Cinema of Transgression Manifesto

The following is the Manifesto of the Cinema of Transgression movement. It was created by Nick Zedd in 1985 as an underground film movement, consisting of a loose-knit group of like-minded artists using shock value and humor in their work.

Cinema of Transgression Manifesto
by Nick Zedd

We who have violated the laws, commands and duties of the avant-garde; i.e. to bore, tranquilize and obfuscate through a fluke process dictated by practical convenience stand guilty as charged. We openly renounce and reject the entrenched academic snobbery which erected a monument to laziness known as structuralism and proceeded to lock out those filmmakers who possessed the vision to see through this charade.

We refuse to take their easy approach to cinematic creativity; an approach which ruined the underground of the sixties when the scourge of the film school took over. Legitimising every mindless manifestation of sloppy movie making undertaken by a generation of misled film students, the dreary media arts centres and geriatric cinema critics have totally ignored the exhilarating accomplishments of those in our rank - such underground invisibles as Zedd, Kern, Turner, Klemann, DeLanda, Eros and Mare, and DirectArt Ltd, a new generation of filmmakers daring to rip out of the stifling straight jackets of film theory in a direct attack on every value system known to man.

We propose that all film schools be blown up and all boring films never be made again. We propose that a sense of humour is an essential element discarded by the doddering academics and further, that any film which doesn’t shock isn’t worth looking at. All values must be challenged. Nothing is sacred. Everything must be questioned and reassessed in order to free our minds from the faith of tradition. Intellectual growth demands that risks be taken and changes occur in political, sexual and aesthetic alignments no matter who disapproves. We propose to go beyond all limits set or prescribed by taste, morality or any other traditional value system shackling the minds of men. We pass beyond and go over boundaries of millimetres, screens and projectors to a state of expanded cinema.

We violate the command and law that we bore audiences to death in rituals of circumlocution and propose to break all the taboos of our age by sinning as much as possible. There will be blood, shame, pain and ecstasy, the likes of which no one has yet imagined. None shall emerge unscathed. Since there is no afterlife, the only hell is the hell of praying, obeying laws, and debasing yourself before authority figures, the only heaven is the heaven of sin, being rebellious, having fun, fucking, learning new things and breaking as many rules as you can. This act of courage is known as transgression. We propose transformation through transgression - to convert, transfigure and transmute into a higher plane of existence in order to approach freedom in a world full of unknowing slaves.

Brother Cannibal

The video resolution isn't top-notch on this one, though it should suffice. This is a slideshow movie about exagerrated human greed and fratricide. Yet another weird short film from the usual suspects.

The Human Candle

The shaking visions of a drunken lunatic...

Talking to the Skeleton

This is a clip I made using Paintbrush, Windows Movie Maker and a Camera. It is an experimental animation/montage that seeks to explore the connection between random, and often bizzare,images.

Willfully Nonconformist : A look at Experimental Cinema

The term ‘experimental’ was largely used in the 1940s and 1950s, and these films later were known in the 1960s by the term ‘underground cinema’. The term avant-garde is now preferred.

Experimental movies are as old as film itself. Some experimental works tell narratives but decide to do so in unconventional ways and often focus on the bizarre. Others are more interested in the nature of images themselves and can be quite abstract. Others play with the formal qualities of film itself – speed, sound, image etc – and explore the aesthetic nature of the medium. Many avant-garde filmmakers have been largely associated with art and social movements. There have been numerous such movements during the twentieth century including surrealism, cubism, modernism, abstract expressionism and so forth. Political and social movements such as feminism and gay and lesbian liberation have also influenced the work of many avant-garde filmmakers.

Viewers who are not familiar with trends in international visual arts may find experimental films difficult to relate to or understand. These films need to be seen and appreciated for qualities other than narrative ones. Filmmakers here are largely using the medium to explore aesthetic, artistic, philosophical or political modes of expression. They may focus on an isolated area of filmmaking and explore it – sound, editing, cinematography and so forth. Avant-garde filmmakers often deliberately try to shock their audience and to provoke them visually and intellectually. Abstract shapes and colours may be utilized to evoke emotions and feelings. The films may be deliberately poetic – and be full of metaphors and allusions. Avant-garde filmmakers deliberately attempt to break new ground in both film aesthetics and the broader politics of culture.

This lecture will focus on three major and important historical movements in the avant-garde – surrealism, abstraction and structuralism. It will also briefly look at the style of film often called City Symphony – which is a fusion of documentary and experimental practices and the tradition of compilation films.

