at filmforum: movie screening + filmmaker Erika Suderburg speaking and answering questions afterwards

the movie was a collage of images and ideas (showing not telling) that included video footage and archival footage of:

• the Roman Forum
• Berlin’s Trümmerfrauen (rubble women) clearing bombing debris
• the reconstruction of Berlin under the Marshall Plan
• the 1999 re-opening of the Reichstag
• Iraqi troops observed via night vision before the U.S. invasion of Iraq
• the first night of the bombing of Baghdad
• the bombing, aerial reconnaissance and rebuilding of WWII and post-WWII Berlin
• contemporary footage of a 2.8 million person peace march in Rome
• war protest and a neighborhood candlelight vigil in Los Angeles
• Chichen Itza in Yucatán, Mexico

things Erika talked about during q&a after movie:

• it’s a movie about film and filmmakers, video, television (the banality yet consequentiality of newscaster’s comments during the bombing of Iraq)
• l.a. and berlin as sister cities
• what we’re not shown (Iraq bombings vs. WWII bombings) [notetoself: Herzog's Lessons of Darkness]
• how to convey feelings of being in the place
• soundtrack—how thought out it was (she added footsteps, etc. to the silent archival footage. there are layers and layers of sound that communicate as much as the images themselves. esp. eerie in the Berlin ruins footage)
• Reichstag reconstructed; looking down on your government leaders in the Bundestag while they talk of reunification or Jewish memorial; beautiful architecture of dome (Norman Foster)
• Berlin reconstruction, Marshall Plan (how we don’t have one for Iraq), and reunification—how hard it was
• russian graffiti on berlin wall
• christa wolf, sebald

[event details]______________________
Sunday, Jan. 28
7:00pm
$9 general, $6 students/seniors
Free for Filmforum members

Spielberg Theatre at the Egyptian
6712 Hollywood Blvd [map]
Hollywood, CA 90028

Decline and Fall (2007, 77 min.) By Erika Suderburg

“Decline and Fall examines how the individual, the institutionalized collective (military, party affiliated or affinity group) and the body politic operate within Empire’s boot print or trace. And how these collections of bodies archive empire’s leavings, protest its destructive capacities, manufacture alternatives and agitate for its dissolution. Decline and Fall is an experimental feature-length documentary about aerial bombing, reconstruction, mass protest, and monumentality. Spanning historical and present day images from Rome, Yucatán, Berlin and Los Angeles this work seeks to examine empire; its artifacts, structures and collapse. Through archival footage of the bombing, aerial reconnaissance and rebuilding of WWII Berlin, contemporary footage of a 2.8 million person peace march in Rome at the start of the present war, a neighborhood candlelight vigil in Los Angeles, and stock footage of astronomical events in and around Chichén Itzá in Yucatán, Mexico this work decomposes the macro and micro movements of destruction, memorialization and everyday life. Through public and private recall, commemoration and witnessing Decline and Fall is structured as a historical “epic” in search of a conclusion, a conclusion that is elusive, mutable, and perpetually contested.

“Originally subtitled ‘A Historical Epic’ the work is structured around 12 (re) views or chapters and event/image sites of Empire’s struggle to maintain wholeness, reinvent itself and disintegrate; actions which sometimes occur simultaneously. The sites traversed in these 12 sections include: The Roman Forum, contemporary international peace marches, Berlin’s Trümmerfrauen clearing bombing debris, the reconstruction of Berlin under the Marshall plan, The 1999 re-opening of the Reichstag, Iraqi troops observed via night vision before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the first night of the bombing of Baghdad.”

This entry was posted on January 28, 2007 and is filed under history/memory, lists, los angeles, movies/photography.