Cinema is, by its very nature, an epic undertaking. When a filmmaker boldly sets out to push the limits of cinema and turn it into an veritable feat, it’s a rare and treasured occasion.
Such is the case with French New Waver Jacques Rivette and his masterpiece OUT 1. Filmed in 1971 this film has held a special place in the hearts of cinephiles for years. With its upcoming restored release through Arrow Films, London film groups The Badlands Collective and A Nos Amours have teamed up to screen the mammoth 13-hour romp for an eager audience at The Prince Charles Cinema in a few days time.
Spanning the entire weekend (November 28-29), this event promises to be the stuff of legend.
I sat down with two of the Badlands Collective’s founders and programmers, Phil Concannon and Ian Mantgani, to discuss what makes this film so special. Their passion for this event shines through and – frankly – its hard not to catch. Here’s what they had to say:
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For those who are still uninitiated, briefly tell me what makes The Badlands Collective special?
Mantgani: We are a group of film lovers who – without much previous experience in film programming – have come together to try and programme films that don’t get programmed ordinarily. We love 35 mm film prints as a exhibition medium but we also show some new films. We look for things that aren’t being shown that we want to see.
Concannon: We really want to share these films with people. We love these films. Often, people have never seen them and that is the most gratifying thing for us.
Is there a method to how you choose the films? Is there a theme you go for as a through line?
Mantgani: [The Badlands Collective has] actually become a very fitting name for us in as much as we’re picking things out of the wilderness. We’re swimming against the tide in terms of how programming is normally done. Normally you have to identify a specific audience and program to it. Whereas we’re picking out the unloved babies that we love and trying to find homes for them, trying to get people to come and coo at them. So, that means we don’t have one specific [theme].
What was the meeting like that led you to OUT 1?
Concannon: Well OUT 1 is something that’s been kind of our radar for a long time. A Nos Amours, another group of curators [based in London], have been chasing this print for a very long time. They wanted to show it and were looking for a 16 mm print in Europe. They planned to screen it with live subtitling, they have 20 volunteers lined up to do subtitling and then the print disappeared. There is now no print that is suitable to screen for this film that we know of. So when this restoration happened in France, from Carlotta Films, we thought, “This is the opportunity we’ve been looking for.”
Mantgani: For us, OUT 1 was a no-brainer. As soon as the opportunity arose to screen it, we had to do it. Once we actually made the decision, we started to realize how tunnel-visioned we are because this is a film that is so huge for serious film lovers and its such a once-in-a-lifetime event for film lovers, you assume there is going to be a massive audience there waiting. Then you forget what a small community you are sometimes. Then the challenge becomes to speak to a wider audience about it, to explain to them that this is a 13-hour film.
Also, I was trying to figure out…this is only the tenth, twelfth time its been screened?
Concannon: There was one screening in France in 1971 and it was forgotten instantly.
Mantgani: This is where the legend of it grew. It became more talked about than seen. And it did screen once in London in 2006 as part of the BFI’s Jacques Rivette season. But that’s it. And because people can binge-watch things and its going to be on DVD (finally), we thought this was the one chance to get it into a cinema before the DVD release.
Concannon: The start and end points of every episode are very arbitrary. Rivette just decided to chop here and that’s one episode. This is meant to be watch as one piece. I don’t think the individual episodes stand up as well on their own as they do as the whole piece. You need the immersive experience, you need to follow these characters all the way through their journey and that’s the way you get the special sensation of what Rivette is doing.
Mantgani: This is also a kind of a film designed for people who want to go on a journey that is so far out of the mainstream. That’s why it’s called OUT 1: It’s called that as opposed to the word “in”, which was so in fashion in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. So it’s those outsiders that are willing to take a leap into the unknown who are going to be most rewarded by the experience.
So what’s the one piece of advice you have for watching OUT 1, as a first time viewer? A survival tip, if you will. I know there are breaks scheduled in for this screening so, is that any way you can truly prepare for it?
Concannon: You just need to be open-minded and approach it with a sense of curiosity, an open mind and a willingness to be led. It’s basically a film unfolding for you in a way that you’ve never seen before and never felt before. It can be challenging at times, particularly at the start. You have to adjust to the film’s rhythms. It really has to be a collaboration between the film and the audience; you have to meet the film halfway.
Mantgani: In terms of just the pure stamina of sitting through something that is so long, I think the answer to the question is that you just have to let go. Don’t force yourself to stay awake. Just see what happens.
For more information and tickets check out The Badlands Collective website, or The Prince Charles Cinema – where this event will be taking place.
