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SERIES PASS: Notes on the Cinematographer: The Films of Robert Bresson

MAY 1-10, TUESDAY-THURSDAY AT 7, 9PM
Notes on the Cinematographer: The Films of Robert Bresson
Over the last five years, nearly every visiting filmmaker to Northwest Film Forum has cited Robert Bresson as one of the key influences on their work. Each has digested his outstanding "Notes On The Cinematographer," a dictum for filmmaking that lays out his elliptical style, epigrammatic prose, obtuse meanings, material rigidity, conciseness and frugality of means. It's also a text that has served as a guide for our film programming.

In a career that spanned over forty years, Bresson directed only thirteen feature films plus a single short. It's not a large body of work for a man who ranks high in the critics' pantheon of cinema gods. Bresson never had a major box office success; after his second feature, he ceased working with professional actors entirely. His work with non-professionals or models, as he like to call them emphasized movement and gesture over thought. He'd often shoot many takes, gradually stripping all affectation and intention from his models.

We present in this series six of Bresson's harder-to-find features, as well as his only short film. Several of his other films have recently screened at Northwest Film Forum, and two more will screen in coming months for longer engagements in new 35mm prints. Full descriptions of these films can be found on our website.

Thanks to the following individuals and institutions for their generous support of this retrospective: TIFF Cinematheque and James Quandt, Toronto, who undertook the organization of the North American touring series; Institut Français, Paris; Delphine Selles Alvarez at the French Cultural Services, New York; Denis Bisson and Nora Orallo, French Consulate San Francisco; La Cinémathèque Française, Paris; Mylène Bresson, Paris; Pierre Lhomme, Paris; Jake Perlin, The Film Desk, New York; Bruce Goldstein and Eric Di Bernardo, Rialto Pictures, New York; Sarah Finklea and Brian Belovarac, and Janus Films, New York.