Festival archive

mobile navigation

interfilm 2017

SP 09 Beckett on Film


In its first season under new artistic directorship Volksbühne is presenting a selection of works by Samuel Beckett. interfilm is on hand to supply the matching film program with rarely seen Beckett classics including "Film" directed by Alan Schneider (1965) and the Beckett-directed "Quad", along with contemporary adaptations such as "Breath" directed by Damien Hirst and director Robin Lefevre’s "A Piece of Monologue". Program presenter John Keogh will also host a Q & A with Walter Asmus on his cooperative work with Beckett.

back to festival list interfilm 2017
7 films
Film

Film

Alan Schneider // Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika // 1965 // 16:57 min

In this black-&-white film by Alan Schneider the camera seems to follow the main character, played by Buster Keaton, absolutely everywhere he goes. Our protagonist does his very best to escape the camera’s unwavering eye.

Quad I

Quad I

Samuel Beckett // Deutschland // 1981 // 05:34 min

Four creatures in various colored hooded robes appear doomed to follow their assigned paths on a square space.

Quad II

Quad II

Samuel Beckett // Deutschland // 1981 // 05:56 min

This time the protagonists appear in white robes, but their destiny also seems to be devoid of the freedom to escape walking their tedious paths.

Footfalls

Footfalls

Walter Asmus // Großbritannien // 2000 // 26:00 min

A mother and daughter live together, apparently cut off from the outside world. We only ever hear the mother’s voice in the background while we see the daughter wandering the hallway in one repetitive step after the other.

What Where

What Where

Samuel Beckett // Deutschland // 1986 // 12:00 min

This 1986 piece has the audience eavesdropping on the voices coming from faces apparently floating through eternity.

A Piece of Monologue

A Piece of Monologue

Robin Lefevre // England // 2001 // 17:07 min

This film is an adaptation of a 1979 play by Samuel Beckett. Shot in intense close-ups, the narrator tells us a story of birth and death.

Breath

Breath

Damien Hirst // Großbritannien // 2000 // 01:30 min

Damien Hirst takes a Samuel Beckett script here to present a minimalistic piece, only around 30 seconds long with no protagonists at all.