Afterimage Revisited: The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, Italy/Algeria, 1966)
When:
—
Venue:
Birkbeck 43 Gordon Square
Afterimage Revisited
BIMI celebrates during 2024 the radical British film journal Afterimage, which ran from 1970 to 1987, with a selection of its contents now available in The Afterimage Reader, published by Mark Webber’s Visible Press. Afterimage was launched amid an explosion of radical and experimental cinema, which included revolutionary new work from Latin America as well as avant-garde films from artists and co-ops on both sides of the Atlantic. Its subsequent path through many kinds of avant-garde cinema would include rediscovering early film as an inspiration for contemporary filmmakers, original writing by Peter Wollen and Laura Mulvey, Noel Burch and Michael O’Pray, and the celebration of filmmakers ranging from Hollis Frampton, Yvonne Rainer and Michael Snow to Raul Ruiz, Derek Jarman, Jan Svankmajer and the Quay brothers. These screenings revisit some of Afterimage’s enthusiasms and inspirations.
The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, Italy/Algeria, 1966)
Commissioned by the Algerian government to portray the brutal struggle for independence from French rule, Pontecorvo’s documentary-style drama became a worldwide sensation. A 1971 article in Afterimage questioned its revolutionary credentials, compared with contemporary films form Latin America, but it has remained for many a touchstone of radical political cinema.
Contact name:
Matthew Barrington