Butterfly-like material, flowing movements, a rhythm that can be felt, even without any sound: the serpentine dance was very fashionable around 1900, invented by Louie Fuller, a pioneer of modern dance and also of lighting in the theater. The dance was a reaction to the academization in ballet, it should be artistic but close to popular dances.
A play of light, shadow and movement – Fuller’s productions were cinematic avant la lettre and not for nothing a kind of early music video trend, there are quite a few recordings from the first days of moving images. A very special one came from Guy-Blache, who was almost 30 at the time and was born in 1873.
Serpentine Dance (1902)
The 1902 recording by cinema pioneer Alice Guy-Blache shows the Serpentine Dance, which was popular at the time. It is part of the program of the Vienna Shorts 2022 festival.
Films that are still relevant today
Guy-Blache worked for a camera manufacturer and, after attending a performance by the brothers Auguste and Louis Lumiere, persuaded him to go into the film camera business. Soon tired of producing bland presentation films, she was one of the first to use film to tell little stories. When she lost her job because of her marriage, she went to the USA with her husband and founded her own studio there. She directed over 1,000 films, including comedies, musicals and westerns, but also dealing with topics such as anti-Semitism, immigration, child abuse and the role of women in society at the time.
The bankruptcy of her studio in 1921, her divorce in 1922 and her status as a single mother threw a spanner in the works. She returned to France and was forgotten – the history of cinema was not only dominated by men, but also written. Only when the American director Pamela B. Green dedicated a documentary to her with “Be Natural – Be yourself: The film pioneer Alice Guy-Blache”, which was presented in Cannes in 2018, was that to change.
festival notice
The short film festival Vienna Shorts will take place in various Viennese cinemas until Monday.
Ukraine: life in a state of emergency
Guy-Blache’s film is part of the Vienna Shorts focus program “We’ve come a long way together”, which shows that the long history of cinema is not least a history of short films. And in addition to current animations, Austrian and international films and innovative approaches, the festival, which will take place both in cinemas and online this year, will also focus on films from Ukraine. Films from Russia are also shown, but only those that do not spread propaganda and are not state-sponsored.
One of the Ukrainian films is “Territory of Empty Windows” by Zoya Laktionova, an associative short documentary about the war in Mariupol, with footage from 2020, during the fighting before the Russian war of aggression. The Azov Steel Works during the Nazi occupation; the filmmaker’s father, who is suffering from shrapnel in his leg; Women who tell everyday things that can only be everyday in a state of war. The film is an impressive testimony to life in a permanent state of emergency.
let it out
“Enough” by Anna Mantzaris takes the audience somewhere else entirely, namely into our deepest interior, where the anger sits that we never let out because of social conventions. But animated felt figures are allowed to do things that are actually not possible. Jump out of the car if you are angry with your partner. Running out of a meeting and tearing off the boss’s car mirror. When it all gets too much, just lie down on the sidewalk. It’s hard to describe how satisfying it is to watch.
cuddling in church
Speaking of conventions: what goes on in a church? A lot, a lot, as you can see in a music video by director shooting star Kurdwin Ayub. The Holy Family acts and cuddles to cloud eurotrash by singer Anthea as if there were no tomorrow.
A music video as a supercharger
And another music video deserves credit. Because every Fatboy Slim video from the 90s is the best music video of all time. This also and especially applies to “Praise You”, brilliantly staged by none other than cult director Spike Jonze. A wild dance flashmob in a mall, a mixture of good-humored insanity and free-spirited expressive dance, with a lot of energy that is directly transmitted to the audience.