derrida ( film )
review 2: shortlist this is a highly original intervention into the film / philosophy area of film studies through practice. the film explores the envoi section of derrida’s the post card through a mix of narrative and documentary film techniques .
academic presentations: many of these were invited screenings and events around the film. highlights included a plenary at ‘derrida today’ in new york and keynote at ‘imagining derrida’ in cambridge
waste of time. as a biography of derrida, or an exposition of his philosophy, this film is a failure .
this website celebrates jacques derrida, both as a man and as an idea .
background love in the post: from plato to derrida, is the fourth fictional film produced from the research project ontological narratives (2003 - 2014) .
this, tethered to the philosophical questions around audience / address, truly manages to enact the theoretical concerns explored in derrida’s original text, via the practice / experience of watching the film. in addition, the mix of fiction and documentary is breaking new ground, creatively interrogating derrida’s work and performing the production of knowledge within the film itself. just as derrida’s post card is a text about textuality, the film, too operates as a text both about textuality and about adaptation .
research context my research has interrelated contexts that include phenomenology and epistemology, film philosophy, and the role of fictional narrative in film practice - based research .
derrida turns out to be an engaging, provocative and droll fellow before the cameras .
the film features a never before seen interview with derrida, alongside contributions from geoff bennington, j. hillis miller, sam weber, catherine malabou and ellen burt .
this is an extract. the full film is available on demand here: urltoken
love in the post is inspired by the book the post card by jacques derrida. like the book, the film plays with fact and fiction, weaving together the stories of a professor of literature and a film director, alongside insights from critics and philosophers .
safaa fathy was born in minia, egypt in 1958. she is the director of many films, including ‘d’ailleurs, derrida’ (1999). inspired by her film about the renowned french philospoher, she co - wrote ‘tourner les mots’ and ‘au bord d’un film’ with jacques derrida. she has authored many poetry collections in arabic, and has staged a dozen theatre plays .
the film seems more like a trivial passion project than anything worth presenting to ...
film criticism award (2003) and the scms dissertation award (2012). he wrote
it is precisely in this historical milieu that jacques derrida became the hero of the hour. derrida' s work really boils down to unwinding the philosophical assumptions that make up any kind of accepted truth .
while being an interesting documentary, the questions that derrida was asked were sometimes irrelevant and even stupid .
the film is available to purchase on dvd and blu - ray and to rent on demand .
i was curious to see derrida, and to hear him respond to questions about his philosophy. i enjoyed the film footage of paris, and the frames that showed him teaching. the inclusion of his wife and other family members in the film made derrida less remote as a person. unfortunately, while i was able to gain some understanding of the thoughts he communicated, i found his concepts and the words he used to explain them, more frustratingly complex then enlightening. i did appreciate that the film i
my major criticism of the film itself, is some of the narrative performances are uneven which makes it more difficult to engage with the narrative elements of the film. however, in the wider context of what the film is attempting to achieve this could be read as a positive, brechtian technique !
upon consideration, it is evident that'' derrida'' complements the way that the directors, and jacques derrida and bob flanagan, push for insights in whatever manner necessary. the search is what really matters .
this movie certainly will fall short for those seeking loamy discourse about the ramifications of mr. derrida' s work; to these people it will seem like, well, a pop - song bowdlerization of a master' s oeuvre. the directors know that mr. derrida must be introduced to neophytes, who will not have a firm grasp of deconstruction until they see how it is woven into the fabric of the film. (when'' derrida'' played at the sundance film festival, audiences thoroughly enjoyed it. )
documentary about french philosopher (and author of deconstructionism) jacques derrida, who sparked fierce debate throughout american academia .
'' derrida,'' the adoring and adorable documentary on the philosopher jacques derrida by the filmmakers kirby dick ('' sick: the life and death of bob flanagan, supermasochist'') and amy ziering kofman, presents mr. derrida, the so - called father of deconstruction, as quick - witted and impish .
love in the post: from plato to derrida
; 2015. urltoken (accessed 09 jul 2018 )
educational institutions, film societies, libraries, and non - profit organizations can buy or rent our films .
along the way, we absorb bits and pieces of derrida' s ideas, but the total is insufficient for the newcomer to come away with any focused understanding of derrida and only seems to fuel the dangerous cult of hero worship .
