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Synopsis

Cinématon is a 151-hour long experimental film by French director Gérard Courant. It is considered to be the longest film ever released. Composed over 32 years from 1978 until 2010, it consists of a series of over 2000 silent vignettes, each 3 minutes and 25 seconds long, of various celebrities, artists, journalists and friends of the director, each doing whatever they want for the allotted time. Subjects of the film include directors Barbet Schroeder, Nagisa Oshima, Volker Schlöndorff, Ken Loach, Youssef Chahine, Wim Wenders, Joseph Losey, Jean-Luc Godard, Samuel Fuller and Terry Gilliam, chess grandmaster Joël Lautier, and actors Roberto Benigni, Stéphane Audran and Julie Delpy. Gilliam is featured eating a 100-franc note, while Fuller smokes a cigar. Courant’s favourite subject was a 7 month-old baby. The film was screened in its entirety in Avignon in November, 2009 and was screened in Redondo Beach, CA on April 9th, 2010. —Wikipedia

Director

Original

Gérard Courant

He went to Paris in 1975, he participated actively in the then flourishing of French independent film community. Dans son oeuvre multiple entre le journal et la fiction (Coeur bleu, 1980 ; Les Aventures d’Eddie Turley, 1987), se détache à partir de 1978, une impressionnante série d’autoportraits assistés, en plans fixes de 3’ 25’’, d’amis et de personnalités diverses. In his work between multiple newspaper and fiction (Blue Heart, 1980 The Adventures of Eddie Turley, 1987), stands out from 1978, an impressive series of self-portraits assisted, static shots of 3 ’25’’ , friends and different personalities. Dépassant le millier dès 1988 et flanqués de séries conjointes (Portrait de groupe, Couple, Lire), ces Cinématons font de lui un témoin sympathique de la vie cinématographique de cette fin de siècle. Going beyond the thousand in 1988 and flanked by joint sets (Group Portrait, Couple, Read), these Cinématon make him a sympathetic witness the cinematic life of the late century. Gérard… read more

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Gabriela Alves

7Mar13

Omg this is so crazy!

Pedro Eira likes this

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Chen Hongmou

15Oct12

why have i never heard of this before!!

Lauren D. Kemp likes this

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herb shellenberger

6Sep12

Watching Cinématon projected on the big screen with a large crowd was a very interesting experience! I think it's a milestone work that should be screened and discussed more often than it is.

Doc Block likes this

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herb shellenberger

27Jul12

I curated a selection of 50 cinématons that will be screened on Thursday, September 6 in Philadelphia at a free event. Info: http://ihousephilly.org/events/fallartspreview

  • Picture of herb shellenberger

    herb shellenberger

    27Jul12

    Cinématon – Philadelphia Premiere dir. Gérard Courant, France, 1978-2012, digital, 180 mins excerpted program of 10,500 mins, silent, b/w and color This special 180 minute Cinématon program will be projected continuously throughout the night. Featuring Jean-Luc Godard, Jonas Mekas, Yvonne Rainer, Derek Jarman, Wim Wenders, Nagisa Oshima, Samuel Fuller, Babette Mangolte and more, Cinématon is a film and video project 34 years and 175-hours in the making. Filmmaker Gérard Courant began the project in 1978 with the simple idea of shooting 3 minute, 25 second silent portraits of filmmakers, actors, writers and friends doing whatever they like. First shot on Super 8 Kodachrome and later MiniDV, these portraits show an intimate exchange between the sitter and the camera: a young Sandrine Bonnaire (from the set of Maurice Pialat’s A Nos Amours) awkwardly feels the viewer’s gaze and laughs; Philippe Garrel, calm yet brooding, chokes a cigarette down in the park; and Terry Gilliam slips in and out of the frame before swallowing a 100-franc note.

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W184

The Noteworthy: Marcel Hanoun (1929-2012), "Heaven's Gate" Reopened, History Lessons

By Adam Cook on September 26, 2012

La Furia Umana is moving to print, Cimino presents a restored Heaven’s Gate and Phil Coldiron writes on 16mm in the digital age.

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Forum

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CINEMATON DISCUSSION THREAD

34 posts by 7 people over 2 years ago

How much do friend ratings mean to you?

35 posts by 26 people over 2 years ago

IS IT IMPORTANT/ HELPFUL TO KNOW THE SOURCE MATERIAL FIRST?

7 posts by 7 people almost 3 years ago

MOVIES WITH NO MUSIC/DIALOGUE

2 posts by 2 people almost 3 years ago

Director's Cup-Film Analysis: CINéMATON by Gerard Courant

9 posts by 4 people about 3 years ago