Nature

synopsis

The film by the Armenian genius Artavazd Peleshian, made after 27 years of creative silence, is a complex epic treating the spectacular and destructive force of nature. The film is composed of black-and-white images depicting major vicious natural phenomena: floods, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions or tornadoes. At times very terrifying pictures are accompanied by classic symphonic or opera soundtracks. The film in its entirety resembles a monumental art mosaic characteristic of Peleshian’s famed distant editing method. Using the latter film technique, this poetic work confronts its viewers with the inferiority of humankind, dismantling our illusions about us being able to command nature.

“Sometimes people say that film is a synthesis of other art forms; I don’t think that’s true. In my view, it started at the Tower of Babel, where the division into different languages began. For technical reasons it first appeared after the other art forms, but in its nature, it precedes them. I try to make pure cinema, owing nothing to the other arts. I look for a setting that may create an emotional magnetic field around it.” — Artavazd Peleshian

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Source: https://photogenie.be/cinema-has-never-been-modern-artavazd-pelechians-nature/

biography

The legendary Armenian film director Artavazd Peleshian (b. 1938) first drew attention to his work while still a student at VGIK in the 1960s, especially with his film The Beginning, in which he applied the theory of distant editing, making the ground-breaking changes in the Soviet society since the October Revolution come to life. He used this method, revealing illusive motion and appealing to viewers with a language on the brink of art, science and philosophy, in his later documentaries as well, e.g. We, Inhabitants, Our Century or The End.

more about film

director:

Artavazd Pelechian