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Peter Watkins: Filmmaking against the global media crisis
Despite decades of censorship and neglect, Peter Watkins (http://pwatkins.mnsi.net/) has created a body of work that marks him out as one of the UK’s greatest filmmakers. Born in Surrey in 1935, Watkins began his career pioneering the ‘docu-drama’ in two works for the BBC: historical drama Culloden (1964) about the final battle in the Jacobite rebellion, and The War Game (1965), speculating about a nuclear attack on the UK. The BBC refused to broadcast the latter, and after his feature film Privilege (1968) had a poor commercial and critical reception, Watkins spent the rest of his career in exile.
In his theoretical writing, teaching and filmmaking, Watkins has challenged the ‘monoform’ – a standardisation of Mass Audio-Visual Media that barrages its audience with a rapid flow of changing images and sounds, with the intention of preventing any real contemplation. Joining Juliet to discuss Watkins' work is Gareth Evans, former editor of Vertigo magazine and adjunct Moving Image Curator at Whitechapel Gallery.
Watkins on the monoform and the global media crisis: https://www.closeupfilmcentre.com/library/documents/the-dark-side-of-the-moon-the-global-media-crisis/
SELECTED REFERENCES
FILMS BY PETER WATKINS
The Forgotten Faces (1960) - https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-the-forgotten-faces-1961-online
Culloden (1964) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkxW-nB0nNU
The War Game (1965) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p02zy7nt/the-war-game
Privilege (1966) - https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-privilege-1967-online
The Gladiators (1969) - https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/the-gladiators
Punishment Park (1971) - https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2005/jul/08/4
Edvard Munch (1974) - https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/art-of-the-real-edvard-munch-by-peter-watkins/
The Journey (1987) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsYLt9bSRbw
The Freethinker (1992-94) - http://seul-le-cinema.blogspot.com/2012/01/freethinker.html
La Commune (2000) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ1S18jsyyw
WILLIAM BLAKE, ‘Jerusalem’
Blowup (dir. Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966)
BERTOLT BRECHT, The Days of the Commune (1955) - http://daysofthecommune.com/pages/play.html
A Clockwork Orange (dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1971)
GUY DEBORD, ATTILA KOTÁNYI & RAOUL VANEIGEM, ‘Thesis on the Paris Commune’ (1962) – http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/Pariscommune.htm
End of Days (dir. Peter Hyams, 1999)
Future Revolutions: New Perspectives on Peter Watkins (2018) - https://wolfberlin.org/en/wolf-shop/book-new-perspective-on-peter-watkins-future-revolutions
If … (dir. Lindsay Anderson, 1968)
It Happened Here (dir. Kevin Brownlow & Andrew Mollo, 1965) - https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/interviews/it-happened-here-kevin-brownlow
Jubilee (dir. Derek Jarman, 1978)
V. I. LENIN, ‘Lessons of the Commune’ (1911) – https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1908/mar/23.htm
The Living Dead (dir. Adam Curtis, 1995) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xoM6-1SWl4
Manfred Mann
KARL MARX, ‘The Civil War in France’ (1871) – https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1871/civil-war-france/index.htm
Ralph Miliband - https://www.marxists.org/archive/miliband/index.htm
The New Babylon (dir. Grigori Kozintsev & Leonid Trauberg, 1929) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyOhcTuFYe0
O Lucky Man! (dir. Lindsay Anderson, 1973)
Stanisław Przybyszewski - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanisław_Przybyszewski
Role of a Lifetime (dir. Deimantas Narkevičius, 2003) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69EREtDfYoM
August Strindberg
Threads (dir. Mick Jackson, 1984)
West of the Tracks (dir. Wang Bing, 2002) - https://theartsofslowcinema.com/2017/05/16/west-of-the-tracks-wang-bing-2003/
Who is America? (TV series, 2018)
ÉMILE ZOLA, La Débâcle (1892) - https://readingzola.wordpress.com/2014/01/14/la-debacle-the-downfall/
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Despite decades of censorship and neglect, Peter Watkins (http://pwatkins.mnsi.net/) has created a body of work that marks him out as one of the UK’s greatest filmmakers. Born in Surrey in 1935, Watkins began his career pioneering the ‘docu-drama’ in two works for the BBC: historical drama Culloden (1964) about the final battle in the Jacobite rebellion, and The War Game (1965), speculating about a nuclear attack on the UK. The BBC refused to broadcast the latter, and after his feature film Privilege (1968) had a poor commercial and critical reception, Watkins spent the rest of his career in exile.
