In 1964, five years before receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature, playwright Samuel Beckett wrote his only film script. The avant-garde project, FILM, is still regarded as a striking undertaking. Both panned and praised by critics, the film was regarded by Beckett himself as an enormous failure, and leading actor Buster Keaton entirely lost the plot: “I was confused when we shot it… and I’m still confused.”
Enough material for a poetic, experimental kino essay about Beckett’s cinematographic adventure, thought director Ross Lipman. Notfilm, an ambitious, widely-ranging two-hour making-of, examines the personal, literary and cinematographic background of FILM and its philosophical implications. Archive material, out-takes feared lost, audio tapes of conversations between Beckett and director Alan Schneider and interviews with connoisseurs and crew offer a wealth of rare material, which will leave film lovers rubbing their hands with delight.
Film details
- Countries of production
- UK, USA
- Year
- 2015
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2016
- Length
- 128"
- Medium/Format
- DCP
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