Letter from Paris
FRG 1976

FRG 1976, “Brief von Paris” (original title), 40 min, colour, no dialogues dir Walerian Borowczyk sc Walerian Borowczyk cam Michel Zolat (Walerian Borowczyk) ed Walerian Borowczyk mus Tom Schmitt, Walerian Borowczyk prod Eckart Stein, Annegret Even pc ZDF sales ZDF

In 1976 Borowczyk was commissioned by ZDF’s Eckart Stein to make an experimental portrait portrait of his adopted home, Paris. Shooting on 16mm film cartridges using a compact, clockwork Krasnogorsk movie camera, Borowczyk presents the French capital as an urban hell. Unlike the ‘city symphonies’ of Vertov and Ruttmann, there is no optimism here, but rather the loneliness of an atomised, overly mechanical and resoundingly consumerist society. A brief glimpse of a giant billboard advertising The Margin testifies to the sheer range of Borowczyk’s vision. Also, look out for Borowczyk’s reflection behind the eyepiece of his camera…