· derrida is screening at the ica, london, from january 31. box office: 020 - 7930 3647 .
now, in this context, derrida enters the scene and says that plato is essentially just one reading of reality .
oscar - nominated filmmaker kirby dick explores the teachings of controversial french philosopher jacques derrida in a manner befitting his philosophies .
reisz, matthew, “cinematic deconstruction: derrida gets a close up”. 27 march 2014, times higher education, urltoken
an interview with writer / director boots riley about his incendiary new film ,
sorry to bother you .
chain camera is a 2001 american documentary film directed by kirby dick about the lives of los angeles high school students .
jacques derrida. fu ...
this video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by blaq out .
the screenplay and commentary by joanna callaghan and martin mcquillan. alongside the original screenplay, martin mcquillan provides an extended commentary on derrida’s original text, the film and its making. joanna callaghan reflects on her practice as a filmmaker and her engagement with philosophy as a director. the volume concludes with interviews between mcquillan and five leading derrida scholars. published by rowman and littlefield international .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
my films attempt a phenomenological inquiry into the subject matter. they do this through treating film (process and outcome) as an entity that can be used, (‘readiness to hand’), which has possibilities unique to itself and which acknowledges the subjectivity of the lifeworld in the transformation of text to image. in doing so it opens up to an epistemological consideration of film form through making. the films mobilise certain philosophical reflections (e. g. the nature of reality, the nature of being) but also question film philosophically (e. g. the nature of film? the being / beingness of film ?) .
as with fanon, french racism and colonialism may well have been instrumental in directing derrida' s intellectual life. some of the strongest material in dick and kofman' s film gives an insight into how derrida' s formative experiences in algeria - where he was expelled from school by the anti - semitic wartime french government and attacked by former schoolmates - made him especially sensitive to covert meanings in texts .
a drama - documentary inspired by the post card by jacques derrida. theo marks works in a university department that is soon to be closed. his wife sophie, enigmatic and distant is in analysis. filmmaker joanna struggles to complete a film about the post card. these people are set on a collision course prompted by a series of letters that will change their lives. the film features a never before seen interview with derrida, alongside contributions from geoff bennington, j. hillis miller, sam weber, catherine malabou and ellen burt .
derrida is a very controversial figure because a lot of people are simply confused as to what he was about, what he championed, and the importance and legacy of his work. historically, jacques derrida was an algerian jew - french citizen who truly revolutionized the 1960’s intellectual environment .
if you have any doubts about the film, just ask yourself how many other films have you seen about a renown modern philosopher .
notes: [ 1 ] derrida, jacques, la carte postale: de socrate à freud et au - delà. paris: flammarion, 1980; derrida, the post card: from socrates to freud and beyond. trans. alan bass. chicago: university of chicago press, 1987 .
criteria the adapting of a philosophical text into a film in order to perform and re - inscribe the philosophical problems presented by that text .
derrida, with his mane of white hair, piercing gaze and pipe clenched between his teeth, may be the most watchable thinker since rodin' s .
[ font = century gothic ]
derrida
is a documentary about the noted philosopher and deconstructionist, jacques derrida. the film follows derrida in his daily life at home in paris and at work lecturing, and also to new york city and south africa to appear on panels. during which, he is constantly commenting on the artificiality of the whole situation of the documentarians trying to capture him looking as natural as possible. (i imagine all documentaries have footage like this but it almost always ends up on the cutting room floor .) this gives some insight into derrida' s thinking, along with readings from some of his works. but it would have been nice to have some talking heads testifying about his influence within his chosen field. [ / font ]
any documentary that' s worth watching will have a thesis and be a little self - referential, but this film took that a little too far. i thought the film makers cherry picked what they were going to talk about too much. if you want to get to know the man' s personality, watch this. if you want to know more about derrida' s philosophy, it' s probably better to start with a book .
this website is dedicated to the movie based on the life of jacques derrida, the famous french philosopher who championed the philosophy of post - structuralism and postmodernism .
but the film lacks dissenting voices, which is sad given that derrida' s work is immensely controversial (there remains a current in british philosophy, for instance, that regards him merely as a successful fraud). it is also unfortunate that we hear his work in affectless readings of his texts over ryuichi sakamoto' s dull incidental music. and it is to varying degrees of edification that the film follows its subject around from lecture hall to apartment .
