Sixth session of the Jean-Luc Godard film programme, the first one dedicated to the full screening of “Histoires(s) du cinéma” (1989-1998), with the screening of the first chapter in its original division: “Histoire(s) du cinéma 1A: Toutes les Histories” (1989) and “Histoire(s) du cinéma 1B: Une histoire seule” (1989), both by Jean-Luc Godard.

HISTOIRE(S) DU CINÉMA 1A: TOUTES LES HISTOIRES

Jean-Luc Godard | FRA, SUI | 1989 | 51'

HISTOIRE(S) DU CINÉMA 1B: UNE HISTOIRE SEULE

Jean-Luc Godard | FRA, SUI | 1989 | 42'

One of the main works in Jean-Luc Godard's filmography, Histoire(s) du cinéma consists of a long and exhaustive video collage, using excerpts from films, still photographs, text on screen, and images of the director and other performers. Its barrage of images is sonically accompanied by a profusion of narrations, sound and musical passages, mixed with other devices, particularly Godard's narration. In its profound historical and cultural scope, Godard presents a subjective essay which sprungs directly from his own disillusionment with cinema's inability to effect profound revolutionary changes and save the world from its primordial horror. While the overarching theme of Histoire(s) may be the death of cinema, Godard's use of video as a way of synthesizing images from the entire history of the medium leads to a kind of requiem on the indelible power of cinema over our collective unconscious.