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› the ghost who refuses to play dead
 

The Goldstein Reels

 

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The following film is presumably part of the estate of the american artist and film producer Jack Goldstein; who committed suicide March 14, 2003 at his trailer home in San Bernardino, California.

Due to several facts, the legal administrator of Goldsteins estate, the cologne gallery owners Buchholz & Müller can not rule out, that even if Jack Goldstein himself isn't the author, there are strange similarities between this film and his work, specificly his cinematic and performative concepts. Goldstein himself supposedly passed on this film during his lifetime.

The filming obviously refers to the filmmakers interest in plants and nature in general. In accordance with the expertise of the botanic institute of Hamburg, the following species come into consideration: The common dog roses with latin terms "rosa canina" and "rosa corymbífera", which are also the most frequent kind of wild rose to be found in coastal regions of Europe as well as North America and Asia. Due to the fact that the time of the shooting is not known, the blossoms are not clearly determinable and therefore further rose types cannot be ruled out. The japanese rose with the latin term "rosa rugosa" as well as those already specified were imported from Asia, but they ran to seed and were used as coastal protection planting within the dune ranges of Northern and Western Europe as well as in the northeast of North America. This fact further complicates the territorial determination of the recordings.

The filmmaterial itself indicates Kodakchrome KA design as well as two exposed data codes of two symbols: a triangle and a square, and thus datable in accordance with ISO 7243 as Super 8 reversal amateur film material from the production year 1969. Other keycode numbers and code notches are missing. No special emulsion composition, however Kodak stopped the production of this emulsion in 1971. The Film was in bad condition, parts of the perforation have been reconstructed. Some heavily damaged frames in the first third of the movie couldn't be restored properly. As far as possible the scratches on the carrier side have been removed.

The motive as to why the rose blossom pictures are shown recorded in connection with the disappearance of the woman and indeed, why the cameraman is distracted from his subject, cannot unreservedly be interpreded as voyeuristic, but is certainly questionable.

After the disappearance of the woman’s head below the surface, it appears that the cameraman expects her reemergence, remaining focussed on the place where she went under. However, it remains unclear, why he continues shooting, or whether some form of any communication took place or not.

Once it's clear the woman is definately missing, the camera movements become increasingly jerkier - perhaps giving us an idea of the state of mind of the filmmaker and his irritation.

The film is comprised of uncut original material made up of so-called “camera cuts” - which is a simple stop-n-go filming technique; moreover the last part of the movie is a sequence shot. This special montage technique, the problems with the adjustment of the sharpness of the picture as well as the unsteady camera movement, all suggest the amateur character of the recordings and argue against Goldsteins authorship.

35mm 1:1.37 3:30min
Kodachrome 40 BlowUp on Kodak 5248
color mono © 2006


synopsis: An old celluloid film is labeled as being from the estate of Jack Goldstein. The unusual S8 footage is nevertheless difficult to interpret. Due to partially missing data, place, time and author cannot be determined and keep the beholder in the dark. The ongoing investigation has not been able to produce a reasonable explanation of the circumstances.

 

    


2. Jurypreis VIDEOEX Zürich
2. Jurypreis Filmtage Bamberg

Special Mention Corta! Porto, Portugal
Juror Choice Award, 11th short film and video festival at ASU ART MUSEUM at Arizona State University, Phoenix


felderfilm.de/desire/

stills: felderfilm.de/desire/filmstills_e.htm

press data sheet: felderfilm.de/desire/press.pdf

production company: felderfilm
actress: Irma Ebbers
german voice over: Heiner Roß, Kinemathek Hamburg e.V.
english voice over: Charles Andrews, KUSC LA
storyboard: Maria Clementine Wulia
set production assistant: Volko Kamensky
cutter: Maria Clementine Wulia
director / sound editor: Romeo Grünfelder
production: felderfilm
assistants: Adnan Softic, Alexander Krussig, Ninako Takeushi, Wolf Schmidt, Dirk Herzog, Beate Mohr, Susi Montgomery, Axel Ahl, Sven Neygenfind, Caroline Groß, Sonja Vordermaier
still photographer: Gabi Steinhauser
special effects support: Udo Engel
film stock: Pierre Dechavanne, Kodak Hamburg
camera rental: Barbara Wagner, HfBK Hamburg
translation: Silvia Hartel-Loewe
graphic designer: Christiane Bruckmann, Andreas Tetzlaff
consultant: Dr. Heinz Henker - Botaniker
Daniel Buchholz - Galerie Buchholz & Müller
Tauchsportgruppe Uni Hamburg
production consultant: Peter Stockhaus Filmproduktion

funds
Filmförderung Hamburg
Villa Aurora Los Angeles
Forum für kulturelle Kooperation eV.



special thanks:
Helene Winer (Metropictures), Paul Tschinkel (Inner-Tube Video), Dr. Heinz Henker (Botanisches Institut Hamburg), James Welling, Linda Goldstein, Richard Hertz, Tom Lawson, John Mendell, Brian Buttler (1301 PE), Patrick Painter, Edward Branigan, Matt Mullican, Larry Bridges, Adam Gottschalk, Bernd Ruzicska, Kodak Inc. Hollywood, Claudia Gordon (Villa Aurora), James Carman, Corinna Schnitt, Kodak AG Stuttgart, Kodak Hamburg, Stephen (7Oceans), Claudia Reiche, Jan Peters, Christopher Mondt, Pilar Cruz, Juan Marchini, Stephen Kavanagh, David Martin-Jones, Bundesfilmarchiv Berlin, Christopher Müller, Daniel Bucholz, Sabine Pflitsch, Bernhard Johannes Blume, Hans Joachim Lenger, Martin Aust, Corina Danckwerts (German Films), Veit Helmer, Josephine Böttger, Christiane Bruckmann