'City Symphony'

‘The city symphony is an unusual genre, which belongs almost entirely to just one decade: the 1920s. It’s a divided genre too. These silent films could celebrate the splendours of modernity or castigate the decadence and the degradation of urban life. Occasionally they do both. These urban documentaries have no stars, no characters and no plot. Their structure is borrowed from the movements and motifs of orchestral symphonies or the hours of the day, rather than the dynamics of narrative pacing.

At their most avant-garde, city symphonies are invigorating examples of pure cinema: movement and abstraction animated by the camera. At their most documentary in technique, city symphonies can be seen as the forerunner of slow cinema: minimalist in style, meticulous in observation.’ - Pamela Hutchinson - Where to begin with city symphonies - BFI

Man with a Movie Camera (1929) - Dziga Vertov

The Man with the Movie Camera -  Dziga Vertov (1929, USSR) 

’Vertov’s film is a classic example of what has been termed the “city symphony” form, in which elements of urban life are montaged impressionistically. His particular vision is at once musical, abstract (constantly caught between organic life and industrial modernist geometry), and surprisingly erotic, with Vertov showing a robust interest in lingerie and mud-bathing. It’s also a supremely self-reflexive film, showing how its own images are put together: Vertov’s wife and editor Yelizaveta Svilova, and his brother, cameraman Mikhail Kaufman, figure prominently, as does the fetishised paraphernalia of projectors, film reels etc. A propulsive, percussive new score by US ensemble Alloy Orchestra fortifies the thrust of an unparalleled piece of film dynamism – Fast and Furious 1929. This is an exuberant manifesto that celebrates the infinite possibilities of what cinema can be.’ - Jonathan Romney - The Observor

‘It was filmed over a period of about 3 years. Four cities – Moscow, Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa – were the shooting locations.’ - Wiki (Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa are in Ukraine)

‘Ivan Kozlenko – director of National Oleksandr Dovzhenko Centre – kindly agreed to guide the composer Michael Nyman on a city tour around Odessa iconic locations featured in documentary Man with a Movie Camera by Dzyga Vertov.’ - British Council Ukraine


DVD Available in library. We watched the version with Cinematic Orchestra Soundtrack (Ninja Tune 2002).

We discussed some of the montage techniques used and experiments of period including Kuleshov effect.

'The Kuleshov Effect' -- the idea that individual shots need not have meaning by themselves; their meaning is created by juxtaposition with other shots.

Rain (1929) Mannus Franken and Joris Ivens.

Rain (Dutch: Regen) is a 1929 Dutch short documentary film directed by Mannus Franken and Joris Ivens. It premiered on December 14, 1929, in the Amsterdam Fi...

Other notable examples

À propos de Nice (1930) by Jean Vigo and photographed by Boris Kaufman (Dziga Vertov's brother).

Daybreak Express (1953) by D. A. Pennebaker 

A ride on the now demolished IRT Third Avenue Line ("Third Avenue El") in New York City, 1953. Shot in 16mm Kodachrome by D. A. Pennebaker.
’D.A. Pennebaker, whose documentary films stretched across more than 60 years and touched on a plethora of charismatic and controversial subjects, none more so than Bob Dylan, died Thursday (1st August 2019) of natural causes. He was 94.’ Obituary - LA Times.

Baraka, Samsara, Koyaanisqatsi and other non-verbal films

Chicken Scene from Baraka.

Spirit of Baraka website is a great resource for information and discussion about Non verbal documentary film

Finisterre (2003) Paul Kelly & Kieran Evans

'London has always been a source of influence, inspiration and curiosity. Paul Kelly and Kieran Evans' FINISTERRE tries to identify the dreams that London holds for so many, and the reality of the city -- the spaces between the landmarks, the spaces Londoners inhabit. Presented and scored by Saint Etienne, the film takes us on a journey from the suburbs into the heart of the city over an imaginary 24 hours.' IMDB

Filmmaker Paul Kelly and Saint Etienne talk about their unique trio of films documenting the changing face and disappearing places of the capital, including the influence of Patrick Keiller  - http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/interviews/saint-etienne-paul-kelly-london-trilogy

There are also some shorter films that Paul Kelly has done which are beautiful vignettes. TODAY'S SPECIAL 1 - TEA ROOMS is one of a series of three films by director Paul Kelly about London's disappearing cafes.

‘Bound for Glory’ is a Film by Paul Kelly. The gravelly and enchanting voice of Nick Sanderson leads us through the ups and downs of the 2005-6 FA cup season

Patrick Keiller - London (1994), Robinson in Space (1997), and Robinson in Ruins (2010)

Patrick Keiller is best known for his series of film essays, London 1994, Robinson in Space 1997, and Robinson in Ruins 2010, in which a fictional, unseen scholar Robinson undertakes exploratory journeys around England, prompting him to reflect on the relationship of landscape and place to greater global themes.'.

DVD Available in Library

‘More recently, Terence Davies (Of Time and the City, 2008) and Mark Cousins (I Am Belfast, 2015; Stockholm My Love, 2017) tilted in the other direction, making films that would be full-blown city symphonies, except they have become personal, more focused on the individual than the 1920s films. Davies’ memories guide us through Liverpool; Cousins personifies Belfast as a woman, and uses a female character played by Neneh Cherry to lead us into the Swedish capital.’ - Pamela Hutchinson - Where to begin with city symphonies - BFI

Of Time and the City (2008) - Terence Davies

Of Time and the City - Terence Davies (1945- ), filmmaker and writer, takes us, sometimes obliquely, to his childhood and youth in Liverpool. He's born Catholic and poor; later he rejects religion. He discovers homo-eroticism, and it's tinged with Catholic guilt. Enjoying pop music gives way to a teenage love of Mahler and Wagner. Using archival footage, we take a ferry to a day on the beach. Postwar prosperity brings some positive change, but its concrete architecture is dispiriting. Contemporary colors and sights of children playing may balance out the presence of unemployment and persistent poverty. Davies' narration is a mix of his own reflections and the poems and prose of others.

DVD Available in the library

I am Belfast (2016) - Mark Cousins

Reading

'Baraka with a Movie Camera: From City Symphony to Global Symphony' by Wilson Santos

Also see:

Rien que les heures (English: Nothing But Time or Nothing But the Hours) is a 1926 experimental silent film by Brazilian director Alberto Cavalcanti showing the life of Paris through one day in 45 minutes. Cavalcanti made a similar film about Berlin the next year.

Charles Sheeler and Paul Strand's Manhatta (1921)

Andre Sauvage's Etudes sur Paris (1928)