TEHRAN – The Iranian Artist Forum (IAF) in Tehran will screen its documentary, “Description of the Struggle,” directed by Chris Marker on Sunday.
The film will be on display at 6pm and a review session will be held in front of film critic Amin Hamika, Irna reported.
In a 1960 French film, the marker’s singular style combines location footage with archival material to create complex, personal depictions. Israeli demographics are explored from kibbutzim to Arab minorities, orthodox Jews and tourists.
Working primarily in non-fiction arenas, Marker rejected traditional narrative techniques and instead stabbed deep political terrain defined by the use of still images, atmospheric soundtracks and literacy discrimination commentary.
The title “Struggle” does not refer to the diversity of Tank and Artiller, but rather the inner struggle of Israeli citizens to adapt to their own new views in a new country.
A contemplative commentary on how new states are constructed outweighs the elusive impressionist image and hides the opportunity to make discoveries. The literary essay is combined with documentary images to make hypnotic films awarded Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.
Memories are at the heart of Chris Marker’s work. The ethical dilemmas and psychological influences caused by recorded history, community memories, personal recollections, countless political factors, ideological agendas, and cultural filters, the ethical dilemma and psychological influences caused by the traumatic events of the past all arise as fascinating motifs in his films.
The film was made when the Israeli state was 12 years old and borrows the title from Kafka’s short story. It explores the historical, social, cultural and ethical context at the heart of Israel’s existence and the tragic, not too distant influence of the past on the collective spirit of its people.
Using highly stylized materials, the markers expand seemingly insignificant details and examine the vulnerable bonds between memory, history, and identity. He uses black and white and colored film stocks to explore the miracles and paradoxes of Israel’s existence, and explores the combination of poetic yet independent narration and digetic sounds. He is looking for signs of Israel’s presence in the daily lives of local people. Dynamic meetings at Kibbutznicks, the bewildered look of children in the MEA Sharim district, the plattle and dissonance of the market, camels crossing the roads, owls living in Jerusalem’s “Bible Zoo.” And as the film “a tunnel into the complex layers of Israel’s history,” the markers evoke the need for x-rays that can permeate and decipher physical and historical landscapes, gradually intertwined through a seemingly cut off, reserved, joyous, and deeper traumatic Isoraeli society.
Most film scholars and reviewers agree that in Marker’s elegant and reflective work, subtext is everything. The filmmaker positions the viewer in a temporary, chaotic world of the Middle East, referring to the audience that the subject matter of his documentary is always surrounded by fragments of history. He suggests that citizens of the young Israeli nation have been hurt by their horrifying past and that they are particularly sensitive to injustice what they hope for about the future. Past signs are revealed at every stage of the marker journey. From the Kibbutz Conference to the ultimate demonstration of participatory democracy (“How long will their purity last?”), to the careless enjoyment of Israeli teenagers and beach fans, to Bedouins assembled in small circles traveling the desert.
SS/