A feature film celebrating Giordano Bruno, a philosopher, a rebel, the first beatnik - burned alive as a heretic in Rome, February 17, 1600.
Once again Adolfas Mekas will collaborate with David Avallone on this epic film, to be shot in Italy in 2010. A cast of thousands, and it will feature the actual burning of a live man.
]]>www.shootandrunproductions.com
Guerilla filmmaker Chris Hume will go where angels fear to tread. Don’t miss his “Red State Road Trip.”
The largest avant-garde and independent film distributor based in Paris, with a small branch in New York. Pip, the distributor, has started publishing books too.
Most innovative summer workshop for modern, jazz, tap, hiphop, Latino, etc. An American company conducting dance workshops in Florence and in Castiglioncello by the sea in Tuscany. Top choreographers/teachers come from US and Europe.
One-man-production-team Dick Evans has been turning out feature films one after the other. Professional, imaginative and off the wall!
The Separate Cinema Archive is the only source dedicated to the art and history of the African-Americans in film. The Archive of over 25,000 posters, lobby cards, stills and assorted ephemera spans the past century of important and historic black cinema. The Archive also collects other film posters worldwide. Traveling Film Poster Exhibitions. Sales. Trades.
]]>OLD IS THIS RUSHING OF RAIN
Old is this rushing of rain down the bush branches,
the droning of grouse in the red dawn of summer -
old is this our talking:
of the yellow fields of barley and oat,
the herdsmen fires in the wet, windy loneliness of autumn,
of potato digging time,
and of the sultry heat of summer,
the white glare of winter, the din of sleighs on endless roads.
And about the heavy timber wagons, the boulders in the fallow,
about the red clay ovens and limestone in the fields;
and then by lamplight in the evenings, in the autumn fields of grey -
about the wagonloads for tomorrow's market,
about the flooded and washed-out October roads,
and the wet potato digs.
Old is this our living here - many generations
walked these fields and left imprints,
each foot of ground still speaks and breathes of forefathers.
From the same cool stone wells
they watered returning broad herds,
and when the earthen floors hollowed in the rooms
and the walls in the house started slowly to crumble -
from the same pits they dug yellow clay,
golden sand - from the same fields.
And when we too are gone,
others will sit on the blue stones on the edge of the field,
will mow the overgrown floodplains and plow the slopes;
and when, back from work, they sit at the tables -
each table will speak, each clay pitcher,
each log in the wall;
they will remember wide yellow sand pits
and rye fields billowing in the wind,
the sad songs of our women in flax fields,
and that smell, the first time in a new house! -
the smell of fresh moss.
Oh, old is the flowering of clover,
the snorting of horses in a summer's night -
and the rustling sound of rollers, harrows and plows,
the heavy rumbling of millstones,
the white glimmer of the scarves of women weeding gardens -
old is this rushing of rain down the bush branches,
the droning of grouse in the red dawn of summer -
old is this our talking.
JONAS MEKAS
A poet and a filmmaker. Much has been written and published worldwide about Jonas Mekas’ numerous films and his relentless advocacy of independent-personal-poetic cinema. But his poetry written in the Lithuanian language is celebrated only in Lithuania. Though some of Jonas’ later poems were translated into French, Japanese, Polish, German, and other languages, his major work, Idylls of Semeniskiai, remains mostly unknown outside his native country. One of the reasons is the complexity of the language Jonas uses in his pastoral poems which cannot be easily translated.
This English translation of Idylls of Semeniskiai is as close to the original Lithuanian as it can ever be.
Jonas has published a long list of poetry books, but Idylls, his first book published in 1948, is considered a major work in the contemporary Lithuanian poetry.
