John Porter = Super8-Porter
John Porter is world famous in Toronto, Canada. In the late 1960s, he started making idiosyncratic films on Super8 and never stopped; he is now the spider in the web of the local alternative film scene there.
In those years his filmography already grew to more than 300 titles. Most of them were films without sound and also fairly short. The standard length of film in a Super8 cassette is 50 feet and that’s also the length of many of his films: about three minutes. A modest length, and that’s what’s so striking about the films by Porter: they were made with the simplest techniques. What makes them special however is the fact that they all provide evidence of an open spirit and a playful gaze.
Porter is so familiar with his medium Super8 that he always manages to get the best out of it. He manages to exploit a tried and tested technique such as time-lapse unerring weight to record almost invisible movements. This makes the films from the series Condensed Rituals extremely fine observations of people in their surroundings. Short poetic documentaries.
Another series is called Camera Dances. Cabbies are the films in which the camera itself starts moving. Hanging on a rope in the staircase, swung around by the maker himself or just sniffing round places where few people usually linger: in the gutter. It provides stunning shots. We should also mention the Toy Catalog series. Porter shows his immense collection of toy knickknacks always with a personal note.
A screening of the work by John Porter is an experience in itself. The Super8 projector is his plaything and Porter always shows his films (the originals!) in person in the cinema. That way at least it’s easy to provide a commentary.
www.super8porter.ca
The texts with the selected films are personal notes by John Porter. The films are Super8 and silent, unless mentioned otherwise.
In this combined programme
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Firefly
The film maker improvises a performance for the camera with a small lamp swinging on a long chord. Long exposure times and unexpected lens errors t
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Rock Jam
An action painting made with a Super8 camera of large groups of visitors at different rock concerts.
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Scanning 5
Performance in which John Porter, with the projector in his hand, provides a stunning surround-Super8 environment.
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Amusement Park
Magnificent use of the time-lapse technique completes the transformation from fairground attractions to immaterial light objects. Uncomplicated zoo
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Toy Catalog 3
For many large children among the viewers, undoubtedly an unexpected sentimental journey. The screen fills up with piles and piles of mini-toys fro
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Blade Sharpener
Made in a single shot from the other side of the road. The film maker respectfully portrays a knife & blade sharpener going from door to door.
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Landscape
A small landscape painting with the still young film maker and his mother, calmly sketching on the edge of an agricultural area.
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Santa Claus Parade
Toronto’s great annual Christmas Parade, seen from the end of the long and wide University Avenue. Filmed for eight hours at four frames a second.<
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Exams
A beautiful time-lapse registration of hundreds of tables in a large hall that is occupied in a brief time by an equal number of students.
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