Event

MARINETTI

dir. Albie Thoms, 1969
85 mins. Australia.

MARINETTI is not a Hollywood film of predigested responses. Unless an audience is prepared to give itself for the duration of the film, to accept the delirium, then communication is stifled the audience at the films Sydney premiere were not willing to do this, and by their own hostiligy created an unpleasant experience. Images relayed at the rate of twenty four per second might be murder on the eyes for some people, but for others they can create the delirium that is communicative. Those that booed and walked out of MARINETTI might think of the opening of Jarrys Ubu Roi in 1896, where a similar demonstration took place. Film enthusiasts might recall audiences who booed and hissed when the first screen closeup was used that the audience, resentful that they couldnt se the actors hands and feet, felt that something was being denied to them. MARINETTI is feature length because I hoped it would be an experience that would affect peoples lives. Joan Kerr of Nation (Sydney) saw the theme of MARINETTI as the inevitable myth of 20th century man as he progresses from an idyllyc view of life through personal madness to the final realization that the whole world is insane and the only solution to it all is to endure it. But the final words of the film are not endure but enjoy Audiences can avoid or endure it, or enjoy it. The responsibility is with them. My responsibility ended when I completed the film. Albie Thoms, Polemics For A New Cinema