this is not to say that'' derrida'' is short on mr. derrida' s weighty musings on life. gleaning insights about him through his interactions with others may seem like a superficial way into his mind, although it is entirely possible that mr. dick and ms. kofman understand that all they can offer about mr. derrida is a drive - by, a blur of a view that will leave a number of things indistinct. they seem to recognize that this documentary can give only a slice of their perceptions of mr. derrida, and he reminds us that he becomes a different person when the camera is on .
the film itself is fascinating in its use of self - reflexive narrative structure in which the filmmaking process is externalised as part of the narrative. the director is one of the characters and we witness the breakdown of the editing process, the inner workings of the film production office, revealing the labour of the film’s production. at the same time we explore the central characters’ lives and intertwining relationships, centring on the plot device of the discovery of secret love letters – letters which enable the film to examine the nature of communication and reception and how texts circulate independently of authorial intention. perhaps much like this review…
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice, telling a story of startling cruelty. what a space it opens…
this confirms what derrida wrote years ago in memories for paul de man :
deconstruction is not an operation that supervenes from the outside, afterwards, one fine day. it is always at work within the work .
this must be distressing for film - makers like dick and kofman to realise - from the very beginning, their film was being taken apart from within. but that, it seems, is almost always the case when movie - makers tangle with philosophy .
at the very least, if you don' t know anything about derrida when you walk into the theater, you won' t know much more when you leave .
scenes of mr. derrida watching himself on tape, talking about how he met his wife, marguerite (he is bashful and thoughtful as he ruminates on this experience), will probably bring to mind the mirror - within - a - mirror scritti politti song'' jacques derrida,'' with its querulous sense of propriety. but mr. dick and ms. kofman carefully layer folds of reality. (later the subject is shown viewing film of himself watching the tape in which he watches the interview. )
the research statement situates the research clearly, giving ample evidence of originality, rigor and significance, and outlining how this practice research project creates new knowledge in the field of film / philosophy and practice / research. the work is situated well both in relation to the filmmaker’s other research (ontological narratives) and to the field of film / philosophy (both from the perspective of a philosophical discussion of film; commercial films on philosophy and practice - based research projects interrogating filmic and philosophical production) .
author: joanna callaghan format: drama documentary duration: 1’20” published: february 2016 winner of the british association of film, television and screen studies practice research award 2016 .
in derrida, we see the french deconstructionist making breakfast, choosing a jacket and lighting his pipe. but films about philosophers haven' t always been so lacking in action, says stuart jeffries
the peer reviews that follow were part of the baftss practice research awards shortlisting process as this volume is published in association with the british association of film, television and screen studies .
these sequences are representative of mr. derrida' s school of thought, investigating the mind of a philosopher as a working, living biography and font of emotional understanding. at such points,'' derrida'' adds flesh to the icon, gently highlighting a quality attributable to many intellectuals: vanity. we see glimpses of this as mr. derrida prepares for his day - - he takes as much care in his appearance as he does with his ideas. by applying definition to both sides of the man, the picture realizes a fullness that does not negate the subject .
i admit my own acquaintance with his work begins and ends with terry eagleton' s astringent summary in the primer literary theory, in which derrida and the post - structuralists get accused of being culpably impotent in the face of political injustice - and indeed derrida is shown being enigmatic and evasive when questioned about his attitude to
forgiveness
at a lecture to an all - white audience at cape town university .
derrida is jewish and says he is very vigilant about anti - semitism; how this colours his readings of heidegger and paul de man we aren' t told. but the movie rediscovers derrida as a prose poet; kofman' s readings of his work bring out its dreamy, meditative quality. the funniest moment comes when one interviewer catastrophically misjudges derrida' s interest in pop culture and asks him about irony in seinfeld. she is rewarded with an eloquent, baffled grimace and the reply :
deconstruction does not produce any' sitcom'. stop watching your' sitcom'; do your homework and read .
a similar problem, arguably, affected derek jarman' s occasionally moving 1993 film wittgenstein. at least, the film' s scriptwriter terry eagleton, then an oxford don, thought so .