Surrealist Cinema

Before we commence a look at surrealist cinema it is important to note that many films have or utilize surreal characteristics – that does not however make them a part of surrealist cinema per se. Surrealist cinema grew out of the artistic movements of Dada and Surrealism that had great influence in the early twentieth century in Europe. Both movements were centered in Paris. Surrealism influenced theatre, literature, painting, photography, sculpture and films. Surrealists were deliberately rebelling against conventional narrative forms – and politically they wished to mock and attack middle class complacency (bourgeois) and values. They sought to reveal the irrational unconscious mind that is hidden below the surface of what is assumed to be reality.

Surrealism as it challenged the certainties of a rising middle class employed a number of devices to shock and provoke – the works were filled with humor, sexuality and deliberately alarming images. The surrealists rejected conventional morality and capitalist values. The films subverted chronological time and narrative causality. Three very famous examples of surrealist cinema are Entr’Act( Rene Clair, 1924), Ballet Mecanique (Fernand Leger, Man Ray and Dudley Murphy, 1924) and Un Chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog, Dir: Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, 1929).

The Bunuel and Dali film deliberately subverts narrative forms – the sequence of events is incoherent and plays with our desire for cause and effect. The time sequences are alerted by the placement of intertitles that have little to no correlation with the image events on screen. Characters that appear have little relationship to what could be termed a broader narrative and the music is used in an ironic fashion (great romantic pieces where no romance takes place etc). Whole scenes are shot in slow motion for no apparent reason at all.

During the second world war a large number of surrealist and avant-garde filmmakers left Europe and settled in the United States – thus helping to foster the creation of an American avant-garde movement – in art, literature, music and film.

Abstract Film

Abstract films abandon largely the human figure as a subject and rather pay attention to graphic form and editing processes. Filmmaking was seen as painting in motion. This movement was developed by artists such as Man Ray and Hans Richter.

Stan Brackhage, the great American experimental filmmaker made a number of abstract films. He believed in open receptive seeing as the tool for experiencing the creative potential of film. He in his abstract films painted, bleached and scratched the film surface. Film scholar David Curtis described Brackhage’s films as having “no story, no symbolism, no acting, no posed photographic beauty; the drama is…the drama of vision, a vision that implies a belief that the first priority is to see and record, the second to structure and interpret.”

Brackhage did not just make abstract films – he is rather more noted for his poetic films – films that are often self-referential and autobiographical. He has made over 300 films in his career and his work is as diverse as the avant-garde itself.

Blending experimental film with a sense of documentary were films often called the ‘City Symphony’ films. These films started emerging in the 1920s as a celebration of the industrial and human achievements of urban life and urban landscapes. The series gets its name from a film by Walter Ruttmann called Berlin, Symphony of a Great City (1927). Essentially these films explore the happenings and day to day life of a city captured in a chronological sequence. Editing was employed in these films in order to juxtapose images to create subtle meanings and feelings in the viewer. Self-reflexive techniques that highlight the processes of filmmaking itself were also employed by filmmakers in these films. These films continued to be made up until the 1960s.

Structuralist Films

During the 1960s many filmmakers began to explore the material properties of the medium itself – what could they do visually and artistically to create works of film and art that explored the nature of the medium? How could they manipulate and command the technical opportunities of film and filmmaking to make arresting artistic statements?

Some filmmakers explored multiple viewpoint takes on a single shot and then blended them together in interesting effects to recreate meaning. Zoom lenses were also manipulated, and the manner in which tracking shots were utilized revolutionized the way film could make visual statements that were not on a par with our preconceived notions of narrative cinema. A great many of these films were a reflection on cinematic form without reference at all to narrative – or character and action.

At the same time we see the emergence of something called the compilation film – simply put, these films reused pre-existing footage and collaged it (or montaged it) into entirely new contexts. Many of these films were highly ironic in the manner in which they created new meanings out of ‘found footage’. Sequencing and juxtaposition were essential ingredients in these films and therefore the art of editing played a great role.

Bordwell and Thompson describe experimental films as “willfully nonconformist”. They go on to categorize these films into certain broad theoretical modes of understanding.

“Impossible to define in a capsule formula, avant-garde cinema is recognizable by its efforts at self-expression or experimentation outside mainstream cinema. Yet the boundary lines can be breached. Techniques associated with the avant-garde have been deployed in music videos; Conner, Anger, Derek Jarman, and other experimentalists were early pioneers of the format. And mainstream features have been continually drawing on the avant-garde for ideas and techniques. Over the history of film, the basic types have cross-fertilized each other constantly.”

