Possibilities of Activity: Part I; The Argument

1976

Dir. Dennis Phillips, , 16mm B/W Sound 00:29:00

Page Contents

Description

'Possibilities' demands an active participation on the part of its viewers who are repeatedly expected to discover and invent relations between sound and image. This mental activity is amply repaid by an appreciation of an aspect of present-day living; and this knowledge is strengthened immeasurably by the fact that one has to come to it under one's own steam, the fact that one is not given or sold anything by the film. The activity of watching the film is metaphoric of the issues at its core: whether a liberated form of activity is possible, and how this would differ from the passivity of acceptance, escapism, entertainment and appreciation. [Source: Grahame Weinbren, Filmforum Program Notes, 7/11/1977]