From the Pole to the Equator (1987)
- 1987
- ·96 min
The title Dal polo all'equatore was first used by the pioneering documentary maker, Luca Comerio, for a compilation film of 1925; it was used again by Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi for their film of 1985.
Much of the original has been re-worked: the 'found footage' has been re-shot, slowed down, tinted, and re-edited with a sound track of minimalist composition.
As a result, the exotica of colonial travel and sport take on new and sinister meanings.
The acts of violence, especially those of hunting, recur in patterns that suggest visually that war is a logical development.
A close examination of the work, starting with the opening sequence of a railway journey, explores the centrality of questions of memory and history to this remarkable and influential film.
- Actors
- Raimondo Franchetti
- Directed by
- Angela Ricci Lucchi·Yervant Gianikian
- Genre
- Documentary
- Country
- Italy·West Germany
- Director
- Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi
Bellaria Film Festival (BFF) 1987
I tracked this film down on VHS (probably the last time i'll ever buy a video) more because I'm interested in old footage than for its contemporary art house credentials. The use of tinting, slow motion and minimalist music is certainly controversial when applied to such old footgae but I think it works very well.
Un montaje de los años 80 de material de archivo de un desconocido documentalista italiano, Luca Comerio, aventurero sin miedo que viaja con su cámara por el mundo de los años 1910-20. El film alerta al comienzo de que el material está en muy mal estado, y puedo testificar que es totalmente cierto: su estado es lamentable, y los restauradores, aparte de tintar el negativo con colores, no se han parado a hacer mucho más.
Footage from an Italian explorer during the colonial period, reconditioned, tinted, slowed down, and accompanied by dark ambient music. This has to be seen!