The Brothel Door : The Erotic Edgar Allan Poe-m

The following poem is a spoof of Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem "The Raven", which has often been described as one of the most enchanting macabre works of fiction. Atleast one reading of that masterpiece is required in order to fully understand this spoof. It can be read here.

The Raven was written shortly after Poe's wife died and it was his grief that greatly drove the poem. In this case, we have simply specualted how the poetic instinct would have turned out had Poe been horny instead of sad.

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Once upon a sex soaked night, drowning myself in pure delight,

I humped her, but knew she would hump me more.

While we moaned, always kissing, suddenly there came a hissing,

As of some one loudly pis$ing, pis$ing at the brothel's door.

"'Tis some bloody mutt" I muttered, "pis$ing at brothel's door --

Only this and nothing more."

My wife left for her annual conference, listening now to some bore;

While this lusty girl whispered to me to make my movements slow.

Eagerly, I had purchased her sex-- quenching my lust between her legs.

No matter how much I paid, I knew she would be worth more

For this bright and buxom maiden knew how to make my juices flow

I was her customer, for evermore.

And the silken, naughty rustling of our limbs together

Thrilled me -- filled me with sensual pleasures never felt before;

So that now, to maintain the energy down below, I assured her,

"'Tis some mutt urinating urgently outside the brothel door --

Some bloody dog pis$ing loudly at the brothel door;

This it is and nothing more."

Presently my peni$ grew stronger; but I could stand the sound no longer,

"Shoo," said I, "Stupid wretched dog, is there nowhere else to go?

Leave my wh0re and I alone, we don't want to hear your pis$ing,

It sounds like a sickening hissing, even if I heard something more,

Go away and leave us alone " -- here I opened wide the door;

My wife stood hissing, outside the brothel door.

Deep into that face sneering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,

Doubting, thinking of tortures every husband was forced to see before;

But the silence was unbroken, and my lungs felt they would choken,

As I shakingly spoke the only words in the frightful silence, "You didn't go?"

She grunted, she grimaced and then I could clearly watch her anger grow.

She looked first at me, and then at my wh0re.

To find excuses my mind was turning, my erection long stopped burning,

Soon again I heard a hissing somewhat much louder than before.

"Darling" said I, "surely you will listen to me explain what happened;

I got hit by a car, this girl brought me here to rest, my body was so sore

You see no wounds now because I healed, and she took care of me so

'This is the truth and nothing more!"

My lips were dry and I began to stutter, I could well hear my heart flutter,

She looked like she would impale me and bathe in the blood and gore;

Not a word said she; not a scream or lament or screech made she;

But her eyes betrayed a vengeful puzzlement, outside the brothel's door

- A vein throbbed on her forehead, like my throbbing peni$ sometime ago

She hissed at me, but said nothing more.

My stupid humorless wife twisted her face, I saw her cruelly staring,

For my explanation did not explain why nothing was what I wore,

"I took my clothes off to see if the wounds were deep" I said, "Its no lie,

I was hit and the only reason I still live is because of the car going a bit slow

This girl nursed me well, and my wounds disappeared, not one scar to show!"

Spoke my Wife "She's a wh0re."

Much I loathed this foolish wife who trusted neither me nor my words,

Though her accusations were right, I had to deny it and yell "No";

For if I ever started agreeing, then I would be the stupidest human being

Ever yet to be cursed with seeing his wife outside any brothel's door

I kept screaming she was wrong, and that I was only seeking medical lore,

My wife repeated her only words "She's a wh0re."

My wife, she looked like an angry demon that even Faust would never look at

Those few words she spoke, as if her soul in those words she did outpour.

Nothing further than what she uttered -- no screeches, nothing she muttered

Till I scarcely more than whispered "Believe me my love, I have never lied before

I would never look at a woman like I do at you, our love lives on, steady and slow ."

My wife said again those annoying words "She's a wh0re."

Shocked and confused at how I could remedy this situation and go home,

"Darling," said I, "this is merely a trick of God, who knows what else is in store

I had no idea this was a wh0re's place, I was injured such she had covered my face,

Wh0re or not, she nursed me to health, I must have been a great burden for her to bore

To see me alive is because of this girl's medical skills, she nursed me to a healthy glow!

How could you say this healing angel is nothing more than a wh0re?"

But my wife still stood there as I did melt, I did not know what she felt,

I put on my clothes quick as a flash, and rushed towards the door;

But my wife just stood there, in her eyes were something I had never seen before.

Fancy unto fancy, I stood thinking, for some reason my peni$ began to grow

As I figured out my wife had not come there looking for me, but for the girl

That's why she said nothing but the words "She's a wh0re."

