Playback

  • 80'
  • Netherlands
  • 1995
At the invitation of the Netherlands Film Museum (NFM) film- maker and essayist Hartmut Bitomsky led a workshop in the first few weeks of 1995 about the oldest non-fiction films (period 1910-1920) from the museum's huge collection in this field. The last Rotterdam festival saw a theatrical presentation of the provisional results as a work in progress. The workshop has the character of a master class with a select group of critics, film- makers and curators and was recorded on video by students at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy (NFTVA). From more than sixty hours of video, Bitomsky cut a video film that provides a glimpse behind the scenes at the workshop while also being a filmic essay on how to look at historic film material. In a certain sense, this video essay documents the unique conservation policy of the NFM, that has been developed in recent ten years by the film-makers/curators Eric de Kuyper and Peter Delpeut (the latter also took part in the workshop). In the video film there is a striking role for the film critic, film-maker and former programme-advisor to this festival Mart Dominicus. The more cerebral, erudite but also passionate Bitomsky confronts the insights of Dominicus - always ventilated with humour and radically anti-intellectual - with a more contemplative approach. This essay on video also includes many fine fragments from the films looked at during the workshop.
Directors
Harmut Bitomsky, Hartmut Bitomsky
Premiere
World premiere
Country of production
Netherlands
Year
1995
Festival Edition
IFFR 1996
Length
80'
Medium
Betacam SP PAL
Language
English
Producers
EYE Film Institute Netherlands, Big Sky Film, Frank Roumen
Screenplay
Hartmut Bitomsky
Directors
Harmut Bitomsky, Hartmut Bitomsky
Premiere
World premiere
Country of production
Netherlands
Year
1995
Festival Edition
IFFR 1996
Length
80'
Medium
Betacam SP PAL
Language
English
Producers
EYE Film Institute Netherlands, Big Sky Film, Frank Roumen
Screenplay
Hartmut Bitomsky