12° FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE CINEMA GIOVANI
Special Screenings 1994
Jonas in the Desert
by Peter Sempel
Country: Germany
Year: 1994
Duration: 110'
A documentary psychomusicfilm, Scenes and moments, outsiders, heroes and friends in the fantastic life of Jonas Mekas. Energy and belief. Underground and Hollywood bread, wine, cheese and sausage, sunflower, fluxus, man with cameraeye, New York, pyramids, Anthology Film Archives, lcarus, filmculture, Film Culture, diary, I had Nowhere to Go, tree, Lithuanian cow, "I want to be a poet", tree, clock, climb, I don't know yet, windows, Goethe, Sebastian, magic, 212-50555181, desire, insect, spider, hat, cat. Never give up! Up and down.
Biography
film director
Peter Sempel
Peter Sempel was born in Hamburg but he grew up in Australia. He returned to Germany in 1968 and enrolled at the University of Hamburg to study American literature. His moviemaking follows his passion for music, especially for the music of Einsturzende Neubauten, Nick Cave and Lou Reed. Sempel is one of the most original and "extreme" figures in contemporary independent cinema, accompanying his films around the world, and is always on the look-out for new experimentations. Jonas at the Ocean is the ideal continuation of Jonas in the Desert (1994). He recently finished Lemmy, a long documentary on the leader of the Motörhead.
FILMOGRAFIA
The Wild Raven (1984), Burning Raven (1985), Dandy (1988), Just Visiting This Planet (1991), Jonas in the Desert (1994), Hustler for Life (1997-8), Punk + Glory (1999), Jonas at the Ocean (2002), Lemmy (2002).
Declaration
film director
"Now, lets see, 1:05 pm N.Y. and 7:05 pm in Hamburg (Germany). I'm in Hamburg and you see the first part of a work in progress... 31 Jan. 1994: most of the texts from the film are in here, fotos + documents with/from themes/friends of films and adventures with Jonas Mekas, who came to light 1922, 24 Dec, Lithuania. His eyes were closed behind the iris. No light should irritate his home movie." (Peter Sempel).
Cast
& Credits
Director and editor: Peter Sempel.
Director of photography: Jonas Scholz, Peter Sempel, Frak Blassberg, Jonas Mekas.
Music: Katrin Achinger, Nick Cave + Bad Seeds, Birthday Party, canzoni folk lituane, Gun Club, Einstürzende Neubauten, Siouxsie + The Banshees, Kevin Coyne, Nina Hagen, Tiny Tim.
Sound: Ebba Jahn, J.T. Lee, J. Wolters, L. England, D. Bürgin.
Interpreti (amici in ordine di apparizione / filmfriends in order of appearance): Andy Warhol, Henry Geldzahler, Francis Lee, Kenneth Anger, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Beard, Stanley Bard, Paul Morrissey, Yoko Cino, Nina Hagen, Blixa Bargeld, Merce Cunningham, Kazuo Ono, Al Pacino, Martin Scorsese, Eileen Bowser, Kembra, P.A. Sitney, Nick Cave, Tanya Khabarowa, Pedro, Gozo Yoshimasu, Adolfas Mekas, Leo Letas.
Production company: Black Sun Flower Fiimproduction/Blitze im Eierbecher/P. Sempel, Ohlendorffstrasse 18, 20535 Hamburg, Germany, tel. +49-40-2500468, fax +49-40-3193197.
Foreign sales agent: Hamburger Filmbüro e.V. Friedensallee 7, 2000 Hamburg, Germany, tel. +49-40-391747.
Director of photography: Jonas Scholz, Peter Sempel, Frak Blassberg, Jonas Mekas.
Music: Katrin Achinger, Nick Cave + Bad Seeds, Birthday Party, canzoni folk lituane, Gun Club, Einstürzende Neubauten, Siouxsie + The Banshees, Kevin Coyne, Nina Hagen, Tiny Tim.
Sound: Ebba Jahn, J.T. Lee, J. Wolters, L. England, D. Bürgin.
Interpreti (amici in ordine di apparizione / filmfriends in order of appearance): Andy Warhol, Henry Geldzahler, Francis Lee, Kenneth Anger, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Beard, Stanley Bard, Paul Morrissey, Yoko Cino, Nina Hagen, Blixa Bargeld, Merce Cunningham, Kazuo Ono, Al Pacino, Martin Scorsese, Eileen Bowser, Kembra, P.A. Sitney, Nick Cave, Tanya Khabarowa, Pedro, Gozo Yoshimasu, Adolfas Mekas, Leo Letas.
Production company: Black Sun Flower Fiimproduction/Blitze im Eierbecher/P. Sempel, Ohlendorffstrasse 18, 20535 Hamburg, Germany, tel. +49-40-2500468, fax +49-40-3193197.
Foreign sales agent: Hamburger Filmbüro e.V. Friedensallee 7, 2000 Hamburg, Germany, tel. +49-40-391747.
