A R C H I V E1 9 8 7  
6th
  Dara Birnbaum
Damnation of Faust: a Charming Landscape
  USA 1987
Videotape, 6:30, colour and black-and-white
This production is part of a larger project called 'Damnation of Faust' of which the parts 'Evocation' and 'Will-o'-the-wisp (a deceitful goal)' were shown during previous festivals. Birnbaum asks questions about complexity and relations between individual and social experiences, through which personal recollections become part of a collective memory. Thus 'Charming Landscape' shows images of a New York play-ground, its demolition, and two teenagers' recollections of that specific spot. Their comments acquire a somewhat greater social significance when slow motion shots of protest actions by the American Civil Rights movement and by French and Chinese students start to take over the remarkably peaceful atmosphere of the play-ground in the concrete jungle.

Marie-Adèle Rajandream

Camera: Dara Birnbaum, Music: Keith James, Mike Nolan, Production: New Television WGBH/WNET, With: Georgeann Ditelli, Pam Hysinger