NEW OLD: OU LES CHRONIQUES DU TEMPS PRÉSENT (France, 1979, Pierre Clémenti)

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Clémenti’s second film is the chronicle of his life as an artist, and, like [his film] VISA DE CENSURE, it was shown in various cuts with live music before its final edit in 1979. Spanning the set of Luchino Visconti’s THE LEOPARD, Maurice Béjart’s ballets, and an encounter with Viva in Andy Warhol’s New York, the film’s episodic quality evokes Clémenti’s peripatetic existence. Its narrative vignettes are Clémenti’s first use of voiceover, bringing intimate sentiment and somber tones to a more introspective work. —The Museum of Modern Art

A cornucopia of approaches and styles. —ALT/KINO

A GROUP OF YOUNG BOHEMIANS IN NEW OLD OU LES CHRONIQUES DU TEMPS PRÉSENT.

NEW OLD: OU LES CHRONIQUES DU TEMPS PRÉSENT presents footage that Pierre Clémenti captured over the course of a decade, chronicling his wanderings between street scenes, movie sets, and drug subcultures, and offering an accelerated global tour through various facets of the 1960s and ‘70s counterculture.

ARTIST AND WARHOL SUPERSTAR VIVA IN NEW OLD OU LES CHRONIQUES DU TEMPS PRÉSENT.

One witnesses Clémenti’s encounters with Warhol superstar Viva and Warhol impersonator Allen Midgette and even Klaus Kinski, the renowned German actor, during the production of the French dramatic feature THE SONG OF ROLAND (1978). A metaphorical depiction of addiction is presented when a masked figure, demonic in appearance, approaches a woman and injects her with a needle. This sequence ushers the film into an allegorical dimension, evocative of the style of Pier Paolo Pasolini — a fitting parallel, as Clémenti was collaborating with Pasolini around the same time this footage was captured.

THE YOUNG WOMAN AND THE MASKED FIGURE IN NEW OLD: OU LES CHRONIQUES DU TEMPS PRÉSENT.

One also gets a firsthand glimpse into the countercultural art scene of the 1960s, where bohemians gather in the streets — drinking, smoking, and enjoying themselves — until they’re eventually confronted by the police. This moment in particular offers a vivid, true-to-life portrayal of proletariat versus authority, reminiscent of scenes from LA SUA GIORNATA DI GLORIA, a film Clémenti starred in around this time.

In addition to Viva, Midgette, Béjart, and Kinski, Clémenti himself appears in the film alongside such artists and actors as Nico, Tania Zazulinsky, Nadine Alkan, and Michelle Bernet.

Pierre Clémenti IN NEW OLD: OU LES CHRONIQUES DU TEMPS PRÉSENT.

NEW OLD OU LES CHRONIQUES DU TEMPS PRÉSENT
(France, 1979)

Director: Pierre Clémenti

  • 67 minutes
  • 16mm
  • Color
  • Sound
Distribution Format/s: DSL/Downloadable 1080p .mp4 file on server

Published By: GME

Institutional Price: $250

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