Stephen Dwoskin 14 films Box 1/3 DVD 1 (1968-2003)

Stephen Dwoskin (born 1939) is an accomplished experimental filmmaker who contracted polio as a child in New York City. This progressively affected his mobility. He is now a wheelchair user. He studied at Parsons School of Design and at New York University, receiving a Fulbright Scholarship to move to London in 1964, where is he still based. He was a co-founder of the London Film-Makers' Co-op. In 1967-1968 he won the Solvey Prize at the Knokke Experimental Film Festival in Belgium for a series of short films which established his reputation. Screenings of his films have been worldwide including Cannes, Berlin, Rotterdam, Toronto, Lucarno, Pesaro, Mannheim, Oberhausen, Sydney, Melbourne, Hamburg, San Francisco, Turin, Riga, Madrid, Barcelona, and Benalmadena. He is also a maker of documentaries: 'Face of Our Fear', one of the films he made to address attitudes to disabilities, was broadcast on Channel Four, UK in 1992. Awards include L'Age d'or prize, Brussels Film Festival 1982.

Une femme chantonne en deambulant tranquillement en robe de chambre. Cette scene tranquille, se transforme peu a peu en une magnifique peinture mobile. Dwoskin, peintre et cineaste, prend son modele comme support, tout en semblant masquer son corps avec des couches de peinture, il reussit a capter, grace a la camera, l'etre interieur.

DIRTY is the reincarnation of two girls, a bottle and one bed. Their bodies, hands and face expressions reach out in a refilm look. "DIRTY was originally shot in 1965. The footage was found in a very bad state and 'restored' with all marks, breaks, dirt, etc. deliberately left in place. But this is not the only thing that makes this a 'dirty' film; we see two almost naked women in a bed, first drinking from a bottle, then playing with it and ultimately engaging in erotic play. The dirt marks, the grainy texture of the image and the breakdown of the continuity of the action give the whole film the quality of a highly charged erotic memory. It creates the effect of a dreamlike recalling of a scene with the dreamer's freedom to re-run or pause on particular gestures and freeze certain privileged moments such as the caress of a hand, the bounce of a breast, a look, etc. The film becomes an erotic daydream, a play with sensual images retained from a scene witnessed sometime in the past."

It is quite revealing how complex the simple form is. Shot one to one, a girl is confronted with nothing more than her thoughts. In the period of watching her (while she is looking at you) her expressions and movements turn into a 'mirror' for the viewer to experience his or herself. The experience is solely emotive between you and her, and occurs in "real" time.

An ode to my father, and perhaps to all fathers. Called a "moving painting" by my sister, the film blends found family footage of the young and the ageing father. It takes the tiny gestures of daily life and turns them into the monumental moments of tenderness and respect.

Mon grand-pere etait un artiste plein de charme et il aurait joue la comedie s'il avait eu un public. Dans ce film, extrait d'images familiales, c'est une simple poire qui fait l'objet de son panache.

Suddenly and sadly my dear friend Frances died. At that moment of loss I needed to hold on to her. The film is just that.

Director: Stephen Dwoskin
Production land: USA, UK
Official site Stephen Dwoskin