Nature, all but unmediated, pulses through the poems of recollected childhood that renowned filmmaker Jonas Mekas wrote in displaced camps in Germany just after World War II. Barred from returning to his native Lithuania, which had been occupied by the Russians, he concentrated instead on conjuring lost landscapes in free-verse “idylls” that recall Virgil’s Georgics, Hölderlin, Stifter, Clare, Leopardi, Rilke, Pasternak, and William Carlos Williams, and are as direct as cinematography. His brother and fellow cineaste Adolfas, who was with him in exile and had shared those Kinderszenen, has performed a valuable service by rendering these marvelous poems in a crystalline translation whose clarity and emotional nuance are that of memory itself. Idylls of Semeniskiai is a spellbinding work of collaboration.
— John Ashbery
Foto: Hollis Melton.
In those days, in Wiesbaden and Kassel, we were re-discovering, re-inventing and re-writing the Lithuanian language.
Leonas Letas, Jonas and I found ways of making nouns out of verbs and adjectives. And verbs out of anything. We became experts in the use of the dative – we could use this case anywhere anytime.
Jonas, Adolfas and Leonas Letas in the Blue Room – our “University” in Mattenberg.
Foto: Adolfas Mekas.
In writing Idylls of Semeniskiai, Jonas used a combination of common Lithuanian, regional dialect, some words peculiar to the village of Semeniskiai, and words familiar only to the members of the Mekas family. Many words in the Idylls are no longer found in daily use in today’s Lithuania.
In Idylls of Semeniskiai, Jonas invented words in Lithuanian to describe the sound of rain, wind, snow, etc. –- the made-up words were suggested by the sound these phenomena produced. This caused problems in translation.
In the translation, I retained the unusual sentence structure, uncommon punctuations, unfinished sentences, sudden shifts in tense or perspective, and unjustified transitions.
Having grown up together, I shared with my brother the same life on the farm. In my memory’s eye I can see the images Jonas is describing in the Idylls. The blue flax made into white linen. The snow and the river ice. The squeaking of well sweeps. Cray fishing deep into the summer night or lying sleepless in the hay loft – listening to the sharp cry of corn crakes and mole crickets in wet ditches. Picking wild berries in the woods or sweating in the hot summer fields raking hay or picking potatoes in autumn’s freezing rain. Or helping our father kill a pig and watching mother cut it up to become ham, bacon, sausages, or bones and cartilage to be boiled to make soap.
— Adolfas Mekas
Click here to read an excerpt.
ISBN 978-0-9763967-7-7
Limited Edition of 100 copies numbered and signed by the Author and the Translator available from the Publisher.
Hallelujah Editions
$20.00
Plus $3.50 shipping
(Note: If you wish to pay by check instead of PayPal, add all the items to your cart to find out the total with shipping. International orders please add an additional $8 per two books. Send your check to Hallelujah Editions, PO Box 15, Annandale NY 12504.)
]]>So, instead of making a film, we decided to write it. There will be a series of scripts-ready-for-production, scripts that will never be produced. By reading these scripts you can be your own producer, cinematographer, casting director, and the film director himself - all in one. Go for it!
Our first offerings:
]]>The author, a basket weaver from North Dakota, years ago came to New York City to sell his wares. He sold all the baskets, made loads of money, and went to make a film called "Hallelujah the Hills," and later he did some other foolish things. Adolfas Mekas is not his real name.
A full-length movie script, with no pictures. $15.00 I will BUY it ( ) NO WAY I WILL BUY IT ( ) If you opt for No way I will buy it, you will have to tell us why you are not buying before you have read it. This could be your big chance. If your story is good, we will publish it.
Click here to read an excerpt.
(Note: If you wish to pay by check instead of PayPal, add all the items to your cart to find out the total with shipping. International orders please add an additional $8 per two books. Send your check to Hallelujah Editions, PO Box 15, Annandale NY 12504.)
]]>One child mocks the others.
CHILD
(chanting)
Mama and papa will make babies!
Other children chase this one. Leopold folds the cutouts as Mitch writes up the order.
MITCH
All our plots are guaranteed for eternity, or your
money back. If you have time, I'll show you a
sample grave. Dug yesterday. Very fresh.
