Moving Statics: The Films of Arthur and Corinne Cantrill (III)

20 May, 2025 - 20:00
Art Cinema OFFoff, Ghent

The Knokke Connection is the third pro­gram in a four-part scree­ning series dedi­ca­ted to the work of the Australian film­ma­king cou­ple Arthur (1938) and Corinne Cantrill (1928−2025). The scree­nings take pla­ce in Ghent (Art Cinema OFFoff) and Brussels (Cinema Parenthèse, CINEMATEK) bet­ween May 18 – 20 and on June 1.

Arthur and Corinne Cantrill did not show work at the famed EXPRMNTL 4 fes­ti­val of 1967/68 at Knokke-le-Zoute – their film Skin of Your Eye would screen at the next ite­ra­ti­on of the fes­ti­val in 1974 (and will be scree­ning at CINEMATEK in Brussels on June 1). However, the Cantrills did attend the 1967/68 edi­ti­on and con­si­de­red it to be ​“life-chan­ging”: ​“at that time… the most impor­tant event in our film­ma­king lives.” 

Both Robert Nelson and Gunvor Nelson fea­tu­red films at EXPRMNTL 4 and they left a pro­found impact on the Cantrills – they would, many years later, still recall the impor­tan­ce of see­ing the­se works. The fes­ti­val repre­sen­ted such a deci­si­ve moment in the Cantrills’ careers as film­ma­kers as it pro­vi­ded the nud­ge that they nee­ded to dedi­ca­te them­sel­ves more total­ly to an expe­ri­men­tal film practice.

Like the Cantrills, the fil­mic begin­nings of Robert and Gunvor Nelson can be tra­ced to the home movies they made together as hus­band and wife in the ear­ly 1960s. They would go on to make work solo or within other part­ner­ships, e.g. with ano­ther mar­ried cou­ple, William and Dorothy Wiley.  

 

→ Curated and intro­du­ced by Keegan O’Connor, Audrey Lam and Anthony Brynaert  

→ In col­la­bo­ra­ti­on with Art Cinema OFFoff & Cinema Parenthèse

Fog Pumas

Gunvor Nelson & Dorothy Wiley
,
SE
,
1967
,
16mm
,
25'

Fog Pumas, a fan­tas­ti­cal and hal­lu­ci­na­to­ry film popu­la­ted by stran­ge figu­res, repre­sents some­thing of a depar­tu­re in Gunvor’s work and its ske­we­ring of domestic life. It won her and Dorothy Wiley a Knokke fes­ti­val prize.

The Great Blondino

Robert Nelson & William T. Wiley
,
US
,
1967
,
16mm
,
42'

Another fes­ti­val win­ner was Robert Nelson’s short The Grateful Dead, but it was his The Great Blondino (made with William Wiley), which also scree­ned the­re, that he thought bet­ter deser­ved that recog­ni­ti­on. Blondino fol­lows a young, wan­de­ring, day­drea­ming naif on ris­ky adven­tu­res, ​“living at gre­at risk for the beau­ty of it.”

Henri Gaudier-Brzeska

Arthur & Corinne Cantrill
,
AU
,
1968
,
16mm
,
30'

The two Cantrills films in this pro­gram were works that the cou­ple made whi­le still living in London, in bet­ween atten­ding the fes­ti­val in Belgium in late 1967/​early 1968 and returning to Australia in 1969. 

Henri Gaudier-Brzeska is an idi­o­syn­cra­tic docu­men­ta­ry about the epo­ny­mous Vorticist artist, stu­dying his key sculp­tu­res in the Tate Britain and their for­mal attri­bu­tes accor­ding to chan­ges in moti­on and light.

Red Stone Dancer

Arthur & Corinne Cantrill
,
AU
,
1968
,
digital
,
5'

Red Stone Dancer stu­dies one of Henri Gaudier-Brzeska’s most famous sculp­tu­res – with off­beat came­ra move­ments and an off­beat rhythm, enhan­ced by Arthur’s elec­tro­nic soundtrack.

In both films in this pro­gram, the Cantrills were fin­ding new libe­ra­ting pos­si­bi­li­ties for their cine­ma – ​“cele­bra­ting that we were abando­ning the limita­ti­ons of the docu­men­ta­ry form.”