, and even a clay-animation version of Blue Beard.

With a short introduction by Jeffrey Babcock

20:30 (doors and bar open at 20:00)
Free entrance / no reservations