HUSBAND
Yeah, I'd like to see that.
EXT. POOL - DAY
Louis is in a hammock, sipping a summer drink from a tall glass.
LOUIS
That was Part One. The second part of
the day was also spent in the instruction
and education of Leopold.
SUPERIMPOSED: Let thine eyes behold the things! -Ps. 17:2
Louis stops drinking and looks at the quote.
LOUIS
The things?
Linda and Leopold are in the pool. Linda holds up visual aids used earlier. She is holding in front of herself a picture of the two hills.
LINDA
Repeat after me: These are the best hills
you will ever find in the county. No sand!
LEOPOLD
These are the best hills…
LINDA
(interrupting)
Very good, Leopold. Show me those hills.
As Leopold is about to touch the picture of the hills, she drops the cardboard and his finger ends up on her breast.
Linda grabs Leopold and goes for his lips. Slowly they sink under water, in a tight embrace.
When they come up, he is dressed as Solomon of the Bible and she - as the Queen of Sheba, both fully dry. They sit in the pool on royal chairs.
LEOPOLD
(singing & playing lute?)
Thy two breasts are like two young roedeer
twins, which feed among the lilies.
SUPERIMPOSED over the image: The song subtitled in Hebrew and the reference: Song of Solomon 4:5
LINDA
(singing)
My beloved put his hand through the key hole,
and my bowels were moved at his touch.
SUPERIMPOSED over the image: The song subtitled in Hebrew and the reference: Song of Solomon 5:4
BACK TO SCENE – Louis in the hammock.
LOUIS
Leopold learned his business well: Part One
and Part Two. Olé!
EXT. CEMETERY/GOLF COURSE - DAY
The part of the cemetery that adjoins the golf course is full of those little plot markers, indicating a sold-out situation. Leopold is measuring the last plot for a CUSTOMER, dressed like a movie Mafioso. It is a big order - a plot for twelve.
LEOPOLD
...nine, eleven, twelve.
CUSTOMER
I really appreciate this. I know it was so sudden
and all. I didn't know what I'd have done with
twelve bodies.
Customer shakes Leopold's hand and rushes off. Leopold sticks in those markers, all the way to the 9th hole and beyond it.
EXT. POOL - DAY
Louis in a hammock is sipping from a tall glass.
LOUIS
I love it, I love it, I love it.
Louis turns and waves at Linda who waves back, as she lies in the nude by the pool. Next to her lies Leopold, nude too.
LINDA
Put thy hand under my thigh.
LEOPOLD
Ibidem.
LINDA
What's that you said?
LEOPOLD
Ibidem. Means the same reference as before.
LINDA
Ibidem!
Leopold complies – he puts his hand under her thigh.
TITLE: VERY EARLY IN THE MORNING. -Num. 14:40
EXT. POOL - MORNING
Louis sits up in the hammock.
LOUIS
This is a true story. It did happen. I should
know. I know the story. I’m the narrator.
EXT. HOUSE - MORNING
Mitch slings the golf bag over his shoulder and walks away from the house, as seen through the Linda’s bedroom window, with Linda in foreground.
INT. LEOPOLD'S ROOM - MORNING
Leopold in bed, sleeping. Three knocks on the wall. Leopold jumps out of bed naked and leaves the room.
INT. LINDA'S BEDROOM - MORNING
Leopold jumps into Linda's bed. She touches a button, and the round white bed begins to rotate.
Neon lights flash over the bed: Love me. Love me.
- Gen. 29:32
Another set of lights flash: I will love thee. I will love thee.
-Ps. 17:2
Leopold dressed as Solomon and Linda – as the Queen of Sheba. They are on the rotating bed.
LINDA
(singing)
Abide between my breasts.
Flashes over the bed: Song of Solomon 1:12
LEOPOLD
(singing)
Thy breasts are better than wine.