my own script ,
he said ,
strikes me as reasonably strong on ideas but short on dramatic action; jarman' s, minus my own interpolations, seems to me just the other way round .
but such creative tensions, and potential for disappointment, are likely when someone heroically tries to make a film about philosophy - especially on a laughable £200, 000 budget .
interesting documentary. as i reject french post - structuralism as a model for american academia, it is worth watching to understand the late derrida' s background and how he came to question the assumptions of western philosophy .
the last context is the role and use of fictional narrative within practice - based research films. while my research experiments with narrative, it is not experimental film. rather i work with cinematic codes, as opposed to against. the use of fictional narrative is distinct in the field of film practice - based research and opens the research for a different set of considerations as opposed to documentary or experimental practice .
documentaries cannot really do other than supply a fragment of a momentary truth, and'' derrida'' becomes a part of its deconstructionist subject' s purview by observing its flaws as a forum and as a form .
note: if you dig into derrida, remember that he evolves, just like dylan. he was no spring chicken, either, when he passed away, so like bob, he' d been evolving for many years .
directed by kirby dick and amy ziering kofman; in english and french, with english subtitles; director of photography, kirsten johnson; edited by mr. dick and matt clarke; music by ryuichi sakamoto; produced by ms. kofman; released by zeitgeist films. at the film forum, 209 west houston street, west of sixth avenue, south village. running time: 85 minutes. this film is not rated .
derrida marks amy ziering kofman' s directing debut. she most recently produced the critically acclaimed feature documentary taylor' s campaign, which followed the race for a seat on the santa monica city council by one of its homeless residents .
marxists and other social critics, understandably, were happy with what derrida did because he called everything into question. it’s as if the whole western philosophical and academic infrastructure was like the emperor in the familiar tale of the emperor’s new clothes .
at times, the personality that comes across in this film reminds me of the personality displayed by bob dylan when he was constantly being hounded to
explain
himself, early on in his career. his take on
forgiveness
tied my brain in knots. but that' s derrida. he' s one of the great contemporary game players, one of the best tie - your - brain - in - knots thinkers worth the torture of grappling with .
proposed by these young turks to advocate film authorship could also apply to themselves. they were literally authors, each of them leaving a palpable signature of their own perspective and style between the lines. their writing made them writers .
the audience is quickly burdened with the overbearing zeal of the filmmakers to record this man' s private life. with little more than quotes and mildly amusing anecdotes to keep viewers awake, the film seems more like a trivial passion project than anything worth presenting to the larger public. by the time the film comes anywhere close to presenting a justification for its investigation of this reclusive and unfortunately uninteresting figure, it is unlikely that anyone will still be invested enough to care .
perhaps a certain level of serious expectation will exist among audiences because of mr. dick' s previous documentary,'' sick,'' which provided an unstinting gaze at what a dying masochist endured.'' sick'' and'' derrida'' might suggest that mr. dick' s primary interest is the dank side of life. viewers might fail to note that'' sick'' is as much about questioning perceptions of life, feeling and thought as'' derrida'' is .
the statement is thorough, succinct, and attends well to the requirements of each section. in addition to offering a discussion of the film, its intent, processes and context, it offers useful references to the range of other published work associated with the project such as web - based ‘sketch - books’ and the more traditional monograph. theoretical and artistic context are carefully considered, with a clear statement offered about the overarching research framework being one that brings together phenomenology, epistemology and film philosophy .
indeed, to read andré bazin is more than to follow his film analysis. it is to taste his aesthetic taste, to sense his profound sense of intellectual balance, to feel his personal philosophy, his love for animals, and his devotional attitude to
dick and kofman have set themselves a difficult task. if writing a philosopher' s biography is indecent, then making a film about a philosopher - be it biopic or documentary - is all but impossible. in film, to be is to do; in philosophy, to be is, if anything, to think. that is one reason bruce willis will never star in a biopic about immanuel kant, the great german philosopher who led a life so predictable that neighbours set their watches to his morning constitutional .
there is a clear coherence and harmony between both the supporting statement and screenwork – but the film itself (and this is distinct to so many other pieces of practice - led enquiry) stands up as an individual and compelling piece of practice - led scholarship .
