“Meeting: an assembly or gathering of people; the act or process of coming together; the length and circumstances of such an encounter. Note: implies a common social purpose…” (Dictionary) A group of men and women of all ages have been brought together in the course of their travels after World War II, when Italy regained its national and territorial unity. They make up a primitive community which seeks to erase not only the distress created by the war but also the hardships of life and hunger, and to protect them from violence, misery and fear… Amid the ruins of this post-war period, these men and women build and invent new a rapport, both in their professional and daily lives, between themselves, between the sexes, between generations, between diverse social and geographical origins, between antagonistic political camps. The group maintains a “register”, a kind of diary, as if it were entering the minutes of an inquiry or a trial. –Quinzaine des Réalisateurs

Director

Danièle Huillet

Daniele Huillet was a German filmmaker best known for her close collaboration, so close that it is often uncredited, with Modernist director Jean-Marie Straub. According to Huillet, she is mainly in charge of sound and editing while her partner deals with camera work, but she also assists with script-writing and directing. The films of Huillet and Straub are usually based on and offer historical insight into high German literature or music. Films such as Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach (1968) tend to be so intellectually demanding that they are rarely seen commercially, and are primarily to be found on the international festival circuits. Many of their works also tend to make strong political statements such as their examination of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Fortini (1976).

(From http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:95128)

Jean-Marie Straub

Filmmaker Jean-Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet, his wife and co-director, have become leading figures in New German cinema. Their films are not for passive viewers seeking light entertainment; films such as Not Reconciled or Only Violence Helps Where Violence Rules (1965) are intellectually demanding, and yet are among the most haunting films of German cinema. Prior to teaming up with Huillet, the French born Straub worked as an assistant to French directors such as Abel Gance, Jean Renoir, and Robert Bresson. He met and teamed up with Huillet in 1954. To avoid the draft, he fled to Munich, Germany in 1958 where they got involved with radical theater groups. By the early sixties he and his wife had become a prominent directors. They made their debut with the short Machorka-Muff in 1963. In 1968, their long-time friend Fassbinder appeared in The Bridegroom, the Comedienne and the Pimp. Straub and Huillet’s most famous film is Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1968). By the late ’60s… read more