Avant-Garde and Tradition in the Shadow of Terrorism: Transcultural Cinema of Leonard Retel Helmrich
Abstract
Sikora presents Leonard Retel Helmrich’s documentary films. According to Sikora the director is a master of fluent camera movement. He films with camera “in hand” and uses special camera mount, called steadywings, which he designed and which allows for a very fluent and flexible camera movement. Thanks to it, the director is able to achieve the effect of fluent movement in reality being filmed and to enter the reality in a way, in which the camera is invisible to the protagonists. His films consist of everyday events that do not form a clear narrative. The director concentrates on South East Asia, especially Indonesia, and tries to capture the process of transformation and changes. Sikora calls Retel Helmrich a “transcultural” director (in part due to his Indonesian, Dutch and Jewish roots) and argues that his work is not a mere representation made by an outsider. It is a view created from within and from the frontier. This way of seeing is avant-garde, and causes Sikora to call Retel Helmrich a Dziga Wiertow of the 21st century (in part due to original editing, the seeking of and inclusion of original point of view, and the similarity between work of camera in the films of Retel Helmrich and the work of the human eye).
Keywords:
Leonard Retel Helmrich, transcultural cinema, steadywingsReferences
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Authors
Sławomir Sikorakwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
University of Warsaw Poland
Adiunkt w Instytucie Etnologii i Antropologii Kulturowej UW. Autor książki Fotografia. Między dokumentem a symbolem (2004). Współtłumacz: C. Geertz, Dzieło i życie. Antropolog jako autor (2000), J. Clifford, Kłopoty z kulturą. Dwudziestowieczna etnografia, literatura i sztuka (2000).
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