Electric Fragments N. 1 – Roma (2001)
Directed by Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi
Several of the greatest hard-to-find films can be found through Italian television. Since 1988 the program Fuori Orario, Cose (mai) viste (“After Hours, Things [never] seen”) has played on Rai 3 during late weekend nights, offering programs of wildly varying length that showcase rare films and cinephilic discussions of them. The program’s heads have also sometimes produced films, such as this short found-footage work by the still-active team of Gianikian and Ricci Lucchi, the first in a series that has generated eight installments until now. The film reappropriates World War II-era amateur 8mm footage showing Roma people in Italy who have fled Nazi purges. Its fragmented images of park-dwelling parents and children in repose are slowed down delicately and given subdued musical accompaniment, bringing a present-day awareness to bear upon tender close-ups. Gianikian has said that a goal of his and Ricci Lucchi’s series is “to build the conditions enabling images to produce electric shocks.” The film will screen at in a program featuring additional found-footage pieces from Italian filmmakers, including Electric Fragments N. 2 – Vietnam. Aaron Cutler (May 8, 8pm at Anthology Film Archives’s Fuori Orario tribute)