chris Marker, la jetée manon de boer, sylvia kristel – paris

The 1962 classic by Chris Marker, La Jetée, and Manon de Boer’s 2004 Sylvia Kristel – Paris illustrate how the boundary between fiction and reality can blur over time, but by the same token make us aware of the transience of our own memories.

SMCS on 11, Thursday, June 2, film presentations: Chris Marker, La Jetée
Manon de Boer, Sylvia Kristel – Paris
8:30 p.m. Both films are English subtitled. Free admission. Reservations via desk@stedelijk.nl (you will receive a reply only in case of overbooking).

While memories, images and language are at the heart of the exhibition Felicitas by Pablo Pijnappel at Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, SMCS on 11 is also devoting attention to the operation of memory.
The evening will be introduced by Xander Karskens.

La Jetée is not simply a film; it is rather a slide show of photographs with several short textual sections. It takes place in the near future, in the ruins of Paris during the Third World War. The central theme is going back in time by means of memory. La Jetée has a running time of only 28 minutes, but despite this short duration is very detailed, thanks to evocative black-and-white photographs and visualised fake-moments. The manner in which La Jetée mingles fact and fiction has been an important source of inspiration not only for Terry Gilliam’s 1995 box-office hit 12 Monkeys (co-written by Marker), but also for artists who work with documentary strategies.

One such artist is Manon de Boer, who graduated from the Rijksacademie for the Visual Arts in 1992. She makes films recording the narratives and memories of persons with whom she is acquainted. In the film Sylvia Kristel – Paris actress Sylvia Kristel, chiefly known for bringing the character Emanuelle to the screen in the series of porno classics with the same title, tells of her first encounters with Paris in 1972. At the same time we see contemporary Paris pass across the screen from all angles and camera vantage points. A distinct ambiguity arises because these images seem dated, while the story on the contrary evokes vital, living scenes. Moreover, the whole is repeated: Kristel tells her story once again a year later, with other details.
Manon de Boer therefore does not have the intention of presenting a true-to-life biography of Kristel, but precisely to show how powerless we are in the face of our own memory.

The films are being screened in connection with the exhibition Felicitas in Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (through June 26, 2005). Xander Karskens is curator of this exhibition. See also www.smba.nl
With thanks to Gallery Jan Mot.

SMCS on 11
SMCS on 11 is the programme of lectures, discussions, film and video presentations by Stedelijk Museum CS. The ‘11’ refers to the 11th storey of the Post CS Building, where most of the activities are held.