From Darkness to Light: Experiments in Cinema at Oddball Films March 14, 2009

Event: From Darkness to Light: Experiments in Cinema, an evening of films showcasing animated works from one of the twentieth century’s major animation artists Lotte Reiniger, famed title designer Saul Bass and controversial German cinematographer Leni Riefenstahl.
Date: Saturday, March 14, 2009 at 8:00PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco 94110
Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or [email protected]

On Saturday, March 14th at 8:00 Oddball Films presents From Darkness To Light: Experiments in Cinema, showcasing the work of diverse filmmakers Lotte Reiniger, Saul Bass. and Leni Reifenstahl. This discordant collection of filmmakers all shaped and redefined stylistic elements of cinema in ways that still influence imagemakers today. The screening takes place at 275 Capp St. in San Francisco. Admission is $10.00 Seating is limited so RSVPs are essential. RSVP to: [email protected] or 415-558-8117.

Lotte Reiniger worked with cut out silhouettes animating them in a series of intricate and fantastical films that had a major influence on cinema yet are rarely seen today. Saul Bass was one of the greatest graphic designers of our generation. Before Bass, film titles were nothing more than scrolling credits. His groundbreaking work turned graphic design on its head, and transformed title creation into an art form in its own right. Without his revolutionary ideas, the elaborate title sequences of today’s films would not have been made. Bass was responsible for some of the most influential and iconic title sequences ever created, working with Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese and more.

Leni Reifenstahl was one of the most talented and innovative female directors of the 20th century. Her adulation of Nazi Germany in her film Triumph of the Will (1934) ensured that she was the most infamous as well. Film critic Pauline Kael called Triumph of the Will and Olympia the two greatest films ever directed by a woman.
All filmmakers utilized darkness, light and space to create their virtuoso works ranging from the glorification of the human form to the playful and ironic abstraction of negative space.

Featuring:

Bass on Titles (1977)
The work of Academy Award winner Saul Bass (Why Man Creates) covers the full range of the design spectrum, from feature film titles, corporate logos and product design to making his own films about perception and creativity. In this film Bass talks about the evolution of the thematic title sequences that open and close many of the great productions of cinema. The design of these symbols involves the search for an elusive visual statement which instantaneously communicates the film’s intent while generating public interest. Title sequences included are Man With the Golden Arm, West Side Story, Nine Hours to Rama, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, A Walk on the Wild Side and more.

Why Man Creates (1969)
A series of explorations, episodes and comments on creativity by Saul Bass, a master of conceptual design, this film is one of the most highly regarded short films ever produced. Humor, satire and irony are combined with serious questions about the creative process and how it comes into play for different individuals. A fascinating cornucopia of trenchant ideas and important truths it’s transgressive and insightful, way-out and weird. Winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary Short in 1969 .

Galathea (1935)
One of Reiniger’s early films based on classical legend of Greece in which Pygmalion's sculpture of a beautiful woman comes to life. He immediately falls in love with her but repulsed by him she rushes off, naked, into the streets of Athens provoking a war of the sexes.

Snow White and Rose Red (1953)
The classic Grimm fairy tale of two girls, a bear, a dwarf with a magical ending. Like all her films there is an elegance in Reiniger’s silhouettes that is unmatched by more conventional animation. In this film she crafts beautifully stylized landscapes in this alternate Grimm tale (not to be confused with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves).

The Gallant Little Tailor (1954)
The Gallant Little Tailor, Lotte Reiniger's version of the Brothers Grimm tale, in which A tailor successfully outwits two fearsome giants. It was awarded the Silver Dolphin prize at the 6th Venice Biennale in 1955.
Olympia Diving Sequence (1936)
A section from Leni Riefenstahl's film of the 1936 Olympics. In 1936, at Hitler's behest, she filmed the Berlin Olympics. She used more than 40 cameramen, shot 250 miles of film and spent 18 months in the cutting room.
The Olympia Diving Sequence is a supreme example of editing where physics are transcended and somehow weightlessness is achieved. This film, despite its overtly Aryan leanings is also a celebration of the human form. Film critic Pauline Kael called Triumph and Olympia the two greatest films ever directed by a woman.

About Lotte Reiniger (1899-1981)
Lotte Reiniger was one of the twentieth century's major animation artists, pioneering a unique and distinctive style of black and white silhouette animation in her interpretations of classic myths and fairy tales. No one else has created a specific animation technique and made it so utterly her own. She adapted the ancient art of Chinese and Indonesian shadow plays in characteristically dark, tongue-in-cheek interpretations of the classic tales. The sheer detail and extraordinary dexterity involved in both creating and manipulating such delicate silhouettes is astonishing.
Reiniger began her career in Germany and in 1926 made The Adventures of Prince Achmed, one of the first and most ingenious full-length animated films in the history of cinema. Her first film adaptation of a fairy tale was Cinderella in 1922. From 1952 onwards, Reiniger, together with her husband Carl Koch, created a series of fairy-tale films for Primrose Productions based on the Brothers Grimm, Wilhelm Hauff, Hans Christian Andersen and the stories from One Thousand and One Nights.

Reiniger studied under Max Reinhardt whose innovative expressionist light techniques also influenced her films. Soon after, she found herself in a clique of other avant-garde filmmakers including Paul Wegener, Walter Ruttman, Berthold Bartosch, Hans Richter and the man she married, Carl Koch. She often collaborated with one or more of these artists in her later works. To create some of her elaborate animations Reinger built an innovative multiplane camera that was able to separate background layers from foreground layers. During the mid 30s she emigrated to Britain where she began working for the Crown and GPO Film Units. After the Second World War, she spent the rest of her life in Great Britain, producing short films for British Television.
About Saul Bass
Saul Bass born on May 8, 1920 in Bronx, New York was one of the greatest graphic designers of the 20th century. He became known for designing brilliant animated sequences for motion pictures. In his 40+ year career he did work for the best Hollywood movie makers including Otto Preminger, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese and many more.

He did work for numerous movies, including classics such as Psycho, Casino, West Side Story, Anatomy of a Murder and dozens of others. He won numerous awards, including an Oscar in 1969 for best documentary for Why Man Creates. In 1965 won Lion of San Marco award for Best Film about Adolescence for the film The Searching Eye. Bass was also well known in the publishing/advertising industry, having designed the corporate identity of United Airlines, ATT as well as the poster for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic games. He died on April 25, 1996 in Los Angeles.

About Leni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie Leni Riefenstahl was a German film director and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph of the Will, a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party . Riefenstahl's prominence in the Third Reich along with her personal friendships with Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels thwarted her film career following Germany's defeat in World War II, after which she was arrested but never convicted of any crimes. Triumph of the Will gave Riefenstahl instant and lasting international fame. Although she made but eight films, only two of which received significant coverage outside of Germany, Riefenstahl was widely known throughout the rest of her life. The propaganda value of her films made during the 1930s is repellent though her filmmaking innovations and aesthetics are widely accepted as brilliant. Reifenstahl died September 23, 2003 at the age of 101.