Les Maîtres fous/Bodybuilding/Coup de Boule/Community of Praise
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Nigerian immigrants in Ghana celebrate the great yearly Hauka ritual in reverence of the spirits of power and wind, which emerged around the same time as colonial rule. Remnants of the colonial lords can still be seen in the dress of the maîtres fous participants. They are, as Jean Rouch’s commentary states ‘contrebandiers’, smugglers who secretly pass down their country’s political history while communicating with the world of the spirits. Aesthetic forms sometimes shift in even more unexpected ways. Ernst Schmidt’s film includes footage of one of Otto Muehl’s 1965 actionist happenings, portraying the performers as life-size marionettes who engage in a strange ritual, with snippets of Austrian life in the 1960s infiltrating the action via the audio track. It seems that the point of the performance is to ban the evil spirits of Catholicism by drowning them in bodily fluids. Scenes of ‘head-banging’ follow as Romuald Karmakar lets the camera roll in the French barracks where he spent his military service. He captures his buddies butting their heads against the wall for fun, each blow a futile attempt at exorcism.
Community of Praise is Richard Leacock’s portrait of a fundamentalist Christian family in the American Midwest. It was made as part of a public television series in the United States, but the director’s cut was edited down to half its size before it was aired. “It had to do with belief. My liberal friends didn’t like it at all, I was sorely criticized because I didn't trash those beliefs. I don’t think they need trashing. […] I don’t get shocked by many things, but during a Christmas shopping they had a prayer meeting in the car, asking God to find them a parking spot. We got that on film but we also did a lot of non-filming. We would go days without filming. If you’re constantly around them with a camera, you destroy any possibility of a true revelation and you’ll miss tons because you have to have a personal relationship, not just one with the camera.”
Les Maîtres fous
Jean Rouch, 1955, 35 mm, Colour, English subtitles
Bodybuilding
Ernst Schmidt jr., 1966, 16 mm, Colour, No dialogues.
Coup de Boule
Romuald Karmakar, 1987, 16 mm, Colour
Community of Praise
Richard Leacock, Director’s Cut 1981, 16 mm, Colour
Community of Praise is Richard Leacock’s portrait of a fundamentalist Christian family in the American Midwest. It was made as part of a public television series in the United States, but the director’s cut was edited down to half its size before it was aired. “It had to do with belief. My liberal friends didn’t like it at all, I was sorely criticized because I didn't trash those beliefs. I don’t think they need trashing. […] I don’t get shocked by many things, but during a Christmas shopping they had a prayer meeting in the car, asking God to find them a parking spot. We got that on film but we also did a lot of non-filming. We would go days without filming. If you’re constantly around them with a camera, you destroy any possibility of a true revelation and you’ll miss tons because you have to have a personal relationship, not just one with the camera.”
Les Maîtres fous
Jean Rouch, 1955, 35 mm, Colour, English subtitles
Bodybuilding
Ernst Schmidt jr., 1966, 16 mm, Colour, No dialogues.
Coup de Boule
Romuald Karmakar, 1987, 16 mm, Colour
Community of Praise
Richard Leacock, Director’s Cut 1981, 16 mm, Colour
