Arnulf Rainer
1960 · 7m · Austria
Directed by Peter Kubelka
Genres: experimental
Tones: contemplative, surreal, tense
A radical experimental film composed entirely of alternating frames of solid black and solid white, paired with white noise and silence. Named after painter Arnulf Rainer, who commissioned the work, it strips cinema down to its four essential elements: light, darkness, sound, and silence.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Six and a half minutes of alternating black and white frames with white noise and silence — Kubelka reducing cinema to its four elements and daring you to flinch. Foundational flicker, no apologies.
Kubelka's metric film of black and white frames and white noise is the cleanest theorem in flicker cinema, and the entire tradition from Sharits onward descends from it. The Vimeo upload requires captcha clearance.
Pure flicker film constructed from only black frames, white frames, white noise, and silence - cinema's four atomic elements isolated for 6:30. Vimeo throws a security check so playback isn't confirmable from page summary, but the historical placement as proto-flicker is solid.
Reviews
A fundamental film in Austrian and world cinema history — a true return to the pure essence of cinema itself.
One of only three flicker films of importance.
Festivals
- Vienna Premiere 1960