. ..... .:.:...:::ccccoCCoooo::

One of the pragmatic solutions to the problem of how people are able to find their way in a theatre or cinema are the small lights that, hidden in this place or that, show the audience where to step and where not, and where to choose a chair.

Now imagine: complete darkness.
Enter.
Ask yourself to stop imagining and look at
. ..... .:.:...:::ccccoCCoooo::

While looking at it, the question becomes: what is looking? At this point the guiding lights may come back with a vengeance. Usually we look in order to orient ourselves. Either in response or consequently, much art is directed at disorienting ourselves. That leaves the question unanswered as to what looking is. Still, that is one of the key questions in Pointeker´s work. In order to be able to answer that question, Pointeker has to both steer away from and connect to the average language of cinema – and photography. The way in which he succeeds in doing that reminds one of concrete poetry. But this is no more than a reminder. Concrete poetry was by and large a response to something else: what we knew already. Dialectically, concrete poetry remained bound up with what we already knew. In terms of cinema, Pointeker somehow knows how to escape that route. He doesn´t show it, though. What he shows is what appears.

We find ourselves in complete darkness.
A light shines, some lights shine: a car makes its way. Let´s take that literally: "a car makes its way". This is not a car that is being used to get from here to there. Making light, the car makes a way. Other images follow: all make way. We look, caught in the light of what is being shown – and we start to sense what looking is.

(Frans-Willem Korsten)

Orig. Title
. ..... .:.:...:::ccccoCCoooo::
Year
2007
Countries
Austria, Netherlands
Duration
9 min
Director
Ben Pointeker
Category
Avantgarde/Arts
Orig. Language
No Dialogue
Credits
Director
Ben Pointeker
Concept & Realization
Ben Pointeker
Recording
Ben Pointeker, Roderick Hietbrink
Lighting
Victor Jaschke, Ben Pointeker
Make-Up
Nora De Baan
Supported by
BKA. Kunst
Available Formats
35 mm (Distribution Copy)
Aspect Ratio
1:1,66
Sound Format
stereo
Frame Rate
25 fps
Digital File (prores, h264) (Distribution Copy)
Festivals (Selection)
2007
Rotterdam - Int. Filmfestival
Ghent - COURTisane Festival
Hamburg - Int. Kurzfilm-Festival & No Budget
Melbourne - Int. Film Festival
Seoul - EXis (Experimental Film- & Videofestival)
Zagreb - 25fps Film & Video Festival
Genf - Biennale of Moving Images
Montréal - Festival du Nouveau Cinéma
Cork - Int. Film Festival
Montevideo - TIE International Experimental Film & Video Festival
Paris - Rencontres International Paris/Berlin/Madrid
2008
Wiesbaden - exground on screen
Zürich - VIDEOEXperimental; Video & Film Festival
Windsor - Media City