21-87
1963 · 10m · Canada
Directed by Arthur Lipsett
Genres: documentary, experimental
Tones: contemplative, dark, surreal
A collage of discarded NFB editing-room footage and street photography assembled into an abstract meditation on machine-dominated modern society — the film that inspired George Lucas to coin 'The Force'.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Made from garbage footage in 1963, accidentally gave George Lucas the concept of the Force — the most influential trash heap in film history.
Lipsett's editing-room-scrap collage is foundational found-footage cinema — the through line from Bruce Conner to Marker's Sans Soleil runs through this six-minute artifact. The Lucas anecdote is trivia; the film itself is the seed of an entire avant-garde lineage.
The film that gave us "The Force" and Princess Leia's cell number, assembled from NFB editing-room scraps — Lipsett's 1963 found-footage essay still feels like the template. Nine minutes of foundational document.
Festivals
- Ann Arbor Film Festival 1964, First Prize