a portrait of the brilliant and controversial french thinker, jacques derrida, and the themes that haunt and inspire his work. the founder of a school of critical thinking that radically questions the nature of texts, the reader, and the multiple layers of meaning at work in language, derrida' s work has been a profound influence on analysis of literature, linguistics, philosophy, law and architecture. and although best known for his early work, this last decade has witnessed an outpouring of derridean thought on a broad range of subjects from justice to national identity .
if derrida and postmodern thought interests you, you' ll love it. i did. groen' s review nails it: the picture' s charm lies in the continuing by - play between the filmmakers and their subject, with each side doing its best to deconstruct the other .
along the absorbing way to this conclusion, the film observes its subject through his less than dense and foolishly likable admission of his lack of knowledge about many things. he is a hopeless neophyte on love, but is also a delighted flirt who loves toying with people and ideas .
nope. it’s going somewhere. and the destination is worth any effort the journey may require. this is the kind of film that makes you see other movies through fresh eyes and ask questions that might not normally occur to you during films that try to hide their storytelling seams .
in 1996, miléna poylo and gilles sacuto created ts productions. in december 2004, the company was awarded the independent production prize by ifcic, and the duo revelation trophy. ts productions also received seven césars for the feature film ‘séraphine’ (2008), directed by martin provost .
a speaker in a “syrian dissident film collective” tells an audience that when movie focuses on misery and blood, it can excite or numb viewers rather than awaken their empathy. he says filmmakers must “find a way to represent horror, to represent death, respecting the golden rule. ” a man in the audience respectfully argues the opposite. the argument remains unresolved, just like every other idea teased out in this unusual film, which is about the things it shows and doesn’t show us, and all the good reasons for showing and not showing, remembering and forgetting .
well, that kid, in the history of western philosophy was derrida. he claimed that plato, for all the certainties that he laid down, is essentially just one person’s view of reality; that there are many other ways to look at reality; and he started deconstructing plato to prove his point .
a celebrity follow - around for, arguably, the most important philosopher of the late 20th century. the film is not, in itself, a treasure house of intellectual content... you will not come away with a deepened understanding of differance, dissemination, etc... . but some nice moments. (see his response to an interviewer' s description of seinfeld .) but he comes off as charming, thoughtful, sometimes wary of being a celebrity, a nice guy. for those of us who value his work, the film is a treat .
ick and ziering kofman' s documentary about the daily life of deconstructionist philosospher jacques derrida turns out to be very entertaining. the handsome subject himself is engaging and distinctly cinematic, looking decades younger than his 70 - plus years, with a snow - white pompadour that we see being attended to at the hairdresser .
how do you film a beautiful mind? in the film about john forbes nash junior, played by russell crowe, the inner life of the delusional mathematics genius was shown chiefly through febrile blackboard scrawling. the key problem for director ron howard was that there had to be a visual index to the goings - on in nash' s head, otherwise his mental beauty would have remained obscure. but howard' s chosen visual index was so banal that it conveyed little of the riches of his thought. great artistic imagination is clearly required, but that has been lacking in most films about intellectuals .
theo marks works in a university department that is soon to be closed. his wife sophie, enigmatic and distant is in analysis. filmmaker joanna struggles to complete a film about the post card. these people are set on a collision course prompted by a series of letters that will change their lives .
to say that derrida has had a deep - seated, almost insidious impact on my life is no joke. he' s always lurking in the back of my mind, a kind of undercover commentator, peeping out of my subconscious from beneath a grayish colored canvas tarp, waiting to pop up and insert a comment or two in any given situation .
the work has the potential to be highly impactful to a diverse range of audiences (encompassing both students and scholars of multiple disciplines – philosophy, film studies, theatre studies, literature etc) and is undoubtedly highly successful in its aim to provide a compelling argument of how narrative can play a convincing function in developing a coherent vision of a philosophical concept .
outcomes the project is of interest to researchers across the arts and humanities because it concerns itself with the fundamental assumptions of the very idea of ‘practice - based research’. the central research problematic that guides this work is: how might a creative text perform or produce knowledge as a theoretical counter - signature, rather than merely illustrate pre - existing philosophical ideas. it therefore addresses in an ambituous way a crucial aspect of practice - based research and so the film and the critical commentary that contextualizes it is of benefit not only to those engaged in practice - based film - making but all such researchers whose work addresses this problematic, in fine art, design, performance, music, and so on. [ 2 ] [ 3 ]
online presence & dvd distribution there is a dedicated film website. the project is available on vimeo on demand to rent and this reaches an audience completely removed from academia and philosophy. the dvd is distributed through heraclitus pictures and also available on amazon (which again reaches a different audience). many sales have been to university libraries and to individuals within the academy .