Flashes over the bed: Song of Solomon 1:1
EXT. GOLF COURSE - MORNING
Mitch trips and falls on the green. It is one of those plot markers. He pulls it out and throws it away, not giving it a thought.
INT. LINDA'S BEDROOM - DAY
Linda and Leopold on the rotating bed.
LINDA
(singing)
Thy hair is as flock of goats which come
up from Mount Gilead.
Flashes over the bed: Song of Solomon 4:1
LEOPOLD
(singing)
Make haste my love, my dove, my beautiful
one, and come. Come!
Flashes over the bed: Song of Solomon 2:10
EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN - DAY
The cow is munching on green vegetables. Louis comes carrying a milk stool and a bucket. Suzie moos.
LOUIS
Milk time, Suzie.
He prepares to milk. He hears the distant Dies Irae.
EXT. GOLF COURSE - DAY
Mitch swings the club and follows the ball with his eyes. He hears Dies Irae also. He hums along.
The golf ball rolls past several freshly dug graves, past the 9th hole, then rolls into an open grave.
EXT. CEMETERY ROAD - DAY
A funeral procession of twelve hearses approaches the golf course. Many MAFIOSI in black suits and carrying huge flower arrangements follow the hearses.
Male Chorus sings Dies Irae.
EXT. VEGETABLE GARDEN - DAY
Louis stops milking. He stands up on the milk stool and sees the funeral procession in the golf course.
EXT. GOLF COURSE - DAY
There are twelve freshly dug graves, all the way beyond the 9th hole. Mitch comes up and looks down into the grave.
Mitch’s POV - his golf ball in the grave.
Mitch's face goes "white." He throws the golf bag down into the grave, turns and runs back, carrying one golf club.
He slows down reverently, as he passes the funeral procession. Then picks up speed again.
EXT. HOUSE - DAY
Louis runs into the house, milk spilling out of the bucket.
INT. HALLWAY - DAY
Louis runs into Leopold's room, comes out and runs into Linda's room. He still carries the milk bucket.
INT. LINDA'S ROOM - DAY
Louis and Linda are still in biblical costumes, on the rotating bed.
LOUIS
Leopold, let's get out of here!
LEOPOLD
What’s wrong?
LOUIS
Mitch is coming! It’s about the plots you sold
on the ninth green, when he was in Florida.
Remember?
LINDA
You didn't!? He will kill you!
LEOPOLD
I’ll run!
Leopold drop his biblical robe – he is naked.
EXT. HOUSE - DAY
Mitch rushes in, holding the club high, and yelling like a samurai - AD LIB.
INT. LINDA'S BEDROOM - DAY
They all hear the yelling.
LINDA
That's the ninth hole yell.
Leopold looks for his clothes. He can't find them.
LEOPOLD
My clothes!
Flashes over the bed: Flee away naked! –Amos 2:16
Linda throws him a sexy see-through robe.
]]>17. The power of the spirit of the Silver Halide is there only for those who wilt wish to see it.
18. If thou hast no Camera, paint thee thine Film upon Clear Leader, for St. Tula Blesses the Image thus born of an Immaculate conception.
19. Blame not broken Equipment. Your vision may be too small to see what the broken Camera sees.
Chapter 3
St. Tula loves your Film. Even if no one else does.
2. Count thy sprocket holes as thou would the beads of a rosary.
3. Dream Twenty-four Dreams per second.
4. Do not let others convince you that your Dreams resemble their own lack of Imagination.
5. Critics, commit not an act of blasphemy upon my followers by casting judgments of a literary nature upon poetry for the eye alone.
]]> MILES
Looks like you are trying to impress someone.
Peggy does few poses, as if it were for camera.
MILES
Let's go meet Richard C. Bywaters.
Peggy grabs her bathrobe and follows Miles.
EXT. JAEGER'S HOUSE - DAY
They come out of the house and Miles stops in her tracks.
MILES
I'll kill Harry. He took my car again.
