Following the tradition of the west coast American independent filmmakers, Robert Nelson (1930-2012) has created a unique cinema profoundly marked by a corrosive humour and a subtle sense of self-mockery. Directed with his friend, the painter William Wiley, The Great Blondino (1967) pays an astonishing homage to the French tightrope walker Charles Blondin (XIX century) famous for having crossed the Niagara Falls on a wire. At the crossroads of European surrealism and popular American culture, the film of Robert Nelson is an invitation to a reverie with a tint of tragic absurdity. This portrayal of an uncertain universe - on the edge of consciousness and unconsciousness – is sharing with the enigmatic collage film by the American filmmaker Larry Jordan, Hamfat Asar (1965) a powerful poetry loaded with desires and death impulses.

Screening introduced by Jonathan Pouthier (Centre Pompidou)

Programme: - Hamfrat Asar (Larry Jordan, 1965, 16mm, bw, sound, 15’) - The Great Blondino (Robert Nelson, 1967, 16mm, bw (tinted), sound, 40’)

Thanks to Light Cone (Paris)