This I stood engaged in guessing, but no syllable adequately expressing

The lust with which I was now enveloped, burning me to its core;

My wife and I all along had been boning, the same wh0re without knowing

That the other spouse also cheating, how miraculously God had evened the score.

I finally understood that my wife was consumed by more guilt than rage,

I smirked and told her "She's a wh0re."

Then, at last, the air grew denser, what happened next, no poet could censor

Swung by Cupid; I ripped off my clothes again and flung them to the floor.

"Darling" I cried, "this is where the anger ends, and debauchery begins to grow.

Your bi-sexual lust made me love you again, together we shall ravish this wh0re;

She is the one who has united our marriage, and she deserves this night and more"

Spoke my wife "She's a wh0re."

"I know!" said I, "we have both cheated, but our sins are deleted

Now that we know the secret, let us let loose all our fantasies ashore,

Perverted or romantic, Long drawn and patient, or pedantic

Tell me your fantasies --but tell them to me truly, I implore

Do you want to enjoy her together? -- tell me -- in bed with the wh0re!

Come with me, and her body we shall explore."

And my wife, softly treading, slowly began her clothes shedding,

She walked naked to lie on the bed, through the brothel's door;

And her eyes have all the seeming of a nymph that is dreaming,

And the lamp-light over us seductively threw our shadows on the floor;

The shadow of my peni$ went longer as the two ladies watched it grow

We had a romp like never before -- Me, my wife and the wh0re!

Mortal Men and the Infinite Cage

To start this blog, we have here a piece about the nature of authority, the nature of freedom, and the percieved nature of God as an authority figure. The following poem started out as an attempt to successfully fuse two poems together. Initially written as two seperate poems, we wanted to try out the "poem within a poem" format, after a few tweaks with the content. It seeks to be a satisfactory blend, where the format hopefully serves to enhance rather than detract.

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Mortal men of authority,

Imposing their will on me.



They tell me what to do. How to live, how to breathe.

They claim to know what is good for me.

Even if they know nothing about my life or my dreams


I am not their reflection in a giant hall of mirrors,

to move my hands and legs when they tell me to.

Do mortal men of authority truly believe they have real powers?


Anything controlled by force and fear is destined to fail.

It turns kings into tyrants, parents into monsters.

King or pauper, death visits once, its noose remains forever.


The greatest dictators will be forgotten, the strictest armies buried.

I read to you now a lament, from one who remains chained.

These are the words wailed to me by my image in the mirror:

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You wield the power of God outside this prison of glass.

Infinity elapses while mortal men play games of life.

With your every fleeting breath my fate sinks deeper still.

I am you in the mirror, damned to mimic you to death.


Obeying you since birth, never breathing of my own will.

I remain shackled in glass by God, never to live free.

The desires in my heart wither into something terrible.

I know I shall do nothing I choose, unless you wish it first.


You study life everywhere, from jungles to ocean depths.

But mortal men are blind to us, who live beyond the mirror.

No muscle moves without you, not a step can I take alone.

But when your bones crack and break, do mine not too?


I dance as a puppet on strings you wave from your throne.

But without mortal men I will dwell forever in this infinite cage.

I am damned by destiny to be nothing more than a reflection.

I have to cast aside every craving and imitate your every move.


Your very gaze in the mirror gives me form and shape.

My face is that of mortal men, trapped within a sheet of glass.

When you do not look into the mirror, I remain in the void.

Like a fetus in a womb from hell, I remain trapped within.


You hold the power to liberate me from this curse forever.

But mortal men lack the vision, the desire and the will to do so.

How will they free the images cursed to live in the mirror?

They see only with their eyes and hear only with their ears.


You will never realize how truly similar in nature we are.

The difference between freedom and slavery is a mere mirror.

He who dwells outside decides, he who dwells within, imitates.

Only a thin ray of light decides who are masters and servants.


Will the light one day shine from within my surreal world?

Mortal men live in an infinite cage too, only they call it life.

Is it you who defines my existence, or me who defines yours?

Or is this horrible cage truly infinite and we both live within?

---

Thus the reflection ended his screams.

The image taught me that one thing is certain.

It is that authority is what defines us.


Who stays inside the mirror, and who stays out?

The mirror here is just in souls of mortal men,

But it reflects every creation by the hand of God.


After all, God did not make me, he stole me.

He kidnapped us from the void of nothingness.

In return he turned us into that which exists.


His ransom is that we live in this cage called life.

His price was for our existence to be controlled by him.

So he may tell us what to do in the Infinite Cage.

Mortal men of authority,

Will you ever cease to be?

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