nygren' s call to action is admirable, but it also epitomizes the most frustrating aspect of his book: it is difficult to determine exactly what it is about. time frames sets out to explore japanese film history, however the work is less productive than it is deconstructive. a reader coming to nygren' s text seeking to better understand japanese film history as it is generally understood will leave sorely disappointed. nygren not only destabilizes, but destroys even the most basic assumption about the definitions of japan, japanese history, history, cinema, and japanese cinema. the book' s genealogical approach is counter - intuitive, and it skips between works, time periods, directors, western criticism, and eastern philosophy with gleeful abandon .
if anything, it’s just another voice in the crowd. it’s neither here nor there. it is definitely in no way, shape or form, superior. that’s where we are now, thanks in a large part to derrida because he called into question a lot of the things that a lot of people historically drew a lot of pride and, most importantly, a sense of certainty from .
in a talk at new york university, jacques derrida took up this theme .
classical philosophers usually avoid biography because they believe it' s indecent. philosophers shouldn' t speak of themselves, they shouldn' t present themselves as empirical beings. if we want to break with this classical philosophical action according to which philosophers shouldn' t present themselves, then we have to be indecent to some extent .
the collage film “cameraperson” is one of the most original, challenging, sometimes infuriating documentaries of recent times. it’s well worth seeing and arguing about, but only if you can give it your full attention and glean the internal logic that went into its construction. once you’ve done that, you will never forget what the movie showed you, or your own guesses about why it showed it to you .
this was big stuff. a lot of the things that you enjoy in the movies, a lot of the things that you see in marketing, and definitely a lot of the current political and social trends in the united states and elsewhere, ranging from same sex marriage, gay rights, abortion rights, the whole nine yards, stems from the tremendous amount of changes aided by, if not unleashed, by derrida and other philosophers of that same period in history .
having troubled the waters of history, nygren turns to derrida and deleuze' s seemingly radical claim that cinema is language. in order to contextualize this claim in terms of japan, he moves backwards through their arguments by beginning not with film, but with the japanese language. written japanese is a complex conglomeration of kanji (chinese characters), two phonetic syllabaries (hiragana and katakana), arabic numbers, and even latin letters. thinking of written japanese as a language requires a radical rethinking of what constitutes writing and language itself. the study of kanji—chinese characters used in japanese—is
heavily invested with ideological modes of language and abjection, in conflict with grammatological consideration
( 62). this is further complicated by kanji' s own doubleness in the japanese context: it can be read doubly, as onyomi (a phonetic reading connected to the character' s chinese pronunciation) and as kunyomi (a native japanese reading) .
jacques derrida was cutting - edge influential back when i was in school, and he continues to be taught widely in college classes right now. and it' s not just philosophy courses, either. walk into a college bookstore and stroll the aisles. you can see him being taught in english, history, political science, education classes - - and on and on. an amazing man and an interesting portrait. his comments on biography / autobiography will be with me for a while .
wittgenstein was one of a 12 - part series that tariq ali' s bandung company developed for channel 4 in the early 1990s. only four scripts were eventually written, but they offer tantalising hints about what might have been. david edgar wrote a script on john locke that peter wollen was going to film; ali himself wrote spinoza, the apostle of reason; while howard brenton wrote a script about the life of socrates. whether we should lament the fact that these scripts were never realised on screen remains uncertain .
