15° FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE CINEMA GIOVANI
Tribute To Robert Kramer

A toute allure

As Fast As You Can
by Robert Kramer
Country: France
Year: 1982
Duration: 61'


There is a roller skating rink next to the enormous shopping center at La Défense. This is a building made of chrome and glass, and of neon and music. Nellie and Serge are like all young people their age, but they have a different plan. They want to become Roller Derby champions, to go to America, and to join the Chicago Flyers. But how can they get ' the money to do this? One day, Nellie and Serge meet Félix, a newspaper reporter who is doing an investigative report on youth. Maybe his newspaper would be inclined to finance the two skaters' adventures so that they could publish their story. Serge is ready to collaborate, but Nellie is distrustful.


Biography

film director

Robert Kramer

Robert Kramer was born in New York in 1940. He studied philosophy and Western European History at Swarthmore College and Stanford University. He has written two unpublished novels, numerous poems, plays and short stories. In 1965 he organized the Newark Community Project (N-CUP) in an African-American community. He worked as a reporter in Latin America for various American publications. He worked with Peter Gessner on a film on the guerrilla movement in Venezuela. In 1966 he created Alpha 60 with Norman Fruchter, Robert Machover, Peter Gessner, and Mike Robinson. It was a sort of free cooperative of director-producers who later were channelled into the Newsreel movement, which Kramer helped found and organize. Kramer's Newsreel experience lasted from 1967 to 1971, during which about sixty short- and middle-length films were produced - documentaries, films of struggle, and agitation films. In the early 1980's he moved to Europe, and he currently is living and working in Paris.

FILMOGRAFIA

Regista/Director: Faln [Faln, 1965, In the Country [In campagna, 1966], The Edge [Il margine, 1967], Ice (id., 1969), People's War [La guerra del popolo, 19691, Milestones [Pietre miliari, 1975], Scenes from the Class Struggle in Portugal (Scene di lotta di classe dal Portogallo, 1979), Guns (Fucili, 1980), Un grand jour (en France) - Naissance [A Great Day (in France) - Birth / Un gran giorno (in Francia) - Nascita, 1981], A toute allure [As fast as you can / A tutta velocità, 1982], La peur [The fear / La paura, 1983], Sarkis al Woodrow Wilson - Musée d'Art Moderne [Sarkis at Woodrow Wilson - Museum of Modern Art / Sarkis at Woodrow Wilson - Museo d'Arte Moderna, 1984], Notre nazi / Unser Nazi [Our Nazi / Il nostro nazista, 1984], Diesel [Diesel, 1985], Un plan d'enfer [A Plan of Hell / Un piano infernale, 1986], X-Country [X-Country, 1987, inedito], Doc's Kingdom [Il regno di Doc, 1987], Route One / USA [Route One / USA, 1989], Dear Doc [Caro Doc, 1989, inedito], Maquette (brouillon de film) [Scale model (Draft of a Film) / Modello (Abbozzo di film) , 1990, inedito, incompiuto], Berlin 10/90 [Berlin 10/90, 1990-91], Sous le vent [Leeward / Sottovento, 1991], Series of Videoletters: Steve Dwoskin / Robert Kramer [Serie di videolettere: Steve Dwoskin / Robert Kramer, 1991, inedito], Ecrire contre l'oubli: pour Fidel Intrusca Fernández, Pérou [Writing against forgetting: for Fidel Intrusca Fernández, Peru / Scrivere contro l'oblio: per Fidel Intrusca Fernández, Perù, 1991], Point de départ / Starting Place (Starting Place / t.l. Punto di partenza, 1993), La Roue: Greg Lemond - Andrew Hampsten [The Wheel: Greg Lemond - Andrew Hampsten / La ruota: Greg Lemond - Andrew Hampsten, 1993], Walk the Walk [Walk the Walk, 1996], Le Manteau / Der Mantel [The Mantle / Il manto, 1996], Ghosts of Electricity [Fantasmi dell'elettricità, 1997].
Attore, sceneggiatore / Actor, screenwriter: Gestos e fragmentos (Gestures and Fragments / Gesti e frammenti, 1980-82) di Alberto Seixas Santos, Der Stand der Dinge (The State of Things, Lo stato delle cose, 1981) di Wim Wenders.

Declaration

film director

"It is a film about the power of money, about what is sold and what is bought, the thirst for life and the desire not to die too soon - a film for the Eighties" (Robert Kramer).

Cast

& Credits

Director and screenplay:Robert Kramer.
Director of photography: Richard Copans.
Editor: Dominique Forgue.
Operatore: Michel Lecocq.
Consigliere musicale: Barre Phillips.
Sound: André Siekierski.
Cast and characters: Laure Duthilleul (Nellie), William Cherino (Serge), Bernard Ballet (Félix), Manuelle Lidsky (Manu), Pierre Hurel (Carlo), Natacha Jeanneau (Natacha), Tai e Siow (i cantanti), Valérie Jeanneau (la madre), Yves Jeanneau (il padre), Didier Langlois (l'amico).
Production company: Institut National de l'Audiovisuel.
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