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"its main purpose is to INFORM, and is less of a MEDITATION"

Certainly the sponsors saw the film this way -- but I'd bet Auden saw
his contribution as something more. 'Meditation' isn't a bad word for
his poem -- but as with Resnais and Marker's films, meditation and
information are not antithetical. Same goes for the collaborative 'La
Vie a nous' (1936) which could be an early example of the essay film
(here defined as using multiple modes of address, neither actuality
nor fictional narrative).

Henry M

On 4/28/06, Henry Taylor <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Okay, this is how allmovie.com define the essay film:
>
> "An odd hybrid of the documentary and experimental form, the essay film
> couples visual -- usually documentary -- images with extensive narration to
> create a cohesive cinematic thesis. These films often skew all forms of
> conventions of both fiction and mainstream non-fiction films: there is no
> plot as such and few interviews. Instead there is solely the argument of the
> film. The themes that this style addresses often concern memory, ethnography
> and the medium of cinema itself. Chris Marker's brilliant Sans Soleil is
> considered to be the exemplar of this category."
>
> Henry
>
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