In 1950s France, Guy Debord spearheaded the quasi-political art and philosophy movement Situationist Internationale (SI). Critical of the "media society," SI preferred to create social situations that interacted with the world rather than stand-alone pieces of aesthetically pleasing art. As is the want of most theory-based movements, Debord and company became more and more radical, eventually tapping into the Zeitgeist that fed into the 1968 student revolts in Paris.
Today the movement is primarily remembered for its numerous polemical essays, texts, and manifestos. Ah, but they made a few movies, too. On Friday and Saturday, March 25-26, the Rendezvous will be hosting the Situationist Internationale Film Festival, which is really a screening of four films from the movement over two nights. The most famous is Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle (1973), which is part of Friday's program. If you want to know more about it, you can find the information on the web. I can't do everything for you. That movie is playing with Rene Vienet's allegedly hilarious reconstruction of public-domain martial arts films, Can Dialectics Break Bricks? (1973).
On Saturday they'll be showing a couple of filmic follow-ups. Two years after Society of the Spectacle, Debord came out with a sequel called Refutation of All the Judgments, Pro or Con, Thus Far Rendered on the Film "Society of the Spectacle" (1975), and it's doubtful that the film is as funny as the title. Vienet's follow-up to his own film is described as angrier and more disquieting, and it has the title The Girls of Kamare (1974). These films are rarely screened for public consumption and discourse, so you may as well take a gander.
For those who want more radical politics, Consolidated Works is showing a documentary called Move, also on Friday and Saturday (you can probably work it into a double feature with the SI stuff if you want). It's about John Africa and a collective called Move 9. Apparently they were a bunch of Philadelphia-area revolutionaries who annoyed the police so badly that the police bombed the roof of their building. The resulting fire burned 62 homes and killed six adults and five children. The doc is narrated by Howard Zinn, which should draw in as many people as it turns away.
If you want to make your own political or polemical documentary but don't know how, you may want to stop by the Open House for the Seattle Film Institute. On Saturday the 26th between 11 am and 1 pm you can come by the Institute at 1709 23rd Avenue (568-4387) and find out if its classes are worth your time and money. Aside from documentary filmmaking, the Seattle Film Institute offers classes in screenwriting, film history, and digital filmmaking. I don't really know much more about it, but like I said at the top: This week's column is not about things I know. Enter this and everything else at your own risk.
