Artavazd Pelshyan - Distance montage

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Learning outcomes of the course unit:

Students adopt and understand the internal content of the concept of distance montage using practice examples.

Mode of study:

,Artavadz Ašotovič Pelešjan was born on the 22, Mar. 1938 in Gjumri, Armenia which at the time was called Leninakan.

During studies at VGIK (1964-1968) he attracted attention with his film „Beginning“ (1967) in particular, in which from archived documentary shots he investigated the potential of film montage as a source of a new illusive movement.. Those elementary movements: shot, push, shove initiated breakthrough processes of social change, begun by the October Revolution. His next film „We“ (1968) is a monumental depiction of the Armenian people brought Pelešjan notoriety even in the West because in 1970 he receive the Grand Prize at the festival in Oberhausen. In „Seasons“ (1975) and „Our Century“ (1983) the central motive is the the struggle with gravity.

We can say that the entire of Pelešjan's work is an independent whole with an awareness of the developed internal structure. Of course, naturally that distance connection of the film titles „Beginning“ - „The End“ but also in relationship to more. The film „Life“ (1993) can be understood as a type of determinative preceeding Pelešjan´s work. A determinative as we know it for the Egyption hieroglyphics, as a sign written at the end of a word whose presence allows the previous sign to be read in their significant fullness and uniqueness.

In 1988 Pelešjan´s book Mojo Kino, which along with subject, thought and small script contains „distance montage“, or the theory of distance, was first formed in the middle of the 1960s and was a radical breakthrough in the history of film thought.

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

What is distance montage? This is what most ask when they are gradually acquainted with film and usually after when they have experienced their motage disease, delving into the desire to understand the concept of distance montage.

Remember that the Eisenstein method of montage is usually interpreted as a clash of globes where in that clash a new significance was created - like a collision of two wooden globes (one red and one black) from which another sound other than the collision of two metal or plastic globes (one red and one black). The potential of the shot, that is its internal make up (wood, metal, plastic, all one color) appears only in the collision with another.

If the instructor wishes to draw attention to Pelešjan, usually several strange looking objects are pulled out which for the short-sighted seem from a distance to be strange dumbells. Globes joined by a spring, creating a single whole. The more globes we wrench from ourselves and overpower the stiffness of the springs, then the internal is the cohesion of the whole and we add energy the system which accumulates into potential energy. Between those „globes“ there is a space where the shots have a permanent grip strength and under pressure from above crystallize providing their own real and unique form - their visage. They quickly understand that while for Sergey Michajlovič, kinetic energy is attractive, Artavadz Ašotovč is drawn to potential energy.

Course contents:

Introduction to the film pieces of Artavzd Pelešjana and his theory of distance montage.

Recommended or required reading:

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Assessment methods and criteria:

Credit is awarded for 100% class attendance on 23.10 at FAMU and at least one subsequent attendance at Ponrepa on 25.10. - Students prove attendance using paid tickets which are signed upon submission to Jana Jany Pračková at KSS bzy 4. 11. 2015

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Expected program at FAMU on 23.10 at 11:00 with personal attendance by the artists:

Předpokládaný program na FAMU dne 23.10. od 11:00 za osobní účasti autora:

Inhabitiants (Obyvatelé (Obitatěli)), SSSR, 1970, 9 min

Seasons (Roční období (Vremena goda)), SSSR, 1975, 30min

The End (Konec (Koněc)), Arménie, 1992, 8 min

Life (Život (Žizň)), Arménie, 1993, 7 min

Program of Pelešjan's screenings at PONREPU on 25. 10., with personal attendance by the artist:

25. 10. at 17:30

Beginning (Začátek (Načalo)), SSSR, 1967, 9 min

We (My (My)), SSSR, 1969, 25 min

Inhabitants (Obyvatelé (Obitatěli)), SSSR, 1970, 9 min

Seasons (Roční období (Vremena goda)), SSSR, 1975, 30min

25. 10. at 20:00

Our Century (Naše století (Naš věk)) SSSR, 1983, 50 min

The End (Konec (Koněc)), Arménie, 1992, 8 min

Life (Život (Žizň)), Arménie, 1993, 7 min

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