| Notfilm | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ross Lipman |
| Written by | Ross Lipman |
| Starring | Ross Lipman,Kevin Brownlow,S.E. Gontarski,James Karen,Leonard Maltin,Barney Rosset,Haskell Wexler,Billie Whitelaw |
| Edited by | Ross Lipman |
| Distributed by | Milestone Film & Video, Inc. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 130 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Notfilm is a 2015 feature-length documentary, directed byRoss Lipman on the production of playwrightSamuel Beckett's only film,[1] an experimental short titledFilm starringBuster Keaton.
While conducting preliminary research to restoreFilm, filmmaker and restorationist Ross Lipman visitedGrove Press founder andFilm producerBarney Rosset at his apartment, where Lipman discovered reels of film and audio. This material contained outtakes from Beckett's 1965 production, including a prologue long-thought lost.[2]
Notfilm reconstructs this prologue and integrates rare audio of Beckett's voice, surreptitiously recorded by Rosset, in a self-described "Kino Essay" that analyzes the philosophical foundation ofFilm, arguing it was an expression of Samuel Beckett's own distaste for the public eye.[3]
Both a traditional making-of documentary and an essayistic exploration into the philosophical implications of Samuel Beckett'sFilm,Notfilm outlines the circumstances leading to its production, the production process and its critical reception. Director Ross Lipman's narration outlines the philosophical foundation ofFilm as a rebuttal of the Irish philosopherGeorge Berkeley’s premise that “to be is to be perceived.” Audio secretly recorded by Rosset at a production meeting leads into an examination of Beckett's own distaste for being filmed and photographed.
Following an October 2015 world premiere at theBFI London Film Festival,[4]Notfilm went on to screen at several other festivals, includingCPH:DOX,International Film Festival Rotterdam,Dublin Film Festival,Film Comment Selects,Hong Kong International Film Festival[5] and Docs Against Gravity.[6]
It appeared on several Best of the Year lists, including Nicole Brenez's published inArtforum,[7] inThe New Republic[8] and inPaste.[9]
Notfilm was reviewed in theLos Angeles Times,Film Comment,The New Yorker,The Village Voice andSlate.[10] In his review forThe New York Times, A.O. Scott wrote "Notfilm finds a hitherto uncharted dimension of human and cinematic experience.”[10]
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