In his theoretical writing, teaching and filmmaking, Watkins has challenged the ‘monoform’ – a standardisation of Mass Audio-Visual Media that barrages its audience with a rapid flow of changing images and sounds, with the intention of preventing any real contemplation. Joining Juliet to discuss Watkins' work is Gareth Evans, former editor of Vertigo magazine and adjunct Moving Image Curator at Whitechapel Gallery.
Watkins on the monoform and the global media crisis: https://www.closeupfilmcentre.com/library/documents/the-dark-side-of-the-moon-the-global-media-crisis/
SELECTED REFERENCES
FILMS BY PETER WATKINS
The Forgotten Faces (1960) - https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-the-forgotten-faces-1961-online
Culloden (1964) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkxW-nB0nNU
The War Game (1965) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p02zy7nt/the-war-game
Privilege (1966) - https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-privilege-1967-online
The Gladiators (1969) - https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/the-gladiators
Punishment Park (1971) - https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2005/jul/08/4
Edvard Munch (1974) - https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/art-of-the-real-edvard-munch-by-peter-watkins/
The Journey (1987) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsYLt9bSRbw
The Freethinker (1992-94) - http://seul-le-cinema.blogspot.com/2012/01/freethinker.html
La Commune (2000) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ1S18jsyyw
WILLIAM BLAKE, ‘Jerusalem’
Blowup (dir. Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966)
BERTOLT BRECHT, The Days of the Commune (1955) - http://daysofthecommune.com/pages/play.html
A Clockwork Orange (dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1971)
GUY DEBORD, ATTILA KOTÁNYI & RAOUL VANEIGEM, ‘Thesis on the Paris Commune’ (1962) – http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/Pariscommune.htm
End of Days (dir. Peter Hyams, 1999)
Future Revolutions: New Perspectives on Peter Watkins (2018) - https://wolfberlin.org/en/wolf-shop/book-new-perspective-on-peter-watkins-future-revolutions
If … (dir. Lindsay Anderson, 1968)
It Happened Here (dir. Kevin Brownlow & Andrew Mollo, 1965) - https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/interviews/it-happened-here-kevin-brownlow
Jubilee (dir. Derek Jarman, 1978)
V. I. LENIN, ‘Lessons of the Commune’ (1911) – https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1908/mar/23.htm
The Living Dead (dir. Adam Curtis, 1995) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xoM6-1SWl4
Manfred Mann
KARL MARX, ‘The Civil War in France’ (1871) – https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1871/civil-war-france/index.htm
Ralph Miliband - https://www.marxists.org/archive/miliband/index.htm
The New Babylon (dir. Grigori Kozintsev & Leonid Trauberg, 1929) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyOhcTuFYe0
O Lucky Man! (dir. Lindsay Anderson, 1973)
Stanisław Przybyszewski - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanisław_Przybyszewski
Role of a Lifetime (dir. Deimantas Narkevičius, 2003) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69EREtDfYoM
August Strindberg
Threads (dir. Mick Jackson, 1984)
West of the Tracks (dir. Wang Bing, 2002) - https://theartsofslowcinema.com/2017/05/16/west-of-the-tracks-wang-bing-2003/
Who is America? (TV series, 2018)
ÉMILE ZOLA, La Débâcle (1892) - https://readingzola.wordpress.com/2014/01/14/la-debacle-the-downfall/