HearSee

Composities Peter Vermeersch

A varied film concert with all kinds of films, spheres, lengths and from different periods, in dialogue with newly composed music. And all this under the umbrella HEARSEE where eyes listen and ears see. Music on film and film on music: a projector, a screen, an audience and Flat Earth Society.

AND A PLAYLIST OF COURSE:

Fantasmagorie & Les Locataires - 1909 / 1’50” + 4’30”
Two short animated films by Emile Cohl, a true pioneer in the field. These films were recently rescued from oblivion and restored as far as possible. They feel remarkably fresh and contemporary: the early days of morphing and split screen.

Obitateli (Inhabitants) - 1970 / 8’30”
This obscure film by the equally obscure Armenian filmmaker Artavazd Pelechian is a mesmerizing compilation of old archival material: images of wild animals in their biotope were cut, pasted, repeated and interwoven into a new entity. A poetic look, albeit raw, at a world where no human is in sight. Occasionally an animal looks at us with a puzzled look.

The Mystery Of The Leaping Fish - 1916 / 23’10”
In this two-reeler by Christy Cabanne and John Emerson the opium addict detective Coke Ennyday (Douglas Fairbanks) is commissioned to roll up a fearsome drug gang. Sherlock Holmes goes Inspector Clouseau. Existential bullshit.

Ear to the ground - 1979 / 4’33”
In this video by Kit Fitzgerald and John Sanborn drummer David van Tieghem wanders through some morning New York streets, punching, beating and drumming on everything coming his way. As the movie starts again, FES joins in and wanders along through the city.

Revival of organisms - 1950 / 8’30”
An anonymous Soviet film, based on experiments with hearts, lungs and guinea pig dogs to demonstrate what science as such is capable of. “Science is everything” a strange gentleman tells us. This propaganda film was re-edited by Trisha De Cuyper and Jan Lapeire, accompanied by freshly composed music.

Unconditional Lucifer - 1999 / 7’
Sense the weird Wim Delvoye’s landscape in this video, carried by hymn-like music with “tralali tralala ‘as main motto. Rest and unrest get under your skin.

Twelfth Grand Prix Brasschaet - 1932 / 12’
This cycling report by a certain Mr. Van Volxem from the Cinematek Brussels archive shows us the international cycling champions of that time. Also the public and collaborators get a chance and the translations from the French placards unwittingly steal the show. The music is remarkably free of EPO.
Release on one DVD together with The Oyster Princess (Ernst Lubitsch 1919) – more info.

Meet Luke Devereaux - 2011 / 5’32”
A film by Trisha De Cuyper and Jan Lapeire on pre-composed music. A room, a refrigerator, a man and some furniture. The light goes on, the light goes off. Again on and off. Who is this man? And why? Has anything happened? Is there something to be expected? And who controls the switch? The atmosphere is mapped very precisely, nevertheless, the situation remains uncertain.

MA VOUT-O-REENEE - 2011 / 4’
Geert Dijkers and Marc Meeuwissen assembled a typographical scat part on the ‘FES classic’ O.P.E.N.E.R. with the hipster cool language invented by jazz giant Slim Gaillard in the 1930s and published as a dictionary called Vout-O-Reenee. Trisha De Cuyper supports the solo passages with found celluloid waste. The pace is stroboscopically high, all the brakes are loose. SHU-BET-DIG KEH-BAH D!P-D!P SCEET-O THO-KEE CRE-O-CHEE MA VOUT-O-REE-NEE

Rain - 1929 / 11’42”
Short documentary by Joris Ivens, a typical example of a city symphony, as they were made in the twenties. 'Rain' consists of a series of scenes, showing a passing rain shower in Amsterdam from various perspectives: from the first drops into the canals to a curtain of splashing water on rooftops, gutters, windows, people and paving. The whole town is ticking along like a large water clock.

Vermicular Voyage - 2011 / 8’30”
Landscapes outside, landscapes inside. And the occasional tunnel. The music works its way, sucked in by an ever-receding vanishing point. The orchestra, focused on infinity or nothing, is on familiar ground. A picture montage by Peter Vermeersch.

Alice in Wonderland - 1903 / 8’30”
The Bath Music Festival commissioned Peter Vermeersch to write a new score for this silent movie, recently restored by te British Film Institute, by Cecil Hepworth.

Modern Dance #1 - 2012 / 9’11”
One of the greatest drunk moments caught on security cameras. While this video has been revealed as a fake, he truly is the Charlie Chaplin of the next generation.

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Collaborators: Trisha De Cuyper, Jan Lapeire, Geert Dijkers en Marc Meeuwissen.
Special thanks to: Bernard Van Eeghem, John Watts, Erik Martens, Anniek Vanhee, Tine Verschaeve and Arts Center Vooruit.

A production by vzw BONK co-produced by deSingel Antwerp.