criterionforum.org

Dimitri Kirsanoff (1899-1957)


Maggie: What was your favorite movie in your entire life?

Pauline: In my entire life? Well, there's a French movie that probably you've never heard of that I like best.


Filmography

Miss Catastrophe (1957) French VHS

Ce soir les jupons volent (1956)

Crâneur, Le (1955) French VHS, R2 Rene Chateau DVD

Moires: Dali/Oster Newsreel (1954)

Témoin de minuit, Le (1953)

Une chasse à courre (1951)

Fait divers à Paris (1950)

Arrière-saison (1950) R1 Kino Avant Garde Vol. 2

Deux amis (1946)

Quartier sans soleil (1939)

Avion de minuit, L' (1938)

Plus belle fille du monde, La (1938)

Franco de port (1937)

Fontaine d'Aréthuse, La (1936)

Jeune fille au jardin (1936)

Visages de France (1936)

Berceaux, Les (1935)

Rapt (1934) Swiss Ramuz Cinema/Coffret

Brumes d'automne (1929) R1 Kino Avant Garde Vol. 1

Destin (1927)

Sables (1927)

Ménilmontant (1926) R1 Kino Avant Garde Vol. 1

Ironie du destin, L' (1923)


In Print

Books

L'oeuvre singulière de Dimitri Kirsanoff by Christophe Trebuil

Essays/Articles

Prouty, Richard, "The Well-Furnished Interior of the Masses: Kirsanoff's Menilmontant and the Streets of Paris," via Cinema Journal (Austin), vol. 36, no. 1, Fall 1996.


Web Resources

Kirsanoff and Menilmontant on UBUWEB

Discovery of rare original copy of Menilmontant's piano score

Rare account of an interview with Kirsanoff

D. Totaro on Mdenilmontant

Forum Resources

Menilmontant

Les Nuits de port said (w John Alton)

Much discussion of Kirsanoff, especially Menilmontant, in The All Time List thread.

Avant Garde & Eexperimental Films

Kino thread discussion of the AV Vols 1 & 2[/url]

Screen caps for the Swiss Ramuz Rapt disc

Has anyone seen the new Rene Chateau disc of Craneur?

I'd strongly recommend reading the link embedded in "Rare account of an interview with Kirsanoff"... it's a hidden gem written not long after his death by a man who made a pilgrimage to visit Kirsanoff with Lotte Eisner.

HerrSchreck wrote:
I'd strongly recommend reading the link embedded in "Rare account of an interview with Kirsanoff"... it's a hidden gem written not long after his death by a man who made a pilgrimage to visit Kirsanoff with Lotte Eisner.

Merci infiniment for this page and this link. All we need is for Kino to gather up all those shorts and put them together with Rapt.
Faisons un reve !

I hope I'm not posting something everyone but I already knows, but there are some rare Kirsanoff short films on youtube: Jeune fille au jardin (1936) & La fontaine d'Aréthuse (1936).

Thanks Steven, great find indeed!

Have just watched these. Wonderful stuff, called "cinéphonies', i.e. very lyrical 'visual illustrations' of pieces from classical music (Alfred Mompou and Karol Szymanowski, respectively). In the Szymanowski piece we see the myth of Arethusa re-enacted, the Mompou basically features a solo dance with imagery which vaguely reminds me of late Maya Deren. This seems to have been a whole series, with famous directors, and I found one more:
Children's Corner, directed by Marcel L'Herbier.

Do yourself a favour and do what I just did: use some youtube download program, convert them into avi, and watch them on the big screen. These shorts deserve it.