. serge daney delivers his thrilling insight and ethical fervor in scrupulous but vital sentences unbound to academic formulas, thereby going beyond them. no film critic could be an auteur without the unique sensibility for writing itself. roger ebert’s succinct rhythm with sharp punchlines exemplifies classical lessons on how to write well; jonathan rosenbaum’s expansive free - association embodies literary modernism in exploring the multilayered core of his topic; jim hoberman’s rhetorical bravura maximally condenses vast information and pungent criticality in a postmodern style of journalism. the list can go on ...
one thing that has never been discussed regarding cinematic auteurism is the film critic as auteur. but look back closely. just as the “camera - pen” became a new medium for expressing artistic authenticity in alexander astruc’s view, so the real pen played the same role for him as critic. denouncing dad’s cinema as dead, françois truffaut not only consecrated original directors but also signaled the birth of a fresh, trenchant, passionate criticism by the son’s generation. it only became wittier, more erudite and idiosyncratic in jean - luc godard’s hand .
the many and varied outputs are an example of the fruitful interdisciplinary approach allowing for different entry points into the project from scholars and practitioners engaged in a range of areas. these include theoretical work, particularly in philosophy, cultural studies, literary studies, francophone studies, comparative literature, fine art, film studies and media studies and more generally a wider interdisciplinary audience who are concerned with theoretical issues of performance, adaptation, representation, mediation, interpretation, visuality and textuality. for this wider audience the concerns of the project address key touchstones in contemporary academic inquiry in the arts and humanities .
he' s like a general contractor overseeing the construction project of my house - life, with me up on the scaffold, counting on him to steady it while i build to higher heights. i look down suddenly, and wouldn' t you know it: instead of supporting the scaffold, he' s lighting his pipe. i notice nothing but the dark bowl of that pipe. vertigo sets in. the bowl expands before me, a black and bottomless pit. is this the abyss. the scaffold rumbles and begins to shake apart. derrida puffs thoughtfully at his pipe. i fall headlong into blackness... nah, just kidding .
in terms of philosophical content, the films contain subject matter derived from readings of philosophers, which are transformed into fictional stories. these stories centre on or pertain to human beings and linking them is the question of what it means ‘to be’. the subject matter is transformed through a phenomenological inquiry present both in the human agent (s) and also in treating film (process and outcome) as an entity that can be used (in the sense of heidegger’s ‘readiness to hand’), which has possibilities appropriate to itself (and only to itself) and which makes apparent the ‘hiddenness’ involved in the ‘ontological difference’ between ‘being’ and ‘beings’ .
for starters, “cameraperson” is an autobiography of sorts—a life in filmed fragments that almost never shows the face of its main character, kirsten johnson, but spends a fair amount of screen time watching her mother succumb to alzheimer’s disease. these heartbreaking moments connect with footage of johnson’s two children. watching them grow up, we might wonder if johnson will one day lose her memory as well, and if these images may one day serve as a substitute for actual, physical memory—the stories that a parent is no longer able to tell a child. we may also notice that the seeming - randomness of this film’s construction is an analogy for how it feels to try to remember a life when one’s mind has been fragmented by disease, or simply by age. maybe the movie is an analogy for how almost anyone’s mind works, even in mint condition: remembrance is not linear, it jumps around .
“the death of the author” could then be reviewed as the death of the critic. in fact, the cinema’s hall of fame has been shining with ever more directors - as - stars, whose authorship has survived all historical backlashes against auteurism and now function as brand name in both the commercial and critical markets of film reception. but the critic as auteur has become an endangered species especially in the digital age. to be a critic means little, when virtually anyone can scoop up widely distributed knowledge about films and expose criticism directly to global viewers in new media outlets, from websites to blogs and now social networks. the “do - it - yourself” spirit is much more realizable in writing than filming, diluting the elitism of institutional criticism and democratizing the monopolized right to express. the ideal of freedom of speech, then, flattens a critic’s authorial voice onto the limitless plane of innumerable voices, which do not need to listen or care about it .
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i' m not sure you' ll leave the movie understanding every nuance of' deconstruction,' but you' ll have a real sense of a sophisticated thinker .
exhibits a devotion to its subject that just might drive you to his books and make you wish for tea with the man who wrote them .
the picture' s charm lies in the continuing by - play between the filmmakers and their subject, with each side doing its best to deconstruct the other .
dense and thoughtful and brimming with ideas that are too complex to be rapidly absorbed .
we are left with a superficial snapshot that, however engaging, is insufficiently enlightening and inviting .
ne day, heidegger was asked about aristotle. what should we make of the greek philosopher' s life ?
he was born, he thought, he died ,
replied heidegger .
all the rest is pure anecdote .