They get into the Land Rover, and Miles revs up the engine. The car takes off
in a cloud of flying gravel.
EXT. SUBURBAN STREETS - DAY
Richard is standing at a bus stop. Land Rover arrives.
MILES
You want to drive?
Miles moves carefully to the center of the front seat, trying not to spill rum-coffee.
She sits straddling the stick shift.
RICHARD
I love to drive.
ALTERNATE AS NEEDED BETWEEN - INT. LAND ROVER - DAY
and
EXT. STREET - DAY
Richard gets in on the wrong side.
RICHARD
Where's the wheel?
He notices the wheel on the other side, jumps out of the car and runs around it.
MILES
You sure you know how to drive?
RICHARD
You must be kidding. I'm American! We invented
driving.
MILES
Then - drive on!
Richard puts the car in motion. He drives US fashion - wrong side of the road for Australia.
Oncoming traffic is in his lane. Richard honks frantically.
RICHARD
(to other drivers)
Hey! Hey, what do you want do - kill us!?
Cars go by, people shout at Richard - AD LIB. Richard shouts back - AD LIB.
He barely avoids a head-on crash.
MILES
Richard! You're driving on the wrong side.
Go to your left! Your left! Left!
Richard barely makes it to the left side of the street, as a huge truck goes
by at high speed.
MILES
Stay on the left side. Drive against the traffic.
RICHARD
You crazy!
Richard becomes frantic - looks left, then right. Honking cars pass him on both sides.
MILES
Get off the road. Go to the side, quick.
RICHARD
Which side? I can't!
MILES
Don't panic. Richard, don't panic. Just do
as I say. Stay to your left. Left!
An intersection is coming up. The red light changes to green and then the onrush of
cars - all heading for the Land Rover.
RICHARD
They're coming! What do I now? Help!
Richard brings the Land Rover to a halt in the middle of the road. Peggy,
frightened into speechlessness, jumps out of the Land Rover. Miles tries to
stop her, but ends up with Peggy's robe in her hand.
MILES
Peggy, get back into the car!
Peggy, wearing the tiny bikini, is in the middle of the street, with heavy traffic
all around her. Drivers slow down, shout - AD LIB - at Peggy.
Peggy realizes how scantily she is dressed, and rushes back to the Land Rover.
Peggy is trying to open the door - the door is locked.
Richard doesn't know what to do - he sits "paralyzed."
MILES
Go, Richard, go!
Richard steps on the gas with Peggy hanging to the outside of the car, on driver's side.
Soon, the Land Rover is blocked by a truck. Richard stops the car.
MILES
Keep going!
RICHARD
(slowly)
I can't.
MILES
(to Peggy outside he car)
Get in before we all get arrested – our picture
will be in all the papers.
Peggy tries to open the locked door.
Richard sits "paralyzed" by fear. Miles reaches across Richard to unlock the driver's door.
Peggy gets into the car, manages to squeeze between Richard and the steering wheel,
and sits down in the middle of the front seat, straddling the gear shift.
They all sit, doing nothing.
MILES
Ok, let's just sit and wait for the police.
We all strip!
Miles takes off her beach robe. She is wearing a topless swimming suit.
MILES
Strip! We all go to jail together. Strip, Richard!
Richard takes off his shirt, and jumps out of the Land Rover. He dashes across
the road, wearing only his shorts. The cars barely miss him.
Miles jumps out of the car, runs around to get into driver's seat. She eases the
car back into normal traffic, left side of the road.
She overtakes Richard, who stays right behind the Land Rover - all the way to the house.
EXT. JAEGER'S HOUSE - DAY
The Land Rover arrives at full speed, with Richard running behind it. Miles and Peggy
get out. Peggy is still dressed in her tiny bikini, and Miles - topless.
Richard collapses in the driveway.
MILES
You're pretty good, Dick. We couldn't shake
you.
RICHARD
(gasping)
Been running all my life.
