[Frameworks] Werner Nekes Travels

[Gene Youngblood]

One of my fondest memories is an afternoon and evening in 1982 that Woody Vasulka, Alphonse Schilling, Peter Weibel and I spent with Werner and Dore, getting a tour of his pre-, proto- and para-cinematic collection. Truly astonishing. The conversation that followed over dinner and into the wee hours was equally revelatory to me. I usually talk a lot, but I was silent almost all evening, soaking up every word spoken by this extraordinary group of people who occupied an alternate history from my own. I vaguely recall Werner mentioning an offer to purchase the archive for $1 million, but I’m probably way off on that. As some of you may know, Werner (or was it Dore?) designed posters for all of his films, which were works of art in themselves. He had just premiered “Uliisses,” and the signed poster for it is in my studio today. 


On January 24, 2017 at 2:05:42 PM, John Sundholm (john.sundholm at ims.su.se) wrote:

dear all,



sad news indeed. in 2011 i programmed nekes' landscape films that he made in sweden. i suppose that not many know that he had a summer house in sweden since the early 70s and that some of his best films were made up there. 'hynningen', for example. nekes returned to sweden every summer.



nekes was direct and knew what he wanted.



in the program of 2011 nekes wanted also to include 'falun' (1976), because he had only a vague memory of the film and wanted to take the opportunity to watch the 35 mm print in a proper cinema. after the film had ended, he stepped up and said that he remember now why he did not remember the film: it was a failure, an embarassing bad film that he asked us to forget that we had seen.



best,



john



www.avantfilm.se





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Ämne: Re: [Frameworks] Werner Nekes Travels
 
Werner Nekes and Dore O. visited Sarah Lawrence College when I was an student there in 1971. While of course I recall their Jum Jum, I was more taken by Dore O.’s Kaldalon, an exquisite “landscape” film, shot during their recent travels in Iceland. Both were still rapturously enthusiastic about Iceland. I’ve wanted to visit the Iceland of that film ever since. I think the closest (in luminance and spirit) I ever got was in the high Andes of central Ecuador. Both Nekes and Dore O. were sweet, gracious and giving individuals, most generous with their time with eager young filmmakers. To expand a bit this eulogistic thread, Nekes and Dore O. came to Sarah Lawrence thanks to Howard Guttenplan, who brought a number of prominent filmmakers, all of whom played significant roles in the education of the two film students interested in Avant-Garde work.

Bob Harris




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