you can almost sense the shrug in heidegger' s first sentence, and the contemptuous sneer in the second. philosophers don' t need biographers - they only confuse the communication of great thinkers' great thoughts .
among those
pure anecdotes
is hugo ott' s 1993 biography heidegger: a political life, in which the german existentialist' s support for the nazis when he was the rector of freiburg university in the early 1930s was dealt with at length. according to heidegger' s view, such books were an irrelevance to understanding his work, as is the fact that he was a member of the nazi party until it was wound up. the same view would consign whole libraries of philosophical biographies, diaries, memoirs, published letters and films to oblivion, and render a philosopher' s autobiography an exercise in professional self - betrayal .
there was plenty of visual splendour in the documentaries about sartre, nietzsche and heidegger made by the bbc nearly four years ago. the bbc chose as its subjects the most biographically friendly of philosophers: a syphilitic lunatic, a semi - housetrained nazi and a promiscuous toad lookalike. each had a life that was rich in incident, and each documentary teemed (respectively) to footage of boulevard saint germain brasseries, sublime alpine vistas and seemingly primeval bavarian forests. what was lacking, however, was much on the philosophers' work .
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directed by kirby dick and amy ziering kofman composed by ryuichi sakamoto produced by amy ziering kofman edited by kirby dick and matt clarke associate producer gil kofman camera kirsten johnson sound mark z. danielewski, pascal depres, benoit hillebrandt additional camera richard atkinson, baird bryant, christine burrill, herve cohen, mark z. danielewski, gil kofman, arturo smith, geza sinkovics, chris tetens additional sound alan barker, kip gynn, yuri racin, chris scarfile additional editing gil kofman first assistant editor brian jonason assistant editors mark z. danielewski, adam finberg, annette aryanpour, damien caldwell editing consultant tristan brighty subtitles amy ziering kofman post - production supervisor brian jonason music mixed by ryuichi sakamoto and fernando aponte music recorded at kab studios, nyc music recorded by fernando aponte re - recording mixer mark linden titles mike kahne
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rt @ filmlinc: portraits of audrey hepburn by cecil beaton. love, cecil opens today! don’t miss q & as and book signings with dir. lisa vreel…
the 1960’s was a very turbulent age for the west. a lot of the hard and fast rules and assumptions that pretty much constituted the western psychology and world view were essentially thrown up in the air .
everything was held to question. even the whole idea of western civilization and its impact on the rest of the world and whether democracy, capitalism, free markets and all the other crucial components that made up and contributed to the success of the west were called into question .
of course, this is due as much to demographic changes as it was to the intellectual ferment and military and economic issues of the time. the big demographic reality that essentially lent a lot of fuel to this inter - generational psychological and spiritual crisis, so to speak, was the baby boomer generation .
after world war ii, a tremendous amount of people were born in the west. this is due to the fact that after the war, people started forming families and a lot of kids were produced in a relatively short period of time .
this age group went on to impact, whether for bad or good, the rest of society in a major way that is almost unprecedented because, in terms of demographics, it' s fairly rare in history that such a huge population comes of age within a short period of time .
this age group is generally more liberal than the preceding generation. they look at all the creature comforts and settled realities and often uncomfortable compromises that made up the western experience and asked for something better .
collectively, the baby boomer generation asked the older generations, and the western civilization in general, whether it' s the best they can come up with. to say that they question the very foundation and bedrock assumptions that made up british, american, canadian, australian, french and german societies would be an understatement indeed .
according to his philosophy, there is no such thing as received truth. now, this is quite revolutionary because if you live in a society where there is no accepted truth, then everybody is essentially their own judge, jury and, depending on the circumstance, executioner.
derrida is a 2002 american documentary film directed by kirby dick and amy ziering kofman about the french philosopher jacques derrida . it premiered at the 2002 sundance film festival before being released theatrically on october 23 , 2002 . 
derrida is a 2002 american documentary film directed by kirby dick and amy ziering kofman about the french philosopher jacques derrida. it premiered at the 2002 sundance film festival before being released theatrically on october 23, 2002.
derrida is a 2002 american documentary film directed by kirby dick and amy ziering kofman about the french philosopher jacques derrida. it premiered at the 2002 sundance film festival before being released theatrically on october 23, 2002.