Background
Alain Tanner was born on December 6, 1929 in Geneva.
(Revisioning Europe is among the few existing English lang...)
Revisioning Europe is among the few existing English language discussions of the films made by British novelist John Berger and Swiss film director Alain Tanner. It brings to light a political cinema that was both unsentimental about the possibilities of revolutionary struggle and unsparing in its critique of the European left, and at the same time optimistic about the ability of radicalismwhile radical artto transform the world. Jerry White argues that Berger and Tanner's work is preoccupied with ideas that were at the same time central to the Enlightenment and characteristically Swiss. Translations of previously unpublished essays by both Berger and Tanner are included as appendices. Revisioning Europe is among the few existing English language discussions of the films made by British novelist John Berger and Swiss film director Alain Tanner. It brings to light a political cinema that was both unsentimental about the possibilities of revolutionary struggle and unsparing in its critique of the European left, and at the same time optimistic about the ability of radicalismwhile radical artto transform the world. Jerry White argues that Berger and Tanner's work is preoccupied with ideas that were at the same time central to the Enlightenment and characteristically Swiss. Translations of previously unpublished essays by both Berger and Tanner are included as appendices.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1552385507/?tag=2022091-20
(The screenplay for the 1976 Best Screenplay winner from t...)
The screenplay for the 1976 Best Screenplay winner from the National Society of Film Critics. As a metaphor for the changing political climate in Europe in the late 60's, "Jonah..." is a story of a former political activist and his contemporaries learning to live with the materialism of their age. Max's involvement with a real estate deal, as well as Madeline's interest in Hinduism—in order to expand her sexual horizons—are a clear indication of the shift in modern thinking—from the idealistic to the practical.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0913028983/?tag=2022091-20
Alain Tanner was born on December 6, 1929 in Geneva.
Tanner studied economics at the University of Geneva. In 1951, he joined the film club which Claude Goretta had recently established at the university. After his graduation and a short time working for international shipping companies, he felt drawn to film.
Following graduation and a brief stint as a merchant marine, Tanner began working for the British Film Institute in England where he worked in the information department organizing archives, adding subtitles to foreign films, translating, and other tasks. In 1957, Tanner made a short Free Cinema film, Nice Time, in collaboration with Claude Goretta. The film won a prize at that year's Venice Film Festival and received critical praise in Great Britain. By 1960, he had returned to Switzerland, after pausing in France where he assisted on the production of a few commercial films. It was in Paris that Tanner met a number of important French New Wave directors and Henri Langlois, the director of the Cinematheque Francaise.
It was an influential period for Tanner who found the atmosphere too cutthroat and the filmmakers too "right-wing anarchist" for his more socialist sensibilities; still, his work bears the imprint of such directors as Godard, Renoir, and Bresson. He returned to Switzerland by 1960 and began making French-language television documentaries. He made over 40 such films over the decade. As part of Groupe Cinque, an association of young filmmakers, Tanner made his feature-film debut with Charles Dead or Alive (1969). The film won first prize at that year's Locarno Film Festival. His next two films were written and made in close collaboration with leftist art critic John Berger. Both La Salamandre (1971) and Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (1976) were filmed with a blend of cinéma vérité and fantasy and are imbued with idealism and hope for a utopian future. Subsequent films have been considerably less upbeat and have met with mixed reviews. Tanner's work has been compared to that of Bertolt Brecht in that his films seek to keep the audience distanced and constantly aware that the film is not reality.
(Revisioning Europe is among the few existing English lang...)
(The screenplay for the 1976 Best Screenplay winner from t...)
(No Man's Land [Reginald Hill] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipp...)
(European Book)
(Salamandre on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying o...)