Nikolai, chest deep, is digging a grave. He looks toward the source of sound.
NIKOLAI
Yes, boss!
Nikolai climbs out of the grave, brushes off dirt.
EXT. POOL - DAY
Gore is sitting by the pool. Nikolai comes, brushing himself off.
GORE
Finish the grave later.
NIKOLAI
But the funeral is...
GORE
(interrupting)
You may have to dig two more.
NIKOLAI
Don't understand.
GORE
The Americans are at the hotel.
NIKOLAI
Which hotel?
GORE
What do you mean which hotel!
(explaining)
There-is-only-one on the island, idiot!
NIKOLAI
(hits his forehead)
Oh!
GORE
They must be hungry. Go poison their
food.
NIKOLAI
I am good with poisons.
GORE
I don't want to find them on our charming
island tomorrow.
NIKOLAI
You won't. I'm not a specialist for nothing.
INT. HOTEL/KITCHEN - NIGHT
The COOK is handling
a great many live eels. Nikolai comes in and gives him a basket of mushrooms.
NIKOLAI
For our honored guests, with Gore Sheed's
compliments.
The Cook examines the mushrooms. They are small and very green. He shakes his head.
NIKOLAI
Our guest is a mushroomologist. He loves
all mushrooms. This is a surprise for him.
The Cook throws the green mushrooms into a frying pan. Smoke comes out.
INT. HOTEL RESTAURANT - NIGHT
The Cook serves Cary and Miss Brevity eels on very long plates; the eels are surrounded
by little green mushrooms.
MISS BREVITY
What cute mushrooms.
She is ready to eat them.
CARY
Don't. They are poisonous.
He picks up one with his fork, and eats it.
MISS BREVITY
How come you eat them?
CARY
I'm immune. I grew up with these things.
INT. FUNERAL PARLOR- NIGHT
Nikolai walks through the parlor, and glances at the dead in the coffin. He walks
toward a door in the back. Sound of a rifle shot.
NIKOLAI
Lasko, are you ok?
Nikolai rushes into...
INT. FUNERAL HOME/LASKO'S WORKSHOP - NIGHT
...Lasko's workshop.
NIKOLAI
Gore says...
LASKO
Wait. I’ll do one more.
Lasko fills a bullet with paint, plugs it, puts it into a pistol.
TIGHT ON THE METAL PLATE - as the bullet hits it, colors splash.
Sound of the bullet ricocheting in the room.
Nikolai and Lasko duck. Sound of a window glass shattering.
LASKO
Now talk.
NIKOLAI
Gore says you make two more coffins. For
tomorrow.
LASKO
Who died?
NIKOLAI
The Americans.
LASKO
How tall are... I mean - how tall were they?
Using his own height, Nikolai indicates the sizes with his hand.
NIKOLAI
What is all this shooting?
LASKO
I am making Dali originals. Did you notice
her smile when you came in?
NIKOLAI
That's the first thing I noticed - her smile.
A very good job.
LASKO
Thank you.
NIKOLAI
I go back and see if they are dead. If they
are, I'll bring them here tonight.
INT. HOTEL RESTAURANT - NIGHT
Cary forges Nikolai's signature on the French Traveler’s check, and hands it to the Cook.
The Cook looks at the plates - long spines of tiny bones on the plates - both eels have
been eaten cleanly. Only one green mushroom is left.
CUT TO:
Nikolai looking at the same plates. He is delighted.
NIKOLAI
I think I done it again! I’m the best at
poisons in the whole charming island
of ours.
He reads our scripts. You can too.
Photo credit: John Kisch.
Carl Sandburg reads our books. You can too.
George Binkey, Bard College Graduate of 1915, loves St. Tula.
They listen to Pola Chapelle sing every time. You can too.
From left to right: La Regina, the Court Jester, the King, the King's secret lover.
Everything goes. Sempre Avanti!
Your order will be shipped promptly.
]]>